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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

GEOG 8240 Spring 2012

GEOG 8240: Medical Geography: Critical Approaches to Health will be taught by Prof. Abigail Neely this spring on Thursdays from 4:00 to 6:30pm. Click here for a course description.

"Politics, New Media, and Inequality" talk

The Gender, Sexuality, Power, and Politics colloquium series is hosting a talk "Politics, New Media, and Inequality: From the Occupy Movement to the 2012 Elections" by Professor Cathy Cohen (University of Chicago) on Thursday, January 19th at 4pm in the Cowles Auditorium. Click here for an event flyer.

New library resources

Our librarian, Nancy Herther, has shared research resources and information on in-class presentations for your spring 2012 courses.

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Doing research over break? Trying to get organized?
Here are ten ideas to help you do your research - or just get a break from your studies - from your University Libraries!
1.) Chat with a Librarian 24/7 even during break! If you have a quick question or need some basic help, just log on!
2.) Have a great article but want to see who else has cited it since it was published? Use a database like Web of Science/Knowledge or Google Scholar. Search for the title of the original article (in quotes in Google). Look for the "Cited by" link to see who has cited it recently. Click "Find it" to get to the full text. Tip: Be sure to connect to Google Scholar's full text from off campus.
3.) Try a new citation tool to collect, organize and create in-text citations in seconds...Zotero and Mendeley have lots of great features.
4.) Register for a Library workshop in January (on RefWorks, Zotero, Mendeley, Formatting your Thesis/Dissertation and more)
5.) See our suggestions for Productivity Tools and Tools for Alerts and Feeds to help make your time more effective and your research more efficient!
6.) Try Google Books to search through the full text of millions of books [this is very different than a MNCAT search which only searches author, title and maybe table of contents]. If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book. If you see one you like, click "Get this book in print>Find in a Library" to see if we have it. Or request through Interlibrary Loan (full book or chapter). Also explore HathiTrust, which brings together the immense collections of 60+ partner institutions in digital form.
7.) Do you have or are you going to get an e-reader over the holidays? Explore our e-book collections and download to your device.
8.) Soon you will be able to log-in to Interlibrary Loan with your Internet ID? Get ready for the upcoming change.
9.) Discover how the Libraries can help you with your teaching including Course Reserves, the Library Course Page link in Moodle, an in-class librarian taught session (email me herther@umn.edu), and more.
10.) We have fabulous collections of world-class fiction, nonfiction and magazines that will take you away to new worlds - thousands of DVDs to both stimulate and enjoy! We have exhibits up in the Libraries now as well! This isn't called a "break" for nothing! Use our resources to enrich your life and get away from the stress of research for awhile!
Want to learn more, please send Nancy an email (herther@umn.edu). She can response via email or can set up a time to meet in January to talk about your research or questions in more detail.
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Here are some options for what I can do for you Spring term (or anytime):
LIBRARY LECTURE RELATED TO SECONDARY RESEARCH RESOURCES & TOOLS
As you may know, instruction has been a major effort and priority for me. If you'd want, I could come to your classroom or do a session - hands-on or presentation - related to their specific assignments or needs.
Here are some examples of what I can do in these sessions:
* In-class presentations on how the Libraries can support their secondary research.
* Tours of significant collections/services.
* Demos of specific databases to be used by students in their projects.
* Tips on using the Web for research.
* Hands-on workshops on using databases or the Web.
We have both classroom (up to 50 students) and hands-on lab (limit of 25) facilities available in Wilson Library for instruction. Otherwise, I am available (with some technological assistance) to come to your classroom to speak with students.
CREATION OF SPECIAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES OR GUIDES
For available guides, check out this site that lists many guides related to the discipline or to special topics and classes:
American Studies @ http://www.lib.umn.edu/libdata/page.phtml?page_id=2090
OFFER OF PERSONAL ASSISTANCE
Often students need personal assistance with their research - finding information, refining their topics, etc. If you want, please feel free to include Nancy Herther's name and contact information for your students on the class syllabus, Moodle or web page. If students need help, I'm here to do whatever I can to assist them in their research.
NEW RESOURCES RIGHT ON THE LIBRARIES HOME PAGE!
Another new service of the Libraries is our link to some resources - albeit very general resources - to support classes throughout your department. The "Course Resources" tab on the libraries' home page allows students to get a quick, short list of databases and others tools to help them find the best information quickly.

PCard Receipts due

Please submit receipts for all December PCard purchases to Laura by Tuesday, January 3rd.

Click here for a blank coversheet.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Annual Student Activites Report (SAR) Due by Wednesday, February 1, 2012; Annual Meeting with Adviser meeting between February 1 and February 22

The Graduate School requires an annual review of student progress for each graduate student. The department process for annual review includes a meeting with your adviser(s). Meetings should be scheduled between February 1 and February 22. Students are also required to submit a Student Activites Report (SAR) each calendar year. Please submit your SAR to Melanie (stein196@umn.edu) by Wednesday, February 1, 2012.

The graduate school requires an annual review of student progress for each graduate student. The department process for annual review includes a meeting with your adviser(s). Please make an appointment with your adviser(s) to discuss your academic progress toward the degree. Goals, problems, research interests, and timelines for
completion should be reviewed. Meetings should be scheduled between February 1 and February 22. After the meeting, your adviser will submit a brief written report to the DGS. We will be in contact with each adviser to remind them of the department process and deadlines.
Students are also required to submit a Student Activities Report (SAR) each calendar year. Cumulative information from collected SARs -- which includes information about research, teaching, publication, conference participation, honors, and service activities in the 2011 calendar year-- is important for the department, graduate school, and college in assessing the activities of the graduate program. Please submit your SAR (template attached below) to Melanie (stein196@umn.edu) by Wednesday, February 1, 2012. We encourage you to submit a copy of this report to your adviser at this time as well as advisers have noted that your SAR is a helpful guide to facilitate a broader discussion of your research and professional goals.
For more information on the annual review please check the Graduate Handbook , available at http://americanstudies.umn.edu/grad/handbook.html
SAR Template 2011.docx

CFP: EXTENDED DEALINE "Battleground States" at Bowling Green State University February 2012

Bowling Green State University's Cultural Studies Scholar's Organization is pleased to invite submissions for the seventh annual Battleground States Conference: "3R: Response, Re/Actions, and Revolt". Battleground States is an interdisciplinary conference fostering an open and productive environment for scholars, artists, and activists to present their work in an intellectually stimulating environment. The conference will be held February 23-26, 2012 at the Bowling Green State University Campus. Submission deadline EXTENDED TO: January 8th, 2012.

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The Culture Club: Cultural Studies Scholar's Organization at Bowling
Green State University is pleased to announce the seventh annual
Battleground States Conference. Battleground States is an
interdisciplinary conference fostering an open and productive
enviroment for scholars, artists, and activists to present their work
in an intellectually stimulating environment. The title for this year
's conference is 3R: Response, Re/Actions, and Revolt. This is a call
to scholars, activists, students, educators, artists or anyone seeking
responses and solutions to the current state of society.
The conference will be held on Thursday February 23rd- Sunday February
26th at the Bowling Green State University campus.

Abstracts of 300 words should be sent to battlegroundstates@gmail.com and must be
submitted no later than December 15th, 2011. Submissions should include media
equipment requests and any special presentation requests. Panel, performance, and
artistic display proposals are welcome and should include a 300-word abstract and
contact information for all participants.
Please see Battleground States CFP 2012 .pdf or visit our website for information about The Culture Club and Battleground States: www.battlegroundstates.org
All other enquiries should be directed to Elisabeth Woronzoff, Culture Club President,
eworonz@bgsu.edu

CFP: Fueling Culture: Energy, History, Politics

Submissions are invited for the collection "Fueling Culture: Energy, History, Politics". This collection of scholarly essays, brief reflections, and info blurbs will focus on intersections between energy, history, and a range of cultural formations including literature, film, art, digital media, and popular culture. Abstract deadline: March 15, 2012.

Resource depletion and anxiety arenot new, nor is the paralyzing knowledge that a particular form of energy isharmful or unsustainable. How has ourrelation to energy changed over time? What differences do specific energysources make to human values and politics ? How have changing energy resourcestransformed culture?
This collection of scholarlyessays, brief reflections, and info blurbs will focus on intersections betweenenergy, history, and a range of cultural formations, including literature,film, art, digital media, and popular culture. We will include essays thattouch on a wide range of energy resources (dung, wood/charcoal, coal, tallow,plant oils, whale oil, kerosene, petroleum, natural gas, nuclear, biofuels,solar, wind, wave, steam, and human energy). We also plan to include essays onenergy resources like electricity (which circulates as a secondary form ofenergy generated by wood, coal, etc). We are also curious about dams asprojects of decolonization and modernization.
We hope for broad geographic scopein this collection, with attention to place-specific concerns and the spatialrelations entailed in different forms of energy use, including what FernandoCoronil has called the "international division of nature." If the shiftfrom wood to coal allowed for massive increases in energy consumption with lessland/woodlots devoted to energy production, as Timothy Mitchell argues, whatother shifts in scale are important for thinking about the history of energyformations? As Laurie Shannon argues in a PMLA essay on tallow, theshift from energy produced within the household to modes of energy sourcedelsewhere suggests that questions of scale are central for thinking about energy.Ken Hiltner's argument that pollution increases with the changing spatialconcentration of urban London suggests the urgency of contemplating energy inrelation to scale in earlier periods. Is it possible that all forms of energyare "dirty" when scaled up to meet demand?
The question of periodization iscrucial to this project. How do we periodize cultural production aroundmaterial resources that have been unread or elided by critics? How do questionsof energy become legible in moments of crisis? What is the role of energyscarcity and profligacy? The role of an "energy unconscious" delieatesone mode of analysis, as does the simultaneity of different modes of energyresources. Thus periodization is not a simple matter. Consider DipeshChakrabarty's attention to the coincidence of the age of Enlightenment and theAnthropocene, Mitchell's comparison of wood, coal, oil and the forms of socialand political organization they entail, and Michael Pollan's account of theshift from the sun and fossil fuels in the industrialization of food.
In addition to periodization, we'reinterested in essays that explore methodology: protocols of reading that areattuned to questions of energy (or its absence) within a given text. How do weread for energy in relation to the sociology and materiality of literaryproduction and distribution? How do we identify cultural forms that areparticularly attuned to these questions? How does energy put pressure onliterary and cultural forms? Does genre look different when we think about energy?
We hope to gather writing that ismultiply interdisciplinary, drawing on insights from political economy,political ecology, environmental history, eco-criticism, postcolonial andglobalization studies, materialisms old and new, including thing theory andactor network theory.

March15, 2012 for abstracts
December1, 2012 for essays
Length: 6000 words

(As indicated above, in additionto research essays we are interested in including shorter pieces related to anyof the issues explored in this collection).
Send Copies to:
Imre Szeman imre@ualberta.ca
Jennifer Wenzel jawenzel@umich.edu
Patsy Yaeger pyaeger@umich.edu

TH 8120 Spring 2012

TH8120 Performance Theory, Performance Studies will be taught spring 2012 by Professor Margaret Werry on Fridays from 9:05am to 12:05pm.

Course Description
This course explores the ways in which performance has been taken up as an object of study, a method of research, and a theoretical paradigm in a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary contexts.
For nearly two decades, the terms "performance" and "performativity" have been at the centre of significant theoretical innovation in fields from art and literary criticism to cultural geography and economic anthropology. Taking the "performative turn," scholars suggest, privileges process and poeisis over structure, citation and invention over representation, and the study of human action in its experiential, embodied, and social thickness over the thinner medium of discourse. Performance theories have provided the basis for methodological advances in practice-based research and critical ethnography, and made a range of new objects of study accessible to traditionally text-based disciplines. At the same time, the disciplinary field that goes by the name of Performance Studies has established its own theoretical canon and branched out from its from early concerns (with ritual, play, oral performance, performance art) to embrace a range of new problems (cultural memory, affect, spatial practice, virtual technology and testimony, to name a few).
This course surveys some of the key literature in and influences on Performance Studies. It also tracks recent interdisciplinary conversations in which performance has become a mobilizing term. In what ways does an attention to performance change the questions that specific disciplines ask and the ways that they attempt to answer them? When scholars in various disciplines "profess performance", what exactly are they claiming, and what are the stakes of such a move? What theoretical and methodological tools are at the disposal of scholars who wish to study performance, or to study performatively?

1 year LGBT Studies postdoc teaching fellowship

Carleton College Women's and Gender Studies Program is actively accepting applications for their one-year LGBT Studies postdoctoral teaching fellowship to begin September 1, 2012. Appointment involves half-time teaching, half-time research, and residency for the year. Review of applications has begun, and will continue until position is filled. Click here for more info.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

CANCELLED: Dec 19th "The Work of American Studies" DGS Workshop

Because we only received a small number of RSVPs, "The Work of American Studies" session scheduled for Monday, December 19th on the theme "Applying for Fellowships and Grants" has been cancelled.

Fall Grades Due & Incomplete Grades

FALL 2011 FACULTY & INSTRUCTORS: Grades must be submitted by 11:59pm on Thursday, December 29th.

Please note: if you submit an incomplete for an undergraduate student, you must also submit a copy of the "Completion of Incomplete Work" agreement form (available at the link below). Fill out this agreement with the student and be sure to keep a copy for yourself, provide the student with a copy, and submit a copy to Laura for filing with the Department. If you have any problems with access or other questions, please contact Laura at domin047@umn.edu.
Completion of Incomplete Work: http://www.class.umn.edu/forms/completionofincompletework.pdf
To enter final grades: http://onestop.umn.edu/faculty/grades/final/index.html
Web site for additional information: http://advisingtools.class.umn.edu/cgep/gradingpolicies.html

Grad Instructors & TAs with Scott Hall Offices

If you are not teaching or TAing in spring 2012, please remove all personal items from your office and return your key to the department office by Friday, December 23rd. Any unclaimed items will be removed.

AFRO 5910 spring 2011

AFRO 5910 "Feast or Famine: The Politics of Food in Literary & Cultural Contexts" will be taught spring 2011 by Prof. Njeri Githire on Wednesdays from 10:10am to 12:20pm. Click here for a course flyer.

BTHX 5000/JOUR 5990 spring 2011

BTHX 5000/JOUR 5990 "Fear and Loathing in Bioethics" will be taught spring 2011 by Professor Carl Elliot on Wednesdays from 1:00 to 3:30pm. Click here for a course description.

CFP: "Media and the Arab Spring" at the University College Dublin

The Clinton Institute for American Studies at The University College Dublin invites papers for the conference "Media and the Arab Spring" to be held April 14-15, 2012. This conference will bring together media practitioners, writers, commentators and scholars to investigate the role of different forms of media in shaping certain events and perceptions of them. Submission deadline: February 1, 2012. Click here for more info.

CFP: SW/TX Popular & American Culture Assoc Conference

The Southwest Texas Popular and American Culture Association invites submissions for the 33rd Annual Conference to be held February 8-11, 2012. The conference theme "Celebrating 'Foods & Culture(s) in a Global Context'" honors the cultures of New Mexico whose celebration of food transcends national boundaries. Submission deadline: December 15, 2011. Click here for more info.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

RSVP for "The Work of American Studies" session on December 19th

RSVP required by Monday, December 12th: "The Work of American Studies" session scheduled for Monday, December 19th from 3:30 - 5:00pm in the Scott Hall Commons will feature the theme "Applying for Fellowships and Grants". Scheduled speakers include Alison Skoberg of the Graduate School Fellowship Office, who will discuss strategies for identifying internal and external fellowships; Prof. Brenda Child, who will discuss the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program; and PhD candidate Ben Wiggins, who will speak about crafting a successful Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship application.

Alison Skoberg of the Graduate School Fellowship Office will discuss strategies for identifying internal and external fellowships. Professor Brenda Child will discuss the Ford Foundation Fellowship Program. PhD candidate Ben Wiggins, who will speak about crafting a successful Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship application. Panelists will also answer questions from attendees.
Given that graduate student attendance at previous workshops this semester has been sparse, we ask that you RSVP to amstdy@umn.edu by Monday, December 12 if you plan to attend. Panelists and staff invest considerable work in planning for these sessions, so we will cancel if there is insufficient interest.

Library Books and Videos

All faculty and students: Please return any books and videos you have checked out from the department library. Return items to the task box in the main department office by Thursday, December 22nd.

HCA Spring Academy Call for Applications

The Heidelberg Center for American Studies invites applications for the ninth Spring Academy, which will take place March 26-30, 2012 in Heidelberg, Germany. Applications that range broadly across the arts, humanities, and social sciences and pursue an interdisciplinary approach are encouraged. Application deadline: December 15, 2012. Click here for more info.

GLBT Studies & Campus Life "Beyond Marriage: Broadening LGBTQ Social Movements" discussion

The Schochet Endowment for GLBT Studies & Campus Life is please to present the second colloquium series of the Fall term, "Beyond Marriage: Broadening of LGBTQ Social Movements", on Thursday, December 8th from 4 to 5:30pm in room 140 Nolte Center. The discussion will be facilitated by Myrl Beam, and among the panelists are Jesus Estrada-Perez and Eli Vitulli.

This discussion will seek to broaden how we define terms such as home, family, LGBTQ issues, and relationships, while paying especially close attention to the ways in which social movements claiming marriage as their central tenet do so at the expense of our most marginalized LGBTQ communities.

Political Theory Colloquium 12/16/2011 "Crisis and (Im)Mortality"

The Political Theory Colloquium is proud to present Professor A. Kiarina Kordela of the Department of German Studies at Macalaster College at 1:30pm on December 16 in Social Sciences 1314. Professor Kordela will present her paper "Crisis and (Im)Mortality" as part of the continuing series "Capital and Crisis".

Paper abstract:
In this paper I attempt to reconceptualize bios (life and the body) and theories of biopolitics by reading Marx's analysis of political economy as a basis for an ontological theory and a theory of temporality, and by drawing on Spinozian monism and Lacanian psychoanalytic theory. My conclusion regarding biopolitics is that its object is the administration not of the biological body but of the relation of humans in secular capitalist modernity to the metaphysics that are operative in this historical era, and especially potentiality and infinity, as categories that enable the secular (illusions of the) immortality of the body. On the basis of this new theory of biopolitics, I then engage in dialogue with Richard Dienst's recent book The Bonds of Debt (2011), to examine the biopolitical function of both surplus-value and debt (the two modes of capital in periods of prosperity and economic crisis, respectively), as an attempt to reconfigure the possibilities of a Left politics in the era of global capital.

Call for abstracts for "Transforming Lives" volume

Submissions are invited for the special edition volume "Transforming Lives: Hmong Women, Gender and Power". As the first edited volume focusing on Hmong women, this project demands an innovative interdisciplinary approach in which we borrow from different theoretical frameworks to generate a materially rich and conceptually rigorous dialogue. Abstract deadline: January 31, 2012. Click here for more info.

CFP: Conference on Pop Culture at Bowling Green

The Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University invites papers for the First Annual Ray Brown Conference on Popular Culture to be held March 31st-April 1st, 2012. The conference hopes to address this question: what is popular culture in the 21st century and how must we study it? Submission deadline: February 3, 2012. Click here for more info.

Vitulli Passed Prelims

Eli Vitulli has passed his preliminary portfolio and oral exams and now holds ABD status.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Save the dates for spring semester "The Work of American Studies" workshop series

The series for grad students, "The Work of American Studies" continues spring semester with the following workshops. Please save the dates: Monday, February 27: Prelim Exams, Monday, April 23: Job Workshop.

Both will be held 3:30-5pm in the Commons, room 105 Scott Hall. Workshops in this series, held bimonthly, will focus on your work as graduate students, academics, and teachers, inside and outside the university. Examples of topics include milestones of graduate education, public presence, pursuing careers, and working inside and outside the academy.

Archives of American Art Essay Prize

The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, is accepting submissions for the Archives in American Art Graduate Research Essay Prize to be given to compelling original research using the resources at the Archives of American Art as primary evidence. The winner will receive $1000 and the essay will be published on the Archives's website. Submission deadline: February 15, 2012. Click here for more info.

The HistoryMakers year-long fellowship

The HistoryMakers is proud to announce the 2nd Increasing African American Diversity in Archives: The HistoryMakers Fellowship, Mentoring, Training, and Placement Institute for African American archivists and other archivist interested in working with African American archival collections. This program is a year-long fellowship starting June 4th, 2012, working in African American Archives including a 3-month immersion training program in Chicago and an on-site residency. Application deadline: February 14, 2012.

The HistoryMakers is proud to announce the 2nd Increasing African American Diversity in Archives: The HistoryMakers Fellowship, Mentoring, Training and Placement Institute, a year -long fellowship (Monday, June 4, 2012 through Saturday June 1, 2013) working in African American archives. This program is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in the amount of $800,000. The purpose of this fellowship program is to provide training for African American archivists and other archivists interested in working with African American archival collections. The year will include 3-month immersion training program at The HistoryMakers Chicago location (Monday, June 4, 2012 - Friday, August 24, 2012) and an on-site residency (Tuesday, September 4, 2012 - Saturday, June 1, 2013). Applicants must identify their top 3 choices from the following list of host institutions:
¬ÃŸ Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
[http://www.amistadresearchcenter.org/]
¬ÃŸ Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston, Charleston, SC
[http://avery.cofc.edu/]
¬ÃŸ Carter G. Woodson Regional Library, Chicago, IL
[http://www.chipublib.org/branch/details/library/woodson-regional]
¬ÃŸ Franklin Library at Fisk University, Nashville, TN
[http://www.fisk.edu/Academics/Library/SpecialCollections.aspx]
¬ÃŸ The HistoryMakers, Chicago, IL
[http://www.thehistorymakers.com/]
¬ÃŸ Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD
[http://www.msa.md.gov/]
¬ÃŸ Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum, Culver City, CA
[http://www.claytonmuseum.org/]
The HistoryMakers will be accepting applications for the 2012-2013 fellowship program until Tuesday, February 14, 2012. A complete application packet should be sent to:
Jessica Levy
2012-2013 Archive Fellowship Program
The HistoryMakers
1900 S. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60616

Spring Semester American Studies Workshop series and Call for Participants

Save the dates for the spring semester American Studies Workshop series scheduled for January 23 and March 26. Students interested in presenting at one of the spring workshops should contact Melanie (stein196@umn.edu) by Thursday, December 22 and indicate, generally, the type of work you would like to present.

The workshops will each take place at 3:30-5:00pm in the Scott Hall Commons, room 105.
Graduate students are encouraged to use this opportunity to share their work with each other and with faculty. The series was created to provide a venue for students to receive feedback on their work including, but not limited to, conference papers, practice job talks, parts of chapters, parts of course research papers. Faculty and graduate students are all encouraged to attend workshop sessions.

WAM CHATTER November 30th 7pm

WAM CHATTER "Who Gets to be American in American Art?" Responses by Patricia Marroquin Norby, Angela Miller, and Louise Siddons, moderated by Jennifer Marshall held today, Wednesday, November 30 at 7pm at the Weisman Art Museum. Click here for more info.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Mariano received PhD

Joyce Zapata Mariano has received her PhD with her dissertation titled, "Homeland Developments: Filipino America and the Politics of Diaspora Giving", Josephine Lee, adviser.

PCard Receipts Due: Thursday, December 1st

Please submit receipts for all November PCard purchases to Laura by Thursday, December 1st.

"Theogonic Modernism" lecture by Prof. Angela Miller

The Department of Art History and the Weisman Art Museum present the Art History Lecture series featuring Washington University Professor Angela Miller's "Theogonic Modernism" on Thursday, December 1st at 5pm in room 130 Blegen Hall. Click here for an event flyer.

HSCI 8950 Spring 2012

HSCI 8950 "Making Things Nuclear" will be taught by visiting Stanford University Professor, Rebecca Slayton this spring 2012 on Thursdays from 3:35 to 5:35pm. Click here for a course flyer.

ARTH 8440 Spring 2012

ARTH 8440: The Art and Politics of Failure will be taught by Professor Jane Blocker this spring 2012 on Mondays 2:30-5pm. Click here for a course flyer.

"The Retreat" Banff Research in Culture program

Applications are invited for participation in "The Retreat: A Position of dOCUMENTA(13)" Banff Research in Culture program August 2 -15, 2012 at the Banff Centre. Through the act (v.) and space (n.) of retreat, participants will raise questions about the character of our society and the modes of artistic cultural investigation being introduced today to create new modes of becoming and belonging. Application deadline: December 2, 2011. For full program information and instructions on how to apply, please click here.

Post-doc in Latina/Latino Studies at Urbana-Champaign

The Department of Latina/Latino Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign invites applications for two external postdoctoral research associates to begin with August 16, 2012. Associates are expected to be in residence for the duration of the appointment and will receive $42,000 salary over a 12 month period, $5,000 additional for research expenses, and a comprehensive benefit package. PhD or equivalent by August 15, 2012. Application deadline: December 16, 2011. Click here for more info.

CFP: "Indigenous Spaces" at Columbia University

The Collaborations on Indigenous Studies Project invites proposals for the graduate student colloquium "Indigenous Spaces: Pushing the Boundaries of History, Bodies, Geographies, and Politics" to be held at Columbia University on February 15, 2012. Contributors are encouraged to think about indigenous spaces that connect indigenous communities, bodies, histories, geographies, and academia. Submission deadline: December 28, 2011.

The spatial turn made evident the need to develop new ways of using spatial concepts and metaphors in the humanities. Thus, in research pertaining to indigenous peoples, politics, histories, and geographies, indigenous spaces constitutes an essential and timely topic for academic study across a variety of disciplines. Experiences of space can shape or be shaped by the geopolitical realities of modern nation-states, social, ethnic, gender and class divisions, academic traditions, cultural taboos, or moral lines drawn by the secular and the divine. Old and new spaces, along with their shifting borders ideological, physical, imposed and entrenched can isolate or connect people and places in ways that have also been central in global and local conflicts. Indigenous peoples sometimes with the collaboration of non-indigenous activists and practitioners/professionals have carved out spaces for themselves and their interests in relation to settled (or settling) bodies. The same is true for indigenous communities that were made indigenous by colonizers and colonizing states. Activists, indigenous peoples, as well as indigenous studies scholars also work to create spaces for indigenous issues within the worlds of politics and academia. In various ways, the practice of carving out (an) indigenous space(s) can situate indigenous peoples and indigenous studies in any number of strategic, cooperative, competitive, stable or unstable contexts and intersections. Indigenous spaces can thus often be located along and across, between and beyond, as well as within and outside of various types of borders, boundaries, frontiers and barriers. Such spaces may be the result of the application of new approaches to political organizing or advocacy, cross-disciplinary theories and methods, accounts of discrepant experience, or new research that challenges long-established paradigms. Indigenous Spaces thus points to the fluctuating nature of experienced, theoretical, conceptual, and methodological spaces as they relate to indigenous people.
If indigenous spaces can be thought of as metaphysical sites of praxis or resistance, or as conceptual places that are malleable, socially constructed, and historically contingent, we hope to receive papers that consider such spaces in light of decisions or actions taken in the spheres of law, politics, ideology, spiritual life, public policy, the economy, and academia. As they relate to indigenous studies, we aim to think of indigenous spaces in two primary ways: First, what happens to indigenous studies as identities, ideas, and practices are created in new spaces? Second, how can scholars push at the borders and boundaries of scholarly and disciplinary ways of thinking, in order to open up new spaces and lines of inquiry into thinking about indigenous issues in academia? We particularly encourage submissions that consider the well-being of indigenous communities as well as the practice, theory, and methodology of indigenous studies.
Suggested topics:
The role of the state and statehood in the production and cognition of space with regard to indigenous ways of thinking and living.
The role of technologies.
In what senses is the category space relevant in order to better understand phenomena of indigeneity?
What kinds of productions of space, both material and symbolic, are used by indigenous people(s) to maintain or secure livelihoods, create identities or pursue political strategies?
What specificities of spatial cognition exist among indigenous communities and if so, what can they accomplish?
Comparative and/or relational studies of uprisings, social movements, and resistance.
Histories/studies of Indigenous peoples, communities, organizations, etc.
Readings of indigenous studies, histories, and peoples that take place outside of imagined geographies.
Discussion of internal borders and border thinking as they relate to indigenous peoples
Questions of colonialism and decolonization.
Approaches to power, knowledge, and experience engaging coloniality and decoloniality.
Comparative projects that link indigenous spaces or communities politically, culturally, economically, socially, or environmentally.
Scholarship that problematizes academic orders.
Inter-sectional analysis of identities and belonging between and within indigenous communities, or between and within indigenous communities and surrounding non-indigenous communities.
Imperial geographies and cartographies.
Experienced spaces, or articulations of different experiences of spaces by individuals and/or communities.
Spaces of art/exhibition/memorialization that are important to, controlled by, or relevant to indigenous peoples in public spaces such as museums, monuments, etc.
Graduate students interested in participating should submit a paper abstract not exceeding 300 words and a recent CV as email attachments (PDF or Word format)
by DECEMBER 28, 2011 to the colloquium organizers, Aurélie Roy and Maria John, at indigenous.spaces@gmail.com.
Participants will be notified in the first week of January, 2012.
Please note: Columbia faculty will act as commentators on the day of the colloquium. Papers will also be pre-circulated at this event; a deadline for submission of pre-circulating papers will be announced in due course.
Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about the colloquium at indigenous.spaces@gmail.com

CFP: "Sexuality and Colonial Black Atlantic Cities"

Submissions are invited for the conference "Sexuality and Colonial Black Atlantic Cities" to be held April 19-20, 2012 at the University of Chicago. This symposium aims to examine the intersections of sexuality, identity, and urban life during the colonial periods in the Atlantic, spanning Africa, the Americas, and Europe from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. Submission deadline: December 22, 2011.

Co-Conveners:
Rachel Jean-Baptiste, University of Chicago (rjeanbaptiste@uchicago.edu)
Lorelle Semley, College of the Holy Cross (lsemley@holycross.edu)
Cities were not new to Africa and the Americas when slave trading and imperialism produced a new phenomenon: the colonial city. As urban spaces took form in Africa and the America, Africans and people of African descent created an indelible mark on modern urban life as merchants, wage laborers, slaves, slave owners, artists, religious figures, and intellectuals. Black historical actors also traversed cities in Europe, shaping empire from multiple sites. Yet, people circulating through the Atlantic world also inhabited cities as gendered and affective beings who actively conceptualized ideas about pleasure, desire, and aesthetics.
This symposium aims to examine the intersections of sexuality, identity, and urban life during the colonial periods in the Atlantic, spanning Africa, the Americas, and Europe, from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries. We will consider proposals that de-center the
Atlantic by treating similar themes in other parts of the world such as the Mediterranean or Indian Ocean. We plan to public selected papers as an edited volume or as a special issue of a journal.
Submissions need not be confined to the topics below, but, if possible, please indicate up to two themes that correspond to your proposal:
Mapping Cities
* Intersections of race, gender and geography
* Rural/urban connections
* Empire and the politics of knowledge
Laboring Women and Men
* Work, status, and mobility
* Prostitution
* Marketing leisure and popular culture
Families and Networks
* Marriage and religion
* Emigration and immigration
* Defining neighborhoods and housing
Reproducing the Body
* Reproductive health
* Medicine, healing, and disease
* Law, crime, and citizenship
Sex in the City: Same and Different
* Same-sex relationships
* Discourses on danger and/or modernity
* Policing femininities and masculinities
Affect and Aesthetics
* Politics of desire
* Mass consumption and production
* Public arts and architecture
Please submit a title, 250-word abstract, and a CV by December 22, 2011 to gendercities@holycross.edu. If you have any questions, please contact us at Rachel Jean-Baptiste at rjeanbaptiste@uchicago.edu or Lorelle Semley at lsemley@holycross.edu and include "Gender Cities" in the subject line. Authors of accepted proposals will be contacted by January 24, 2012 and complete papers will be due on March 1, 2012.

CFP: Tufts Graduate Humanities Conference

Tufts University invites submissions for the 1st Annual Tufts Graduate Humanities Conference "Curiosities" to be held February 17, 2012. This interdisciplinary conference endeavors to explore past, present and future "curiosities" in the many senses of the word. Submission deadline: December 12, 2011. Click here for more info.

CFP: Ruptures and Revolutions at Indiana University

The History Graduate Student Association at Indiana University invites panel and individual paper proposals for the Annual Paul Lucas Conference to be held March 23-25, 2012 on the Bloomington campus of Indiana University. The conference "Ruptures and Revolutions: Moments of Change and Unrest" seeks to explore impact and meaning of transformations and unrest in an increasingly global community. Submission deadline: January 4, 2012.

Graduate and undergraduate students, journalists, activists and members of the community who study or actively engage in protests and moments of change are cordially invited to submit papers and posters addressing all topics pertaining to contemporary and past political and social movements; revolutions in technology, medicine, and science; economic and cultural change; and transnational, international, and national revolutions across space, time, and medium.
The conference welcomes submissions from a variety of fields that employ a wide array of methodologies. The committee encourages submissions of pre-organized panels (comprised of three or four panelists, in addition to the chair and a discussant), roundtable sessions, and creative poster presentations. Individual papers are also welcome and will be assigned by the Conference Committee to a suitable panel.
We ask that interested participants send a short CV, panel proposal, or paper abstract to hgsaconf2012@gmail.com. Panel proposals should include the names of participants, titles and summaries of individual papers. A/V technology will be available to participants.
The deadline for the submission of proposals is January 4, 2012.
Conference participation does not require a registration fee. The HGSA regrets that it cannot provide any travel funding to participants.
Visiting participants should contact hgsaconf2012@gmail.com to inquire about accommodations.
Themes can include, but are not limited to:
- Technology, Medicine, and Science
- Land, Space, and Human Geographies
- Social, International, and Environmental Law
- Performance, Aesthetics, and Tradition
- Oral History and Material Culture
- History, Memory, and Identity
- Environment and Sustainability
- Media and Visual Culture
- Rhetoric, Language, and Representation
- Community Activism and Civil Society

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Recruitment Weekend Planning Meeting December 5th at 3:30pm

Graduate Students: Please join the DGS and staff in a discussion about the 2012 recruitment weekend. We would like your ideas on how you might want to be included in recruitment events and feedback on weekend activities. Please join us for a brief planning meeting Monday, December 5th at 3:30pm in the Scott Hall Commons. If you are interested in being involved but cannot attend the meeting, please contact Melanie at stein196@umn.edu.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

IDF for 2012-13 Internal Deadline: Thursday, January 5th

The Graduate School will again be awarding Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowships (IDF) for 2012-13, which includes $22,500 and full tuition. Successful applicants are likely to be students in the second, third, or fourth year in 2012-13. Students who've passed prelims are eligible, as well as those who have not yet passed this exam. Students who have received a DDF or an IDF are not eligible. We recommend that all who plan to apply schedule an appointment to consult with DGS Kevin Murphy. Please note: The following deadlines and instructions pertain to the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS). If you intend to apply and partner with a center/institute other than IAS, contact Melanie by November 23, so she can review those center/institute requirements. Internal department deadline: Thursday, January 5th.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
The Graduate School, on behalf of the Provost's Interdisciplinary
Team, announces it will award a limited number (approximately 10) of
one-year Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowships for 2012-13 to
outstanding Graduate School students with interdisciplinary
dissertation topics who would benefit from interaction with faculty at
one of the University's interdisciplinary research centers or
institutes. The fellowship provides a unique study opportunity for
our very best students with research and scholarly interests that
complement those of the host center or institute and its faculty.
Prospective fellows are asked to designate the host center or
institute they believe is the best match with their dissertation
topic, contingent upon a faculty member's willingness to work with the
student during the fellowship year.
TERMS OF THE AWARD
Recipients of the 2012-13 fellowship will receive a stipend of $22,500
for the academic year beginning September 2012, plus full tuition.
Eligible recipients are also covered by comprehensive health
insurance, including subsidized dependent and dental care. 2012-13
recipients will be eligible to apply for an extension during the
2013-14 competition.
Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellows must register in the Graduate
School as full-time students each semester. Fellows may hold
supplemental support up to the value of a 25-percent graduate
assistantship from any source in each semester. Awards may not be
deferred beyond the original award period.
ELIGIBILITY
The competition is open to Ph.D. students by application, with
endorsement by the student's graduate program and college
dean/associate dean. Successful applicants are likely to be students
who will be in the second, third, or fourth year of their program in
the 2012-13 academic year and who are making timely degree progress.
Students who have passed the preliminary oral examination are
eligible, as well as those who have not yet passed this exam.
Students who have received a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship or an
Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship are not eligible.
INTERNAL DEADLINE
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 4:30pm
Please note: A letter of support from the director of the research
center/institute at which the student intends to study is required.
Because of this, the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) set an earlier
deadline, which has significantly impacted our internal deadline.
Internal department deadline: Thursday, January 5.
Please submit the following information as an attachment via email to
DGS Assistant, Melanie Steinman (stein196@umn.edu ):
1. The Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship application form
(available at http://www.grad.umn.edu/fellowships/Instructions/IDF.html).
2. A three-page statement (double-spaced, 12 point type, margins not
less than one inch), written by the student, that:
describes the proposed interdisciplinary research or scholarly project
explains how the student's scholarship will benefit from residence
at the IAS
3. The student's c.v. that includes documentation of the student's
involvement in, or contributions to, research, scholarly or creative
activities (e.g., publications, abstracts, presentations at
professional conferences or university seminars, exhibits)
4. Letter(s) of support from the faculty member(s) at the selected
research center or institute with whom the student plans to study.
Faculty who are eligible to serve as IAS mentors include current or
former IAS faculty fellows; participants in current or former IAS
research/creative collaboratives; IAS advisory board members; and
other faculty members who have been active in the IAS, subject to the
approval of IAS Director Ann Waltner. For complete lists of faculty
fellows see http://www.ias.umn.edu/fellows.php; for collaboratives,
see http://www.ias.umn.edu/collaboratives.php; for board members, see
http://www.ias.umn.edu/advisoryboard.php. To request approval for a
faculty mentor who does not fit into one of these categories, please
contact Susannah Smith. Please note that faculty fellows for 2012-13
may not be selected until after the deadline for IDF applications.
5. A letter of support from the student's academic adviser/co-advisers.
6. Transcripts from each college or university attended (photocopies
are acceptable, including the University of Minnesota transcript,
available online at http://www.onestop.umn.edu/onestop/grades.html).
7. An up-to-date copy of the official degree program form, if the
student has filed it.
Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to consult with
prospective mentors and host center/institute directors early in the
application process to ensure that the student and research project
are a good match for the host site.
REVIEW AND SELECTION
The review will be conducted by a committee of the Graduate School
Fellowship Office.
Selection of recipients will be based on the following criteria:
• the importance of the research and the clarity with which it
is conveyed to the non-specialist
• the potential for the student to make an unusually
significant contribution to the field
• the degree to which the proposed or current research
manifests the student's independence, originality, and resourcefulness
• the potential for the research project to incorporate
methodologies from more than one discipline
• the synergy that can be created by the student and faculty
member working together around the interdisciplinary topic or problem
• the comparative strength of the student's academic record
• the clarity, coherence and strength of the letters supporting
the student's application
Special attention will be given to the interdisciplinary nature of the
current or proposed dissertation research and the willingness of the
particular center or institute and its faculty to host the student
during the fellowship year.
The DGS and dean of the student's program will be notified of the
outcome of the student's application in April.
Questions? Please contact the Graduate School Fellowship Office at
612-625-7579 or gsfellow@umn.edu.
For further information see
http://www.grad.umn.edu/fellowships/InterdisciplinaryFellowship.html.

Winterther Research Fellowships

The Winterther Museum, Garden & Library is pleased to announce its Research Fellowship Program for 2012-13. Academic, museum, and independent scholars, including graduate students, receive one-to three-month short term fellowships with $1,500 per month. Application deadline: January 15, 2012.

Applicants need not apply for a specific named fellowship, but we do designate certain awards as:
•Faith Andrews Fellowships for the study of Shaker life and material culture
•Robert Lee Gill Fellowships for research on American decorative arts, painting, architecture, or historic preservation
•Neville McD. Thompson Fellowships for the study of domestic life, late 19th- and early 20th-century design and material culture
Click here for application information.

2011 Jerome Joss Graduate Student Research Grants

The Center for Jewish Studies invites applications for the 2011 Jerome Joss Graduate Student Research Grants. Funds are available University of Minnesota graduate students who are formulating, researching or writing publishable papers or dissertations in which the focus of inquiry is in the field of Jewish Studies. Awards of $1,000 will be given to support research needs at any stage of graduate work. Application deadline: November 29, 2011. Click here for more info.

Tenure-track position at UC-Riverside

The Department of English at the University of California, Riverside invites applications for a tenure-track position as Assistant Professor of Chicana/o-Latina/o Literary and Cultural Studies beginning July 1, 2012. Requirements include a PhD, a record or compelling promise of research, teaching experience, and a dedication to teaching excellence. Application deadline: December 10, 2011.

Desirable secondary areas of interest include (but are not restricted to) border studies, transnational studies, the literature of immigration, critical ethnic studies, media/film/visual culture, queer studies, and/or indigenous oral, literary, and performance studies. The University of California, Riverside is a Hispanic-serving institution. Located sixty miles east of Los Angeles, it is one of the most diverse campuses in the country. More information about the department may be found at http://english.ucr.edu. Salary is commensurate with education, experience, and publication record. Please send a letter of application, curriculum vitae, writing sample (20-25 pp.), and three letters of recommendation (to be sent by the referees or in an academic placement file). Review of applications will begin December 10, 2011 and the position will be open until filled.
Applications should be addressed to Chicana/o-Latina/o Search, c/o Deborah Willis, Chair, Department of English - 40, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0323. All applicants will receive acknowledgement of receipt of the application. Candidates may be interviewed at the MLA convention in Seattle, WA. UCR is an EO/AA employer.

CFP: "Queering Paradigms IV"

Submissions are invited for the conference "Queering Paradigms IV" to be held July 25-28, 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The aim of the conference is to analyze the status quo and the future challenges of Queer and LGBTIQ Studies from an ample, inter/multidisciplinary perspective, in order to problematize/destabilize essentialized discourses and totalizing paradigms. Submission deadline: December 15, 2011. Click here for more info.

AMST 8920: Political Economy and Space

AMST 8920: Political Economy and Space will be taught spring 2012 by Prof. David Karjanen on Tuesdays from 1:25 to 3:20pm. This course looks at how the relationship between the economic imperatives and spatial qualities of American capitalist development, as well as cultural dynamics both reflect and influence urban and suburban phenomena.

In the post-war era, the American landscape, both its physical environment as well as social and cultural worlds, have been influenced by the development and transformation of cities and suburbs. This course looks at how the relationship between the economic imperatives and spatial qualities of American capitalist development, as well as cultural dynamics both reflect and influence urban and suburban phenomena. The first part of the class emphasizes political economy and theory--Marx and David Harvey and in particular, as well as cultural theories of power from Antonio Gramsci and Doreen Massey, and Michel Foucault's study of heterotopias. The remainder of readings includes ethnographies and historical studies of urban and suburban space, covering issues from urban neoliberalism to planning and the transformation of the American working class.

AMST 8920: New Directions in U.S. Based Queer Studies

AMST 8920: NEW DIRECTIONS in U.S.-Based Queer Studies will be taught by Prof. Kale Fajardo spring 2012 on Wednesdays 3:35 - 5:30pm. Inspired by Jack Halberstam, Jose Munoz, and David Eng's 2008 essay, "What's Queer About Queer Studies Now?" this course stresses reading post-2005 books and essays in queer studies.

We will, for example, think about queer studies and projects in the context of the U.S. 'war on terror,' neoliberalism, capitalism, out-migration, and 'global gay' discourses in the U.S. and internationally. Participants will read and constructively critique new works by Jack Halberstam, Scott Herring, Karen Tongson, and Chandan Reddy among others. This course will be useful to graduate students preparing queer studies reading lists for oral exams and, of course, those with queer studies research agendas. Advanced undergrads with solid backgrounds in gender, feminist, queer or ethnic studies are also welcome to enroll. Contact Professor Fajardo if you need a permission code.

HIST 5980/8630 Spring 2012

HIST 5980/8630: Topics in Comparative Women's History: Gender Dynamics and Domestic Life in World History will be taught spring 2012 by Prof. Mary Jo Maynes and Prof. Ann Waltner on Tuesdays from 3:35-5:30pm.

The seminar will center on discussion of sets of comparativereadings about women, gender, sexuality, and domestic life/household dynamicsin world history. The sets of readings areclustered thematically but cross a wide temporal and cultural range. The broadthemes include: gender and sexuality in comparative family/kinship systems;gendering power (political authority, statebuilding, empires); the birth of thegods (gender, sexuality, world religions); and "greed, lust, and gender"(gendering labor and markets). Within each general theme, we will attend toquestions of historical periodization, and typically discuss work frompremodern as well as modern historical eras. We will examine the constructionof gender, sexuality, and family/household dynamics through global-historicalprocesses, and also the domestic/household realm as a site of worldhistory. The comparative andthematically organized discussions will be accompanied by systematic attentionto questions of historiography and world-history pedagogy. Grad students inhistory will write a syllabus for a world history course that incorporates theseminar's themes and problematics. Students from other programs/disciplines candevelop a related project pertinent to their discipline

"Queering Performance" Colloquia Series

The Schochet Endowment for GLBT Studies & Campus Life is pleased to present our first colloquia series of the Fall term "Queering Performance: The Role of Art in Social Movements" on Thursday, November 17th at 4pm in Nolte Center 140. This discussion will seek to explore the role of art in building and sustaining community, in working through conflict, and as a means of resistance for LGBTQ communities. Facilitated by Kelley Meister. Panelists: Linda Hawj, Lucinda Naylor, Sinan Goknur. Free and open to the public, all are encouraged to attend.

Ben Wiggins presents talk at next American Studies Workshop: Monday, November 28th

The next American Studies graduate student workshop of the semester will be held on Monday, November 28, from 3:30 - 5:00pm in the Scott Hall Commons, room 105. All faculty and graduate students are encouraged to attend. Ben Wiggins will workshop his talk titled, "Risk in the New-media Culture Industry; or, Enlightenment as a Kick in the Nuts".

This paper analyzes Pranked--a reality television show that culls home videos of "real people" and "real pranks" from user-uploading Internet sites such as YouTube and formats them into a MTV broadcast--to reconsider the culture industry as new media reconfigures it. Highlighting the underappreciated role entertainment insurers have played in quelling spontaneity in mass culture, this paper shows how Pranked circumvents the traditional forms of risk management by distancing production companies and networks from the danger associated with the production of the pranking clips. Pranked demonstrates the ends of enlightenment as the disentanglement of insurance and the culture industry fosters the spontaneity Horkheimer and Adorno yearned for, but also engenders the sadism they feared.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

IAF Grassroots PhD Candidate Fellowships

The Inter-American Foundation (IAF) is accepting applications for its 2012-2013 Grassroots Development Fellowship Program. IAF Fellowships support dissertation research in Latin America and the Caribbean undertaken by students who have advanced to PhD candidacy. Funding is for between 4 and 12 months of dissertation research. Application deadline: January 17, 2012. Click here for full requirements and more details.

CFP: EXTENDED DEADLINE for 13th Annual Graduate Symposium on Women's and Gender History

The Executive Committee of the Thirteenth Annual Graduate Symposium on Women's and Gender History, "Indecency", at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce a call for papers. The Symposium is scheduled for March 1-3, 2012. Submissions from graduate students from any instiution and discipline on any topic in the field of women's and gender history are invited. Submission Deadline: EXTENDED TO November 15, 2011.

The Executive Committee of the Thirteenth Annual Graduate Symposium on
Women's and Gender History at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce a call for papers. The
Symposium, which is the capstone event of the History Department's
Women's History month celebration, is scheduled for March 1-3, 2012.
To celebrate and encourage further work in the field of women's and
gender history, we invite submissions from graduate students from any
institution and discipline on any topic in the field of women's and
gender history. Papers submitted as a panel will be judged
individually. Preference will be given to scholars who did not present
at last year's Symposium.
The history of gender and sexuality is in many ways the history of
indecency--of bodies, acts, and attachments that were deemed indecent
by culture or legal code, and of the various ways subjects questioned,
resisted, or embraced that label. Indeed, indecency has long
functioned as a pivot upon which concepts and experiences of inclusion
and exclusion depend, and thus it offers us a valuable way of
exploring both dominant paradigms and their undoing.
The theme is meant to be open-ended--provocative rather than
prescriptive--and papers need not take up the question of indecency in
any direct or obvious way. In gathering together what we hope will be
a geographically, temporally, and disciplinarily diverse body of
papers, the conference will create opportunities for dialogue and
discussion across these different fields. To that end, successful
proposals might focus on topics such as: the construction of
indecency; immigration, hygiene, and public health; prostitution and
"indecent" labor; religion and decency; obscenity, censorship, and the
law; disgust and desire; material cultures of indecency; sensory
perception and offense; propriety and literary form; menstruation;
family structures; the grotesque in travel accounts; pornography;
gossip as a historical force or source; the history of scandal; the
moral economy of decency; responses to matter out of place; and
alternative archives for exploring indecency. As always, we welcome
proposals that surprise us by taking the theme in unexpected (or
perhaps even indecent) directions.
For the Thirteenth Annual Symposium, we are delighted to announce a
keynote speaker who engages many of these themes in her work:
• Judith Surkis, Scholar with the Institute for Advanced Study at
Princeton University. Author of Sexing the Citizen: Morality and
Masculinity in France, 1870-1920 (Cornell University Press, 2006),
Surkis is currently at work on a project titled Scandalous Subjects:
Intimacy and Indecency in France and French Algeria, 1830-1930.
To submit a paper or panel by email (preferred method): please send
only one attachment in Word or PDF format containing a 250-word
abstract and a one-page curriculum vitae for each paper presenter,
commentator, or panel chair to gendersymp@gmail.com
To submit a paper or panel in a hard copy format, please send five (5)
copies of all abstracts and curriculum vitae to:
Programming Committee, Graduate Symposium on Women's and Gender History
309 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright Street
Urbana, Illinois 61801
MC - 466
For more information, please contact Programming Committee Chairs
Ashley Hetrick and Derek Attig at gendersymp@gmail.com

Goldberg Talk on November 21st

The Center for Jewish Studies Colloquium Series presents Harvey Goldberg's talk "Recent Research Perspectives on Jewish Settlers and Settlement on the West Bank" on November 21 at 12:00pm in 135 Nicholson Hall.

Harvey E. Goldberg is the emeritus Sarah Allen Shaine Chair in Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University. His research concerns Jews in the Middle East, ethnic and religious identities in Israeli society, and the overlap between Anthropology and Jewish Studies. He is author of Jewish Life in Muslim Libya: Rivals and Relatives and Jewish Passages: Cycles of Jewish Life, and has edited Sephardi and Middle Eastern Jewries and The Life of Judaism.
Israeli settlements on theWest Bank are primarily viewed as a pressing political issue, while recent research has also illuminated important social and religious issues entailed in their continued existence and development. Among them are critiques of viewing settlers as "fundamentalists," and explorations of how they, like other Israelis, are impacted by neo-liberal economic policies. These and other recent lines of research will be sketched and offered for discussion.
ThisEvent is Free & Open to the Public
A Light Lunch will be Provided
Co-sponsored by: UofMDepartment of Anthropology
Nicholson Hall is located at 216 Pillsbury Dr SE on the East Bank of the Minneapolis campus. For more information, please contact The Center for Jewish Studies at: 612-624-4914 or by e-mail at jwst@umn.edu.

Assistant Professor in American Studies at University of New Mexico

The Department of American Studies at the University of New Mexico invites applicants for a probationary appointment leading to a tenure decision in American Studies with expertise in Popular Culture at the level of Assistant Professor. The appointment will begin August 2012. Application deadline: November 30, 2011.

We seek to appoint a candidate with wide-ranging interdisciplinary interests in popular culture. Responsibilities include: teaching in the area of specialization at the undergraduate and graduate level, graduate student mentoring, and service. Salary will be competitive and commensurate with the qualifications of the successful applicant.
Minimum qualifications: PhD by appointment start date in American Studies, Cultural Studies, Film/Media Studies, or a related field.
Preferred qualifications include: An established record or promise of excellence in scholarly research and publication; Demonstrated capacity to work cooperatively with faculty colleagues; Demonstrated capacity to teach students from diverse educational, socio-economic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds; Interest in engaging in public intellectual work within and beyond the confines of the University; Excellence in teaching at the University level; Ability to mentor graduate students; Expertise in one or more of the following subfields: popular culture theory, film and media studies, expressive cultures, gender, popular music, digital cultures, social networking, or performance studies.
Applications can only be accepted online at https://unmjobs.unm.edu. Please see posting number 0813182 for full details. For best consideration, application materials must be received by November 30, 2011.
A completed application consists of 1) a signed letter of application, 2) curriculum vitae, 3) samples of candidate's scholarly writing, 4) sample syllabi of relevant courses and 5) a list of three references.
For questions about this position please contact Dr. Gabriel Meléndez at gabriel@unm.edu.
The University of New Mexico is committed to promoting and supporting the diversity of our campuses. UNM is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and Educator.

CL/CSDS 8910 Section 3 Spring 2012

CL/CSDS 8910 Section 3: "Critical Pedagogy and the New Humanities will be taught by Robin Brown in spring 2012 on Wednesdays 12:00 to 3:00pm. Click here for a course flyer.

CFP: "Diasporas and 'Race'" at Wake Forest University

Submissions are invited for the International Conference "Diasporas and 'Race'" to be held October 25-27, 2012 at Wake Forest University. This conference is an extension of the 2011 conference "Diasporas and Cultures of Migration" and will expand the reflection on the concept of diaspora, its uses, its limits, or even its outright rejection as a useful concept. Submission deadline: February 1, 2012.

In the wake of the 2011 conference on "Diasporas and Cultures of Migration" that was held at Montpellier, University Paul Valéry, the convenors of this conference wish to extend and expand the reflection on the concept of diaspora, its uses, its limits, or even its outright rejection as a useful concept, by focusing on the links between diasporas and "race."
Diasporas have always had to negotiate new articulations of ethnic/racial identities while individuals had to make do with contexts already defined by certain types of racial relations and the evolutions of racial transnational references. The emergence of new
racisms and of new racialized identities reconfigures class hierarchies, which often results in violence against migrants.
Does the prism of diaspora allow for a clearer conceptualization of the concept of "race" as a socio-historical construction and a surface of projection that depends on context? Does diasporic belonging constitute a response to racism and imposed ethno-racial identities? How have populations appropriated it to foster local and global socialities and practices?
The terms creolization, transnationalism and cosmopolitanism, which certain scholars prefer to diaspora, entertain certain specific relations to "race": do these new concepts help or create blind spots when it comes to racial identity, racialization, multiracialism or the erasure of "race"?
What happens when we also address these issues in terms of gender and class? What role does the mediation of art and literature play in these evolutions? Are there specific artistic creations that emerge from/at this juncture? Is there an aesthetics that simultaneously addresses issues of race and diaspora? Can one point to the
appropriation, the creation and the circulation of images that translate diasporic sensitivity? Is race a component of this aesthetics or is it left out as irrelevant?
If diaspora moves "beyond race", how does diaspora intersect with gender relations, religious identities and concepts of geography and space? Can we address the link between the environment and the migrations linked to diasporic movement? Can we speak of a postcolonial ecology? Can these issues ultimately be thought within the wider frame of the human and the natural?
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS (maximum 250 words): February 1, 2012
Please submit a short bio-bibliographical notice as well (maximum 200 words) and copy the five co-convenors of the conference in your email.
"Diasporas, Cultures of Mobilities, 'Race'" Conference series
This will be the second meeting in the series organized by the research center EMMA (University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France) over 2011-13 which gathers leading scholars in the field to identify and assess the joint evolutions of "Diaspora Studies" and "Race studies" to better understand: 1) how these approaches can be cross-fertilising; 2) how socio-economic and political changes have affected race relations and diasporic communities; 3) how literature and the arts, the social sciences and cultural studies have seized that question. This project entails a redefinition of terms and concepts and the confrontation of different, but not necessarily divergent, perspectives.
A preparatory symposium, "Diasporas and Cultures of Migration" was held at University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3 in June 2011, in partnership with CAAR (Collegium for African-American Research), the Centre de Recherches Littéraires et Historiques de l'Océan Indien (CRLHOI, University of La Réunion), the Centre of South Asian Studies (CSAS, University of Edinburgh, UK), the Department for Continuing Education (University of Oxford), the Institut de Recherche Intersite Etudes Culturelles (IRIEC, University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3), the International Institute of Migration (IMI, University of Oxford), the MSH-Montpellier (Maison des Sciences de l'Homme-Montpellier), Wake Forest University (North Carolina, USA), Wesleyan University (USA).
Leading scholars assessed the state of the debate in preparation for this second event. The third conference, "African-Americans, 'Race' and Diaspora", scheduled for June 13-15, 2013 at University Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, will be specifically dedicated to the interlocking issues of "race" and the Black Diaspora. The concluding symposium, scheduled for October 25-26, 2013, at the University of Oxford, UK, will allow for final reflections.
Partners for the conference at Wake Forest University:
CAAR (Collegium for African American Research) (to be confirmed)
Department for Continuing Education (University of Oxford, UK)
IRIEC (Institut de Recherche Intersite Etudes Culturelles, Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France)
EMMA (Etudes Montpelliéraines du Monde Anglophone, Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier 3, France)
MIGRINTER (CNRS, Université de Poitiers, France)
Wake Forest University (North Carolina, USA)
Co-convenors
Dr Sally Barbour (Wake Forest University, USA) barbour@wfu.edu
Dr David Howard (University of Oxford, UK) david.howard@conted.ox.ac.uk
Dr Thomas Lacroix (IMI, Univ. of Oxford, UK; MIGRINTER, Université de Poitiers, France) thomas.lacroix@univ-poitiers.fr
Dr Judith Misrahi-Barak (EMMA, Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3, France) judith.misrahi-barak@univ-montp3.fr
Pr Claudine Raynaud (EMMA, Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3, France) claudine.raynaud@univ-montp3.fr

"The Inland Sea" at Macalester College

The Macalester College Theatre and Dance Department presents "The Inland Sea" by Naomi Wallace beginning November 11th.

This production is the U.S. Premiere of a work by one of the most eloquent and radical American playwrights. It's set in 1760s northern England, on an estate that's clearing land to create the quintessential English pastoral landscape -- thereby displacing the poor and bringing them into direct conflict with those who are hired to dig. The play is about Empire and the dreams of Empire, it's about class warfare, it's about connections among fantasy, sex, violence, the land, and bodies, and it's about race and work. JUST FOR STARTERS. I said to the cast after the first read-through: "this is ambitious, ferocious and gorgeous."
Shows:
November 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 at 7:30pm
November 13 at 2:00pm
There will be a post-show discussion after the matinee on Sunday, November 13.
Click here for a poster.

Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship internal deadline: Monday, November 21, 2011

The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund trustee, J.P. Morgan Bank, announces the Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellowship competition which includes an annual stipend of $18,000 plus tuition, renewable for up to three years of total support. Eligibility requirements include:
-demonstrated financial need,
-will carry out their research entirely within the United States, and
-must be a citizen of the United States

The department may put forward one nomination to the Grad School. The American Studies internal deadline for applications is Monday, November 21, 2011.

Please follow this link for complete information:
http://www.grad.umn.edu/fellowships/Liebmann/index.html

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

"The Hostile Gospel" Talk at Macalester College

Join Macalester College for Dr. Daniel Hodge's talk "The Hostile Gospel: Seeking the Spiritual & Theological Sensibilities of Hip Hop Culture in Post 9/11 America" on November 3rd at 4:30pm in the Old Main building, room 111. Click here for more info.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

CFP: California American Studies Association annual meeting

The Program Committee for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the California American Studies Association invites proposals for presentations to the annual meeting, to be held April 20-21, 2012. Rather than announce a specific theme this year, the program invites panels and papers addressing all major aspects of the critical study of U.S. cultures. Submission deadline: February 1, 2012. Click here for a flyer about the conference.

CFP: Special Issue of South Asian Popular Culture

Special issue call for papers to be published in the October 2013 special issue of South Asian Popular Culture. This special issue aims to explore the changing social and cultural landscape of sport within the South Asian diaspora. Submission deadline: December 16, 2011.

Guest editors: Daniel Burdsey (University of Brighton, UK), Stanley Thangaraj (Vanderbilt University, USA) and Rajinder Dudrah (University of Manchester, UK)
Sporting practices have been a central feature of South Asian diasporic formations ever since the mass migrations from the subcontinent during the middle and latter parts of the twentieth century. Yet, just as these communities have themselves evolved in a multitude of ways, the role and meanings of sport within them have likewise been subjected to contestation, resistance, modification and change. The relationship between sport and global South Asian groups remains nuanced and complex; on the one hand, it suggests progression and opportunity, and on the other, sport remains inexorably a site of subjugation and exclusion.
This special issue aims to explore the changing social and cultural landscape of sport within the South Asian diaspora. Through established and emerging theoretical perspectives, and original empirical studies, the objective of the volume is to provide a critical (re-)examination of the roles that sports play within and in relation to South Asian groups in the diaspora. South Asian Popular Culture invites paper proposals critically addressing issues related to sport - from elite competition to community participation - across all segments of the South Asia diaspora. Though by no means limited to these questions, we anticipate that papers might address the following topics:
· How do sporting practices link the various sites and communities of diaspora and homeland(s)? How does sport facilitate imaginaries of "home" within the diaspora?
· In what ways does sport facilitate the construction and articulation of "new ethnicities" / diasporic South Asian identities?
· How is sport used as a form of resistance in the South Asian diaspora? What is the relation of sport to power, resistance and domination?
· How are femininities, masculinities, queer identities and other forms of intersectionality articulated through sport in the South Asian diaspora?
· What are the implications of the "War on Terror", empire and neoliberal politics for sport and citizenship in the South Asian diaspora?
· How are notions of transnationalism and (post-)colonialism constructed and experienced in relation to sport in the South Asian diaspora?
· What is the role of the sporting celebrity in the South Asian diaspora? How is global South Asian sport represented and mediated?
· How does sport discriminate, marginalise and exclude South Asians in the diaspora?
· How does sport link to broader leisure forms, and creative and cultural industries in the South Asian diaspora?
Submission guidelines
Original articles (up to 7000 words including all notes and references) and shorter commentaries for the Working Notes section (1000-3000 words) are invited for submission to the special issue. Please email a 300 word abstract and a 150 word author biography in a Microsoft Word attachment to journalsapc@gmail.com by 16 December 2011. Initial review decision will be notified by 31 January 2012. Selected proposals should be submitted as complete manuscripts no later than 31 June 2012. All manuscripts will undergo peer review, based on initial editor screening. Manuscripts should not be under consideration by another publication at the time of submission. For more information and submission guidelines please visit: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14746689.asp
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Cultural Studies Association (US) -- http://www.culturalstudiesassociation.org/
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"Art in Revolution" Discussion Featuring Mahdi 11/10 at 3:30pm

The Feminist Studies Graduate Student Association and Mizna present "Art in Revolution: A Panel Discussion on the Role of Art in the Arab Uprisings" on Thursday, November 10th at 3:30-5:30pm in Anderson Hall room 270. Waleed Mahdi will be one of the featured panel members.

Featuring:
Fadia Afashe (Humphrey Fellow, Human Rights Activist & Artist)
Mohammed Bamyeh (Guest Editor of forthcoming Mizna journal "Literature in Revolution", Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh)
Waleed Mahdi (Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Studies)
Tania Khalaf (Filmmaker and Professor of Radio, Film, and Television, University of North Texas)
Moderated by Imed Labidi (Lecturer, Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature)
Please join us after the panel discussion for the opening of the Arab Film Festival at the historic Heights Theater! 3951 Central Ave, Columbia Heights
Visit www.mizna.org/arabfilmfest11/ for more details.

The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and the Smithsonian Institution (SI) Fellowship

The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and the Smithsonian Institute (SI) invite applications for one-year fellowships to support research in residence at Smithsonian Institution facilities. Fellowships carry a stipend of $30,000. Applicants much have satisfied all program requirements except completion of the dissertation. Applications are due directly to the Graduate Fellowship Office at 5 p.m. on November 15, 2011.

Thirteen Universities have been invited to submit one nomination each; six awards will be given. Applicants must propose to conduct research at the Smithsonian in one of its areas of research as outlined in the publication, Smithsonian Opportunities for Research and Study, http://www.si.edu/research+study, for a period of nine to twelve months.
Eligibility Criteria:
* must be enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Minnesota
* must have completed all course work for the program
* must have been admitted into doctoral candidacy
* must have satisfied all requirements except completion of the dissertation
Interested students apply directly to the Graduate Fellowship Office by submitting an electronic copy of their application packet (as a single PDF file) to gsfellow@umn.edu, by 5 p.m. on November 15.
See attached for the CIC/SI's complete description of the fellowship, along with the application and instructions:

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

PCard Receipts Due

Please submit receipts for all October PCard purchases to Laura by Tuesday, November 1st. PCard Coversheet

Tenure-stream African American Studies position at Penn State

Pennsylvania State University invites applications for a tenure-stream position in its new Department of African American Studies. The position is to be filled at the rank of assistant or beginning associate professor, effective July 1, 2012. Application deadline: December 1, 2011.

Applicants should have demonstrable teaching experience or potential, and scholarly credentials commensurate with a tenure-stream appointment at a major research university. While we welcome applications from scholars across all the relevant areas of specialization and competence, we particularly encourage applications from scholars with research emphases in feminist theory and in humanistic disciplines like history, comparative literature, philosophy, and English.
Interested parties should submit a formal letter of application, current curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference to www.la.psu.edu/facultysearch/. Electronic submission is preferred. If you cannot submit electronically, applications can be mailed to Marie Carlson, The Pennsylvania State University, 133 Willard Building , University Park, PA 16802.
Applications received by December 1, 2011, will receive first priority, although all applications will be considered until the search is concluded. For additional information, contact Marie Carlson atmdc16@psu.edu. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity and the diversity of its workforce.

Two-year Post-doctoral Appointment at Washington University

The Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis seeks to fill a two-year post-doctoral appointment in masculinities and queer theory to begin in the 2012-13 academic year. Applications are invited from disciplines or interdisciplinary programs in the social sciences and humanities. Application deadline: January 17, 2012.

We are particularly interested in candidates from disciplines or interdisciplinary programs in the social sciences and humanities. Special consideration will be given to those whose research explores transnational and/or intersectional issues and masculinities, as well as queer theory. The responsibilities of this appointment include course teaching and research.
Applicants should send a letter of interest explaining research and scholarly interests; current curriculum vitae; a five-page description of current research project(s); a published article or dissertation chapter; and three (3) letters of recommendation, including one from the dissertation advisor.
The committee will review applications until the position is filled, but priority will be given to those received by January 17th, 2012.
Further inquiries can be made to 314-935-5102 or women@artsci.wustl.edu
Application Address:
Applications should be sent to Linda Nicholson, Interim Director, WGSS Search Committee, Campus Box 1078, Washington University, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130.
Application E-Mail: women@artsci.wustl.edu
Institution/Department URL: http://wgss.artsci.wustl.edu/
Contact E-Mail: women@artsci.wustl.edu
Contact Telephone: 314-935-5102
Additional Information:
Washington University especially encourages applications from women, members of ethnic minority groups, and disabled individuals. Applicants must be eligible to work in the United States and have received the doctorate after July 1, 2009 and before July 1, 2012.

WRIT 8510 Spring 2012

WRIT 8510: Seminar in Rhetoric Emergent Genres in the Internet: Innovation, Evolution, and Genre Theory will be taught by Prof. Carol Berkenkotter Spring 2012 on Wednesday 2:30 to 5pm. This seminar brings together theorists and researchers from several disciplines to explore and analyze the functions of genre in the field of Computer-Mediated Communication. Click here for a course flyer

New Books at the Libraries

Our librarian, Nancy Herther, has sent us another list of recent acquisitions, click here for a full list.

"To Love and Rukus" Spoken Word Presentation

The Feminist Studies Graduate Student Association and The Graduate Interdisciplinary Group in Sexuality Studies will host "To Love and Ruckus: Spoken Word by kay barrett" on Wednesday, November 16th. The event will begin at 5:00pm at Nolte Center, room 140. Click here for an event flyer.

"Revisiting bell hooks" presentation sponsored by GWSS

The Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies is pleased to invite you to join them for Prof. Catherine Squires Cowles presentation "Revisiting bell hooks" on Friday, October 28, 2011. The event will begin at 2pm in room 400 Ford Hall, and light refreshments will be served.

Most researchers in Communication Studies turn to bell hooks for inspiration regarding representations of Black women. Squire argues that hooks' work is much broader. She demonstrates how hook's concerns about representation are but one route into her deeper discussion of civility and democratic practices. Reconsidering bell hooks in the company of john Dewey, C. Wright Mills, Nancy Fraser, and Jurgen Habernas, she situates bell hooks in contemporary debates over civility in political discourse.
Catherine Squires is Cowles Professor of Journalism, Equity and Diversity at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Minnesota. She is author of African Americans and the Media (Polity Press, 2009) and Dispatches from the Color Line: The Press and Multiracial America (SUNY Press, 2007). She has published widely cited articles in the Journal of Communications Inquiry and the International Journal of Press/Politics. She is also co-editor of the anthology The Obama Effect: Multidisciplinary Readings of the 2008 Campaign (SUNY Press, 2010).
Click here for an event flyer

Ault Coauthors The 1968 Project

Current graduate student Elizabeth Ault's coauthored book, The 1968 Project: A Nation Coming of Age, is now available from the Minnesota Historical Society Press. It's published in conjunction with The 1968 Exhibit on display at the Minnesota History Center through February

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Policy regarding University-issued International Insurance for Research Abroad

Graduate Students: The Global Programs & Strategy Alliance Office recently informed departments that graduate students must purchase University-issued international insurance, with coverage by Cultural Insurance Services International (CISI) or receive a waiver from the GPS Alliance in order to conduct University activities (research, attending conferences, etc) abroad. In order to be in compliance with this policy, the department will require proof of insurance or approval of a waiver for those who are doing research abroad prior to approving/releasing research or travel funds, grpp, or other funding.

If you are traveling internationally please contact GPS Alliance to find out what is required. Please note that receiving a waiver / insurance will take additional time if traveling to a country on the State Department Traveling Warning list. In order to be in compliance with this policy the department will require proof of insurance or approval of a waiver for those who are doing research abroad prior to approving/ releasing research or travel funds, grpp, or other funding. For more information on the University policy please see: http://global.umn.edu/travel/insurance/outgoing.html

Next "The Work of American Studies" Workshop: Academic Conferences: Monday October 24 at 3:30pm

"The Work of American Studies" series' first workshop of the semester will be Monday, October 24 at 3:30pm in the Scott Hall Commons on the topic of "academic conferences". Panelists will speak on a variety of subjects, including writing effective conference papers, developing panel proposals, and conceptualizing and coordinating conferences. Panelists include Kale Bantigue Fajardo, Juliana Hu Pegues, and Karisa Butler-Wall. Please bring your questions to this interactive session.

Requesting the Use of American Studies Department Funds for Research and Conference Travel

Grad students are able to request the use of Department funds for research and conference travel on an on-going basis. Continue reading for more information and the procedure for requesting the use of funds.

All American Studies graduate students are provided up to $1500 in department Research and Conference Travel funding over the course of your graduate career. Requests are limited to $500 per instance. Because the funds are limited, you are encouraged to apply for outside sources and to rely on this department funding only when you are unable to secure outside funding. Good sources include conference organizations and "best paper" competitions. The following is a list of several
University web sites with information about additional funding opportunities:
http://www.grad.umn.edu/prospective_students/Financing/other.html
http://www.gapsa.umn.edu/grants/travel.htm
http://www.cogs.umn.edu/awards.html
http://www.international.umn.edu/funding/gradstudents.php
http://www.grad.umn.edu/gradwriting/funding.html
You may request funding as soon as the criteria for each allocation are met. The typical response time in which you will receive a reply indicating whether or not your request has been approved is two weeks. Note: Funds are distributed after the travel takes place in the form of a reimbursement for specific expenses incurred. Please review the specific processes below and contact Melanie Steinman if you have any questions.
Requesting Funds for Conference Travel
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American Studies grad students in active status may request funding to travel to scholarly conferences to present a research paper. We will not provide funds for presenting the same paper at more than one conference.
Criteria for conference travel funding:
• You are in good standing
• You have been accepted to present research at a conference
• Your total claim from the research and conference travel funds has
not exceeded $1500
To request conference travel funds, email Melanie Steinman, stein196@umn.edu, with the following:
• Student ID# and name of adviser(s)
• Proof of acceptance to present at conference
• Paper title and conference name, date, and location (if not
indicated on proof of acceptance)
• Amount requested (not to exceed $500) with detailed budget proposal
• For students traveling internationally: Proof of University-issued
international insurance OR approved waiver
Please note, we prefer, as proof of acceptance to present at conference, a PDF of the conference program page showing the session in which you will
participating. However, a forwarded email from the conference organizers or hard copy acceptance letter will also suffice.
Requesting Funds for Research Travel
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American Studies grad students in active status may request funds to cover expenses related to dissertation research. Covered expenses include travel costs and reproduction of essential documents and images.
Criteria for research funding:
• You are in good standing
• You have successfully completed the preliminary portfolio exam
• Proposed research is clearly connected to dissertation
• Proposal clearly establishes a justification for research (e.g.
travel to an archive to investigate materials not otherwise available)
• Proposal sets out a sound research design
• Your total claim from the research and conference travel funds has
not exceeded $1500
To request research travel funds, email Melanie Steinman, stein196@umn.edu, with the following:
• Student ID# and name of adviser(s)
• One page description of your project, including title
• Up to a one page research proposal clearly describing in detail the
research you will undertake (be as specific as possible about the use
of archives, libraries, interviews, etc)
• Amount requested (not to exceed $500) with detailed budget proposal
• For students traveling internationally: Proof of University-issued
international insurance OR approved waiver