The American Studies Symposium announces a call for papers for ‚ÄúInterrogating ‚Äìisms: Issues of Power from the Streets to Academia‚Ä? to be held at Purdue University from April 16-18 2009. Submissions DUE: Jan. 16, 2009.
American Studies Symposium
‚ÄúInterrogating ‚Äìisms: Issues of Power from the Streets to Academia‚Ä?
Purdue University • West Lafayette, IN • April 16-18, 2009
Submission Deadline: January 16, 2009
The American Studies Program at Purdue University announces its 34th annual Symposium to be held April 16-19, 2008. Our theme, ‚ÄúInterrogating ‚Äìisms: Issues of Power from the Streets to Academia,‚Ä? intends to frame discussions about the interplay of activism and scholarship within our academic community. By ‚Äúactivism‚Ä? we mean deliberate behavior or action intended to effect desired change. Conversations that explore what accounts for change and what activism is involves an examination of the various forms of oppression (racism, sexism, heterosexism, etc.) experienced within society and the challenges one faces when confronting power. ‚ÄúActivism‚Ä? also calls into question who constitutes the community that speaks, theorizes, and proposes solutions for the change envisioned. In this sense, our symposium hopes to acknowledge a shift within American Studies to cultivate scholarship that bridges the divide between the halls of academe and people, in general, who form the communities in which we live. In particular, we are concerned with knowledge creation that involves the input of those outside of academe and collective efforts to shape consciousness about issues impacting our society.
Organized by graduate students, this year’s symposium will take place over the course of three days and focuses specifically on the presentation of graduate student work. The Symposium Committee invites students of all disciplines to submit proposals no longer than one page in length for panels, individual papers, workshops, or performances that examine some issue of power. Proposed work may consider the ways in which power manifests, is recognized, negotiated, and utilized. We are also interested in work that addresses the ways in which power is confronted in order to effect change.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
• Critical Race Theory
• Transnational Studies
• Labor and Class Studies
• Gender, Sexuality, and Queer Theory
• Cultural Studies
• Popular Culture and Media Studies
• Intersectionality Theory
• Literary Studies
• Religious Studies
• Academic Freedom Issues
• Social and Political Movements
• Pedagogy, Politics, and the Classroom
• Hierarchy within Academia
• Politics of Identity and the Field of American Studies
• Performance Studies
• Performance Art (Spoken Work, Poetry, Independent Films, Dramatizations)
Please submit along with your proposal a biography of no more than 250 words and a current CV with contact information (especially your email address). Submissions may be made electronically to Philathia Bolton at pbolton@purdue.edu or to Michelle Carreon at mcarreon@purdue.edu.
