Convention
2012 Call for Papers
This page is updated frequently as we receive changes. Check back often.
The 2012 informal convention theme is: Debt.
Possible sub-themes include:
| indebtedness and influence | borrowers and lenders | bonds and contracts |
| economies of lack | states of debt | oaths and promises |
| gift-giving | cultures of expenditure | Occupy literature |
| trans-cultural capital | deferring | symbolic economies |
| ecological materialism | rethinking civic missions/practices | forgiveness |
| gratitude | literature of demand | emotional obligation |
| debts of affect | student loans |
Submitting Abstracts to a Specific Session
If you are interested in submitting a paper for one of the sessions below, please contact the session organizer directly. You may participate in no more than two sessions unless special permission is granted.
Submitting Special Session Proposals
Special Session proposals are now being accepted. To submit a Special Session proposal for the 2012 Convention, please complete the Special Session Proposal Form (MS Word) by March 9th and email it to the M/MLA office at mmla@luc.edu. The Special Session proposals will be reviewed in April and posted in the same month.
Submitting Individual Abstracts
Individual paper proposals (250 words or less) on the general theme of the conference ("Debt") may be submitted directly to the M/MLA office by March 9, 2012 via email (mmla@luc.edu). Those abstracts accepted will be organized into special sessions.
The following list contains call for papers for:
Professionalizing Workshops
The Professionalizing workshops will be posted in the Spring.
Permanent Sections
African American Literature
Topic: Being More than Ambivalent Towards Race: Class in Contemporary African American Literature/ Those That Came Before: Black Literary Indebtedness
This panel is interested in the class implications that contemporary African American literature offers its readership. Since the first letters written in African American literature, money has had a central place in claims for independence, subjectivity, and resistance. How has this understanding of subjectivity and resistance changed in a late twentieth/ twenty-first century context? To what extent is contemporary African American literature invested in the American dream of financial well being that characterized earlier writing?
In “The Site of Memory,” Toni Morrison claims that as an African American writer her literary heritage is the autobiography, the slave narrative. Quoting Harriet Jacobs, Morrison claims that a central trope of the slave narrative is occlusion, leaving the unspeakable unspoken. However, for Morrison, a writer heavily indebted to her formerly enslaved precursors, “the exercise is very different. [Her] job becomes how to rip that veil drawn over "proceedings too terrible to relate." Morrison pays her literary debt to these authors by revealing that to which they were unable. In what ways do 20th and 21st Century black American authors struggle with or against their 19th Century literary heritage?
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Brandon J. Manning, The Ohio State University, manning.321@osu.edu.
Chair: Brandon J. Manning, The Ohio State University, manning.321@osu.edu
Afro-Romance Studies: Literature, Culture, Race and History
To be determined
American Literature I: American Literature Before 1870
Topic: Affect and Community in 19th Century American Literature
This panel considers approaches to 19th century US literature and culture from the perspective of what has come to be known as "affect theory." We invite papers that address feelings, emotions and affects as properties of social cohesion during this period. Topics might include (but are not limited to):
--Discourses of emotion as forms of social reproduction
--Affective bonds with the nation, family, religion or culture
--Examples of affective commons
--The role of affect in political mobilization
--Discourses of sentimentality and domesticity
--Queer feelings
--Affective economies and infrastructures
--Emotional components of class solidarity
--Forms of affective withdrawl from social engagement
--Narrative production of affects
--Affective 'epidemics' or panicsPlease send 250-word abstracts by May 12 to Jim Toweill, Rice University, jmt3@rice.edu.
Chair: Jim Toweill, Rice University, jmt3@rice.edu
American Literature II: Literature After 1870
Topic: The Businessman in American Literature
The American Literature II panel seeks papers on the image of the businessman in literature. All aspects, from the Scrooge-like businessman to the con man to the businessman as hero, are welcome, particularly those focusing on works by William Dean Howells, Theodore Dreiser, Henry James, and their contemporaries.
Please send 250-300-word abstracts by May 1 to Debbie Lelekis, University of Missouri, drlgz5@mail.missouri.edu.
Chair: Debbie Lelekis, University of Missouri, drlgz5@mail.missouri.edu
Animals in Literatue and Film
Topic: Paying their Way: Animals Owing and Owed
This session welcomes papers on the theme of animals and debt in literature or film. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, conservation, preservation and the notion of animals "paying their way" (the writings of Aldo Leopold, Grizzly Man, Gorillas in the Mist); the impact of economic downturns on pets, farmed animals and other creatures (War Horse, We Bought a Zoo); and the complex web of relationships between humans and the nonhumans to whom we "owe" our spiritual, mental or economic well-being, and sometimes our lives (ecopoetry, The Call of the Wild, The Black Stallion).
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Stacy Hoult-Saros, Valparaiso University, Stacy.Hoult-Saros@valpo.edu.
Chair: Stacy Hoult-Saros, Valparaiso University, Stacy.Hoult-Saros@valpo.edu
Applied Linguistics
Topic: Language Learning/Teaching in a Global World: Reality or Myth?
Participants will explore the issue(s) of language learning and teaching with the focus on the theories and principles of first language acquisition and second/foreign language learning/teaching. Topics related to empirical research in these fields and research in the fields of language acquisition in general, language planning, bilingualism, language assessment and/or applied linguistics in general are also welcome.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Kashama Mulamba, Olivet Nazarene University, kmulamba@olivet.edu.
Chair: Kashama Mulamba, Olivet Nazarene University, kmulamba@olivet.edu
Art What Thou Eat
Topic: Open
We welcome papers that explore all aspects of the representation of food in literature, art, music, film, and culture.
Please send 250-word abstracts by April 30 to Arline Cravens, Saint Louis University, acravens@slu.edu.
Chair: Arline Cravens, Saint Louis University, acravens@slu.edu
Bibliography and Textual Studies
Topic: Authorship, Ownership, and Publication: Exploring Debt through Texts
This permanent section on Bibliography and Textual Studies welcomes paper proposals for a panel or group of panels on topics related to the conference’s theme of "debt," both literal and metaphorical. The permanent section traditionally explores points of intersection between the disciplines of literary studies and history of the book. Proposals for 2012 should merge the permanent section’s disciplinary and theoretical focus with the theme of debt, addressing sub-topics like indebtedness and influence, oaths and promises, literature of demand, the funding of literary productions, or another closely related topic.
The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing describes the history of the book discipline as work addressing the “composition, mediation, reception, survival, and transformation of written communication in material forms.” Papers about economies of literary production, printers and printing, bookselling, advertising and dissemination, visual media, and book technologies are encouraged.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Lacey Worth, University of Iowa, lacey-worth@uiowa.edu.
Chair: Lacey Worth, University of Iowa, lacey-worth@uiowa.edu
Canadian Literature
Chair and CFP needed.
Children's Literature
To be determined.
Comparative Literature
Topic: Open
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Daniel C. Dillard, Florida State University, dcd08@fsu.edu.
Chair: Daniel C. Dillard, Florida State University, dcd08@fsu.edu
Creative Writing I: Poetry
Topic: Open
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Martha Modena Vertreace-Doody, City Colleges of Chicago, mvertreace-doody@ccc.edu.
Chair: Martha Modena Vertreace-Doody, City Colleges of Chicago, mvertreace-doody@ccc.edu.
Creative Writing II: Prose
To be determined
Drama
Topic: An Embarrassment of Riches: The Drama of Wealth
Papers on dramas of abundance, wealth, and excess as well as theoretical discussions about drama as excess are welcome.
Send 250-word abstracts as well as your phone number, email address, and address to Ann C. Hall, Ohio Dominican University, halla@ohiodominican.edu by March 1.
Chair: Ann C. Hall, Ohio Dominican University, halla@ohiodominican.edu
English I: English Literature Before 1800
Topic: Our Debt to the Past
This panel will address questions of our debt to the past. Under this broad umbrella, papers examining the construction of contemporary ideologies in historical texts and/or exploring the ethical duties that we as scholars have in our dialogue with the past are especially welcome.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Andrew Williams, University of Iowa, andrew-williams@uiowa.edu.
Chair: Andrew Williams, University of Iowa, andrew-williams@uiowa.edu
English II: English Literature 1800-1900
Topic: Debt
In keeping with the informal theme of “debt” for the M/MLA 2012 convention, the English II: English Literature 1800-1900 panel seeks to present discussions of works and writers that deal in some fashion with that nineteenth-century juggernaut, debt. Possible themes include indebtedness and influence, borrowers and lenders, bonds and contracts, economics of lack, states of debt, oaths and promises, gift-giving, cultures of expenditure, occupy literature, trans-cultural capital, deferring, symbolic economics, ecological materialism, rethinking civic missions/practices, forgiveness, gratitude, literature of demand, emotional obligation, debts of affect, and student loans. Papers on any form or genre of British literature between 1800 and 1900 are welcome.
Please send 200-400-word abstracts by March 9 to Nancee Reeves, Purdue University, nreeves@purdue.edu. Selected presenters will be informed by May 1st, 2012 and must register for the conference by July 1, 2012.
Chair: Nancee Reeves, Purdue University, nreeves@purdue.edu
English III: English Literature After 1900
Topic: The Debt of Empire
This panel will focus on the theoretical debt of England to its former colonies after Empire. Papers can address issues such as what kind of restitution can or should be made for problems caused by imperialism; whether or not forgiveness can be demanded or extended by new generations and how this forgiveness should be articulated; or, what are the psychological effects of being English in a post-Empire world.
Please send 250-word abstract by May 1 to Timothy Sutton, Florida Gulf Coast University, tsutton@fgcu.edu.
Chair: Timothy Sutton, Florida Gulf Coast University, tsutton@fgcu.edu
Fabricating the Body
Topic: Indebted Bodies: Feeling the Effects of Economics, Obligation, and Exchange
By definition, to be indebted is to owe gratitude, favor, recognition, or money to another. This year’s fabricating the body panel is soliciting proposals for conference papers that explore the notion of indebted bodies – those cloaked in obligations (willing or otherwise). We are interested in papers that study this concept of bodies in debt from any theoretical perspective. Textual analysis of any genre or time period is welcome.
Please send 500-word abstracts by April 30 to Melissa Ames, Eastern Illinois University, mames@eiu.edu.
Chair: Melissa Ames, Eastern Illinois University, mames@eiu.edu
Film I
Topic: Film, Benjamin, and Debt/Guilt
In Walter Benjamin’s Selected Writings, concepts of debt are irreducible from those of guilt and (spiritual) salvation. These concepts are informed by Benjamin’s investment in capitalist-economic, spiritual, and psychological interests. This panel seeks papers that utilize Benjamin’s writings on debt/guilt in conjunction with Hollywood, independent, and international film, from Capra to the Dardenne Brothers. How do filmmakers transform ideas of debt/guilt cinematically? What are the ethics of representation when a film documents rampant material wealth without any expression of debt/guilt? How are contemporary films, either Hollywood, independent, or international, reconciling values of material debt/guilt, especially in a “post-9/11 world”? New interpretations of classic cinema or non-mainstream films are both equally welcome. Similarly, while usage of Benjamin is encouraged, topics which explores these issues from any sort of theoretical framework are welcome.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 15 to Paul Petrovic, Northern Illinois University, pauldpetrovic@gmail.com.
Chair: Paul Petrovic, Northern Illinois University, pauldpetrovic@gmail.com
Film II
Topic: Indebted Reflections
Lars von Trier’s movies constantly thematize debt, but never so memorably as in Dancer in the Dark which links hospitality to insanity and blindness, and, yet, such giving, such indebtedness, is also framed by an excessive, formal exuberance as Selma (played by Björk) dances and sings her way to the gallows.
Our panel will consider the following non-exclusive list of questions: How is giving thematized and formally represented in film? How do directors (in general, not just in the case of von Trier) communicate their debt to actors, the film crew, previous directors, the audience, the world? How is a “restricted” as opposed to a “general” economy represented in film? Papers informed by Bataille, Derrida, Levinas, Marion, Kristeva, Mauss, Nancy, Kierkegaard are welcome.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Lloyd Isaac Vayo, Defiance College, ivayo@defiance.edu.
Chair: Lloyd Isaac Vayo, Defiance College, ivayo@defiance.edu
Film III
Topic: Latin American Cinema and Debt Crises
The Film III section of the Midwest MLA is accepting proposals for papers on any aspect of Latin American Cinema, but will give preference to papers that relate the conference theme of debt to Latin American Cinema. Examples: documentaries on the Argentine debt crisis and economic collapse of 2001; the use of film in the Chilean Student Movement’s opposition to student debt; narrative film exploring the precariousness of lives built on credit or social marginalization resulting from economic policies; studies of how film production today is driven or determined by debt or how filmmakers are indebted to certain audiences depending on their investors; any other filmic exploration of the relationship between society and the economy.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 15 to jlynd@ilstu.edu and blainep@morningside.edu.
Chair: Juliet Lynd, Illinois State University, jlynd@ilstu.edu
French I: Pre-Ancien Régime
Topic: Breaking Off the Chains of Debt: The Literature of Resistance and Subversion in Prerevolutionary France
“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains” (Rousseau), chains that often become synonymous with debt. The panel seeks to explore the various literary and philosophical manifestations of resistance to debt (identified as a socially sanctioned and individually acknowledged state of dependency) in prerevolutionary France. We welcome abstracts in French or English.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Gheorghe-Ciprian Socaciu, Rice University, csocaciu@rice.edu.
Chair: Gheorghe-Ciprian Socaciu, Rice University, csocaciu@rice.edu
French II: Post Ancien Régime
Topic: Indebtedness/Reconnaissance of Authors in Post-Revolutionary French Literature
Debt often revolves around money and feelings of obligation, but what happens when debt also brings up ideas of gratitude or reconnaissance?
How are authors and their texts in post-revolutionary French literature in debt to or owe gratitude to others in their time period as well as to those of the past? How do the ideas of “re-connaitre” or “re-travailler” influence such authors? On what could/will future authors build? This session will examine the more positive sides of debt in post-revolutionary French literature. Papers accepted in French or English.
Please send 250-word abstracts and a CV by May 12 to Adeleen Brown, Indiana University-Bloomington, adebrown@indiana.edu.
Chair: Adeleen Brown, Indiana University-Bloomington, adebrown@indiana.edu
French III: Cultural Issues
To be determined
Gender Studies: Male
Chair and CFP needed.
German Literature and Culture I
Chair and CFP needed
German Literature and Culture II: German Language Poetry
To be determined
German Women Writers
Topic: Open
In its sixth year at the annual M/MLA convention, and expanded into dual panels in 2008, 2010 and 2011, the session German Women Writers provides a forum for the sharing of research, analysis, interpretation and discussion of the works of major as well as lesser-known authors. We request papers which deal with the literary texts and lives of German-speaking women writers from any period and in any genre.
Please submit 250-word abstracts as email attachments to both Dr. Amy Kepple Strawser (astrawser@otterbein.edu) and Dr. Daniela M. Richter (richt2dm@cmich.edu) by May 25.
Chair: Amy Kepple Strawser, Otterbein University, astrawser@otterbein.edu
History of Critical Reception
To be determined
Illustrated Texts
To be determined
International Francophone Studies
Topic: Les échanges dans le monde de la francophonie
Suivant le thème de “la dette” suggéré pour la conférence de la MMLA 2012, cette session se propose d’offrir des communications discutant des échanges qui existent ou ont existé à l’intérieur du monde de la francophonie. Les communications de la session considéreront les échanges -emprunts, intertextualité, adaptations, migrations, subventions, exportations/importations, etc.- qui se font entre les différents pays de la francophonie et/ou entre ces pays et la France. Ces échanges peuvent par ailleurs se situer aux niveaux linguistique, littéraire, culturel, aussi bien qu’aux niveaux politique, économique, ou encore écologique. Merci d’envoyer vos propositions de présentation (en français ou en anglais) à Véronique Maisier, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, à l’adresse suivante: profmaisier@gmail.com.
Following the informal theme of “Debt” suggested for the convention of the 2012 MMLA, this session will offer papers discussing the exchanges that occur within the world of francophonie. The papers will consider exchanges -borrowings, intertextuality, adaptations, migrations, subsidies, exports/imports, etc. - which take place between the various francophone countries or between these countries and France. In addition, these exchanges can belong to the fields of linguistics, literature, and culture but also politics, economy or ecology. Abstracts for papers (delivered in French or English) should be sent to Véronique Maisier, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, at the following address: profmaisier@gmail.com.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Véronique Maisier, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, at the following address: profmaisier@gmail.com.
Chair: Véronique Maisier, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, profmaisier@gmail.com
Irish Studies
Chair and CFP needed.
Italian
Topic: "I Owe You”: Debt and Debtors in Italian Literature, Cinema, Theater, and Media
This session deals with all aspects of debt, both literal and metaphorical. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- indebtedness and influence;
- borrowers and lenders;
- bonds and contracts;
- oaths and promises;
- gifts and givings;
- forgiveness;
- gratitude;
- debts of affect (towards parents, masters, literary models).
All theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches are also welcome.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Daniele Fioretti, Miami University, fioretd@gmail.com.
Chair: Daniele Fioretti, Miami University, fioretd@gmail.com
Literary Criticism
Topic: (Re)negotiating Debt
The notion of debt in the context of contemporary socio-political and economic formulations stabilizes and destabilizes the idea of “sovereignty” according to which, one group holds monopoly of power in terms of economy, knowledge, culture, religion, science and politics over others through a system of surveillance where the latter gets bonded to the former with a sense of imposed obligation. Such a mechanism is implicated through the construction of binaries between notions of colonizer/colonized, Self /Other, capitalist/proletariat, human/animal, lender/seeker, privileged/underprivileged, citizen/non-citizen, protected/exposed, first world/third world and colonialism/post-colonialism. The literary criticism panel invites papers from diverse and interdisciplinary critical viewpoints that examine the idea of debt from multiple theoretical perspectives.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Suchismita Banerjee, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, banerjeesuchi@gmail.com.
Chair: Suchismita Banerjee, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, banerjeesuchi@gmail.com
Luso-Brazilian Studies
Topic: Dívida in Luso-Brazilian Literature and Culture
The Luso-Brazilian Section invites papers that engage with the concept of “dívida” in Luso-Brazilian literature and culture. The interpretation of “dívida” is open. We especially welcome comparative approaches (e.g. Luso-Hispanic, Lusophone African, Transatlantic, Transnational, etc.). Selected panelists may present in Portuguese, English, or Spanish.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 15 to Zak Montgomery (zak.montgomery@wartburg.edu) or Lígia Bezerra (lbezerra@indiana.edu).
Chair: Zak Montgomery, Wartburg College, zak.montgomery@wartburg.edu
Media Studies
To be determined
The Mezzuzah and the Mestizaje
Topic: Jewish Latin America
We invite paper proposals on any topic related to Jewish life and cultural production in Latin America. Open to all historical periods and theoretical approaches. Submit one-page proposals to Prof. Lynne Margolies, LFMargolies@manchester.edu.
Please send 1-page proposals by May 25 to co-chair Lynne Margolies, Manchester College, LFMargolies@manchester.edu.
Chair: Joanna L. Mitchell, Denison University, mitchellj@denison.edu
Modern Literature
To be determined
Multicultural Literature in the Classroom: Politics and Pedagogy
Topic: Borders and Double-Consciousness in Ethnic American Literature
Discussions of mestizaje and hybridity are central to scholarly and popular discussions of ethnic American literature and identity. The idea of double-consciousness has become a key intellectual force in these discussions. Double-consciousness was once just a phrase in W.E.B. Du Bois' 1903 The Souls of Black Folk, but now it is a dominant theme and theoretical framework for teaching and for thinking about race, ethnicity and American literature. This panel addresses the intellectual and epistemological uses of borders and double-consciousness in ethnic American literature. Prospective panelists may explore any type of double-consciousness, and are encouraged to explore geographical and cultural borders; mainstream and marginal texts; men's and women's writings. Papers on African, Asian, European, Mexican, and Native American literature (short fiction, poetry, folklore, novels, autobiography, memoir) and all historical periods will be considered.
The panel is especially interested in how borders populate and inform ethnic American literature in both historical and contemporary works, and it looks for papers that will construct an intellectual and historical arc for teaching and thinking through race, ethnicity, and American literature. The panel is especially interested in these questions: How does ethnic American literature make use of borders? What lessons do borders teach us about double-consciousness and ethnic American literature? What are the pedagogical uses of borders and double-consciousness? Why is double-consciousness such a compelling concept, and how do we make use of it as a political platform and pedagogical tool? How do we teach ethnic American literature in mono-cultural and/or multicultural classrooms, and why should it matter to students?
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Melina Vizcaíno-Alemán, University of New Mexico, mviz@unm.edu.
Chair: Melina Vizcaíno-Alemán, University of New Mexico, mviz@unm.edu
Native American Literature
To be determined
Old and Middle English Language and Literature
To be determined
Popular Culture
Topic: Freaks and Geeks
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, in Monster Theory: Reading Culture, argues that the "monstrous body is pure culture. A construct and a projection, the monster exists only to be read" (4). Our current fascination with monsters has called forth creatures from the dark: werewolves and vampires and zombies. If the monstrous reflects our cultural anxieties, what is it that our constructed heroes—whether super or ordinary—reveal? If the monstrous is a projection of culture, might our heroes or the rise of the 21st century geek also be read in a similar way? Do they contain the antidote to society’s collective fears? Proposals addressing visual and textual representations of the monster, the misfit, the superhero, and the geek in literature and popular culture will be considered for presentation.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Courtney Huse Wika, Black Hills State University, Courtney.HuseWika@BHSU.edu.
Chair: Courtney Huse Wika, Black Hills State University, Courtney.HuseWika@BHSU.edu
Religion and Literature
Topic: Open
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Daniel C. Dillard, Florida State University, dcd08@fsu.
Chair: Daniel C. Dillard, Florida State University, dcd08@fsu
Science and Fiction
To be determined
Shakespeare and Shakespearean Criticism
Topic: “Ourselves we do not owe”: Property and Debt in Shakespeare
Papers are invited on any topic in Shakespeare and Shakespearean criticism, but especially welcome are those related to the informal conference topic of Debt. Topics are not limited to but suggested by such as the following: “owe/own,” gambling and indebtedness, usury and lending, gift and obligation and bond, lending in the theater industry, the legal history of indebtedness, speech acts of obligation and gratitude, sovereignty of the self, affects of indebtedness, paradoxes of ownership such as Viola’s claim in the session’s title.
Please email 250-word abstracts and two-or three-sentence bios by May 31 to Donald Hedrick, Kansas State University, Hedrick@ksu.edu
Chair: Donald Hedrick, Kansas State University, Hedrick@ksu.edu
Short Story
To be determined
Spanish Cultural Studies
Topic: Open
Please send 250-word abstracts by April 15 to Mar Soria, Susquehanna University, sorialopez@susqu.edu.
Chair: Mar Soria, Susquehanna University, sorialopez@susqu.edu
Spanish I: Peninsular Literature Before 1700
Topic: Open
Abstracts are invited for papers on any topic related to Spanish literature and culture before 1700.
Please send 250-word abstracts by April 15 to Javier Irigoyen-Garcia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, irigoyen@illinois.edu.
Chair: Javier Irigoyen-Garcia, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, irigoyen@illinois.edu
Spanish II: Peninsular Literature After 1700
Topic: Debt and Ownership in Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film
The 2012 theme of "Debt" brings us the other side of the concept, "Ownership", and both together offer plenty of possibilities for topics in literature and film, from images and representation of debt and ownership, to relationships based on debt and ownership, to explorations of human debt and ownership, to the author's debt and ownership with his own literary pieces or the debt/ownership of the narrative itself. This panel seeks to explore and assess how Spanish writers and filmmakers have used the notion of debt and ownership in their works to show an aspect of the society or for simple enjoyment of the literary play. Please send 250-word abstracts to Maria Bisabarros (bisabarrosm@cod.edu) by April 15, 2012.
Please send 250-word abstracts by April 15 to Maria Bisabarros, College of DuPage, bisabarrosm@cod.edu.
Chair: Maria Bisabarros, College of DuPage, bisabarrosm@cod.edu
Spanish III: Latin American Literature
Topic: Open
Any topic related to Latin American literatures and cultures are welcome.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Nancy Bird-Soto, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, birdsoto@uwm.edu.
Chair: Nancy Bird-Soto, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, birdsoto@uwm.edu
Spanish IV: Literary Theory and Hispanic Criticism
To be determined
Teaching Graphic Narratives
Topic: Teaching Graphic Narratives
Increasingly comic books and graphic narratives find their way onto literature syllabi. Recent anthologies such as Teaching Visual Literacy: Using Comic Books, Graphic Novels, Anime, Cartoons, and More to Develop Comprehension and Thinking Skills, edited by Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher, and Building Literacy Connections with Graphic Novels: Page by Page, Panel by Panel, edited by James Bucky Carter, emphasize the use for such texts in secondary schools. Even the MLA has an edited collection called Teaching The Graphic Novel, edited by Stephen Tabachnick. But what are the benefits of teaching comic books and graphic narratives specifically in college? And how do we best go about doing it? This panel seeks papers that discuss the benefits of teaching these new genres in the Literature and/or Composition classroom. Papers may address pedagogical issues and concerns as well as sample lesson plans and/or anecdotes from experience.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Susanna Hoeness-Krupsaw, University of Southern Indiana, hoeness@usi.edu.
Chair: Susanna Hoeness-Krupsaw, University of Southern Indiana, hoeness@usi.edu
Teaching Writing in College
Topic: (Re) Defining First-Year Composition
In their recent essay (http://goo.gl/xRXcr) on “working” the relationship between rhetoric and composition, Horner and Lu argue that we might further the work of teaching writing by “imagin(ing) alternative approaches to first-year composition.” Such approaches “engage students themselves in the kind of resisting reading and writing, at once respectful and questioning, of the canonical texts and principles of rhetoric” (my emphasis). Using this essay as a point of departure, this section invites presentations that “(re) define” first-year composition in some way. Possible topics include but are not limited to:
> Rhetorical tradition and contemporary composing
> Re-imagining audience
> Extra-curricular writing in curricular spaces
> First-year composition and digital humanities (a hot topic from this year’s MLA http://goo.gl/OTMjY)
> Genre theory in classroom practice
> Incorporating multilingual and/or translingual goals (http://goo.gl/GEgjD)
This list is far from complete. Please add your voice to the discussion.
Please send 250-word abstracts by June 1 to to Andre Buchenot, IUPUI, buchenot@iupui.edu.
Chair: Andre Buchenot, IUPUI, buchenot@iupui.edu
Travel Writing/Writing Travel
Topic: The Debts of Travel
Travel is liable to produce financial debt, as travelers incur expenses far beyond those of their ordinary lives. But what of the less literal indebtedness that is inherent in the process of traveling? This panel seeks to explore the ways that travel leaves traveling subjects variously indebted. For example, they may be emotionally indebted to traveling companions or to individuals they encounter who help them along their way. They may return home ideologically changed, forever indebted to new cultural experiences and the sense of difference that is endemic of travel. Travelers may leave something of themselves behind and experience travel debts as a kind of loss; or they may experience the process of becoming indebted as freeing themselves from previous restrictions. Proposals may consider any aspects of how travel is predicated upon or results in various forms of indebtedness, whether in travelers or in the people/cultures they encounter. Proposals for perspectives on travel from any historical/literary period welcome.
Please send 300-word abstracts by April 15 to Andrea Kaston Tange, Eastern Michigan University, akastont@emich.edu.
Chair: Andrea Kaston Tange, Eastern Michigan University, akastont@emich.edu
Women in Literature
To be determined
Women's Studies
To be determined
Writing Across the Curriculum
Topic: Maintaining Balance: Debts to Our Students and Ourselves in WAC Courses, Practices, and Curriculums
What is "owed" to students in our WAC classrooms? Often, ideology clashes with exigency in our demographically diverse classrooms. Whether we're developing or maintaining Writing Across the Curriculum programs, teaching a WAC course, or re-thinking hitherto best practices, our goals often conflict. Constrained by block scheduling, our students' wildly diverse reading and writing skills in a course, and external pressure for outcomes that may not necessarily reflect our own ethos, we must somehow find balance in what our students and administrators want, and what we wish for them. What do we owe our students in a Writing Across the Curriculum program or course, what do we owe ourselves as instructors and administrators, and how do we reconcile the two?
Please send abstracts not exceeding 200 words by June 1 to Daniel Reardon, Missouri University of Science and Technology, reardond@mst.edu.
Chair: Daniel Reardon, Missouri University of Science and Technology, reardond@mst.edu
Young Adult Literature
Topic: Owed and Owing: Exploring Debt in Young Adult Literature
Debt. The word conjures up not just indebtedness and influence, but combinations of promises and obligations, forgiveness and gratitude, demand and lack. Is debt something we teach to young people, or something we perform or demonstrate? Does debt equal deficit in young adult literature?
This panel seeks thoughtful explorations about debt in YA literature. How, where and when do concepts of debt appear? How are they defined, and by whom? How is debt coupled with other issues? What influence or impact do these concepts have on character and narrative development, shaping the canon, or any other aspect of storytelling to, for or about young people? Cross-disciplinary papers are welcome. Submit 250-word abstracts by June 1, 2012 to YAL Section Chair Jennifer Goodhue, at jennniferlgoodhue@gmail.com.
Please send 250-word abstracts by June 1 to Jennifer Goodhue, jennniferlgoodhue@gmail.com.
Chair: Jennifer Goodhue, jennniferlgoodhue@gmail.com
Associated Organizations
American Dialect Society
Topic: Social Factors in Language Variation and Language Attitudes
We welcome papers dealing with varieties of English and other languages spoken in the United States and Canada. Presentations may be based in traditional dialectology or in other areas of language variation and change, including sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, anthropological linguistics, folk linguistics, language and gender/sexuality, language attitudes and ideologies, pragmatics and politeness, linguistics in the schools, or critical discourse analysis.
Please send 250-word abstracts by April 30 to Erica J. Benson, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, bensonej@uwec.edu.
Chair: Erica J. Benson, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, bensonej@uwec.edu
Henry James Society
Topic: Debts Real and Imagined in Henry James
In keeping with the conference theme of Debt, the Henry James Society invites proposals (abstracts) on the idea of indebtedness in Henry James's writing. Papers might focus on the role of money in James's fiction or perhaps on questions of moral indebtedness. Other approaches welcomed, too.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Leland S. Person, University of Cincinnati, lee.person@uc.edu.
Chair: Leland S. Person, University of Cincinnati, lee.person@uc.edu
The International Harold Pinter Society
Topic: Possession, Repossession, Dispossession
The International Harold Pinter Society welcomes 350-to-500 word abstracts for papers to be presented at the 2012 Midwest Modern Language Convention Pinter Society panels on any of work by, about, or related to Harold Pinter. This year's theme--Possessions, Repossessions, Dispossessions--seeks to focus scholarly attention on the way Pinter's work and the Pinteresque more generally engages with loss and reclamation and on sites of contested authority, space, history, and ownership. Topics may range widely, literal or spiritual possession, ownership or occupancy, eviction and absence, and financial credit or individual acknowledgment.
Please send 250-word abstracts as electronic attachments by May 1 to Craig N. Owens, Drake University, craig.owens@drake.edu. Selected presenters will be informed by June 1, 2012, and must register for the conference by the first of July, 2012.
Chair: Craig N. Owens, Drake University, craig.owens@drake.edu
International Raymond Carver Society
To be determined
Midwest Womens' Caucus for the Modern Languages
Topic: Women in Popular Music--Laura Nyro: Waitin’ for Due Time/She’ll Make You Pay
Laura Nyro’s long-overdue election to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opens discussion of her place in twentieth century popular music, the influences that shaped her as well as those who look to her as an influence. From the beginning of her career in the mid-1960s Nyro was known for work that encompassed elements of doo-wop, gospel, Broadway, jazz, opera and the classical song cycle, and her career led other artists to look in new directions. This panel will examine Nyro’s influence and Nyro as influence, from any angle of approach to her work and career. Presentations may center on another artist influenced by Laura Nyro, an artist or cultural element that influenced her, or a discussion of her influence on the larger culture.
Please send 250-word abstracts by May 25 to Patricia S. Rudden, New York City College of Technology, patriciarudden.
Chair: Patricia S. Rudden, New York City College of Technology, patriciarudden
Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature
Topic: Midwest Literary Debt
July 2011 on Flavorwire, Kathleen Massara used the release of David Graeber's book, Debt: The First 5000 Years published by Melville House as a reason to explore how great writers have dealt with debt in their work.
What do Midwest writers do with this theme? Is there anything distinctively Midwestern in their approach? Theodore Dreiser, Kate Chopin, Willa Cather, Richard Wright, Patrica Hampl and Gwendolyn Brooks all come to mind.
If you are a current SSML member (or are willing to join) and would like to participate, please send your title, a short vita, and a one-page abstract by April 1 to Marilyn J. Atlas, Ohio University, atlas@ohio.edu.
Chair: Marilyn J. Atlas, Ohio University, atlas@ohio.edu
Women in French
Topic: Women, "Debts" and Renewal
To what sorts of "debts" are women subject or witness? How does debt define their relations to their bodies and their writing, as well as society, family and men? Do they find ways to translate debt(s) into forms of renewal? The French term "devoir" related to "dette" also invites us to examine the different senses of obligation and duty encountered by women in French or francophone literature.
This session will explore ways in which literature by women in French can bring a different light, or ideas of progress, to this topic usually posed in binary and/or frightening terms. Papers in French or in English are most welcome.
Please send a CV and 250-word abstracts by May 5 to Hélène Diaz Brown, Principia College, brhelene@yahoo.com.
Chair: Hélène Diaz Brown, Principia College, brhelene@yahoo.com
Special Sessions