Category: call for participation

CFP: Africana Annual, new journal

Africana Annual: a journal of African and African Diaspora Studies

The Department of African & African American Studies at the University of Kansas is proud to announce the establishment of Africana Annual and to invite the submission of full-length articles and review essays. Africana Annual is a broadly conceived annual interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal. The principal focus of the journal is to create and facilitate critical dialogue and analysis of the African, African American, and African Diasporic experiences. An interdisciplinary journal encompassing history, politics, sociology, performance arts, economics, literature, cultural studies, anthropology, Africana studies, gender studies, ethnic studies, religious studies, the fine arts, and other allied disciplines. Africana Annual embraces a variety of humanistic and social scientific methodologies for understanding the social, political, and cultural meanings and functions of the varied experiences of Africana. We invite authors to submit work that examines key issues or profound topics on African America, Africa (north and south of the Sahara), and the Diaspora.

Submission Policies
The journal encourages authors to submit unsolicited articles and comprehensive review essays. All academic articles should be between 20 and 30 pages. Comprehensive review essays should be about 10 to 15 pages in in length. All articles and comprehensive review essays will be peer-reviewed.

Authors should e-mail their manuscripts as Microsoft Word files to:
Africana Annual africana@ku.edu
Authors must provide full contact information, including e-mail address, with manuscripts.

All manuscripts must follow the current edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and should use endnotes. Materials submitted to Africana Annual must not have been previously published nor submitted for publication elsewhere while under review by Africana Annual editors. All manuscripts accepted are subject to editorial modification.

The deadline for submission for the inaugural issue is May 31, 2012

CFP: ACASA-Sponsored Panels @ ASA 2012

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR ACASA-SPONSORED PANELS
ASA 56th Annual Meeting
Philadelphia
November 29-December 2, 2012

DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2012
ADDRESS: Send proposals electronically to Steven Nelson, ACASA President nelsons@humnet.ucla.edu

Conference Theme: “Research Frontiers in the Study of Africa”

ACASA sponsors two panels at ASA’s annual meeting. We invite proposals for panels in all areas of the study of the arts of Africa, and we welcome submissions from professionals and scholars at all stages of their careers. Proposals are particularly encouraged that focus on this year’s theme of “Research Frontiers in the Study of Africa,” which is expanded upon below:

Studying Africa often comes with an acute consciousness of challenges both in the societies we study and in the immediate institutional contexts in which we do our work. That consciousness is justified, but it often consigns us to only muted joys when we in fact ought to allow ourselves more. Africa continues to be compelling as both subject and object of knowledge, thanks to the composite of the profound transformations currently going on, the immense creativity of the people, and the innumerable challenges of diverse local and global origins that frame those developments. This dynamism has tasked and frayed our theories, not because the continent is strange or abnormal but because our theories and methods could be much more supple, more vibrant, and more educated. This situation calls for thinking at the limits, at the frontiers, and beyond, and here are some questions to start with: Where are the research frontiers in our different fields today? Which frontiers have only just been opened and will soon emerge as major research fields? What is a research frontier and under what academic, funding, social, and political contexts is it created? How are research frontiers consolidated, made hegemonic or subordinate, and disarticulated? By which means are we advancing the frontiers in developing our methods of data collection and analysis? How do we work, and thrive, at the frontier at a time of diminishing resources? Let us collectively begin to explore these issues and many more at the 2012 ASA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

REQUIREMENTS:
A panel typically has a chair, three or four paper presenters, and a discussant. A panel proposal consists of the panel title, the panel abstract, and titles and abstracts for each paper presenter, including their contact information (institutional affiliation, email address, telephone number, and address). The panel abstract should consist of a statement about the topic and a brief summary of the main argument(s) to be explored (no more than 250 words). The quality of the panel abstracts is the main criterion for acceptance; a panel with a weak abstract or with two or more weak paper abstracts is unlikely to be accepted.

Please note that all participants on a panel must be members of BOTH ACASA and ASA. For those panels accepted by ACASA, panelists must be preregistered for the annual meeting before the panel proposal can be submitted, including the panel chair and discussant.

AUDIO VISUAL EQUIPMENT:
Due to the rapidly increasing costs charged by hotels for AV equipment, the ASA is unable to provide projection or sound equipment. However, each meeting room will have a screen and presenters are welcome to bring their own equipment. The ASA understands the importance of AV support for many presenters and the Association is working to develop strategies to facilitate AV support for future conferences.

CFP: Black (Inter)Nationalism, Identity, and Art @ ASA 2012

Black (Inter)Nationalism, Identity, and Art at ASA 2012

The ASA’s 2012 annual meeting will be held November 15-18 in San Juan,
Puerto Rico. We are seeking PANELISTS and a CHAIRPERSON/COMMENTER to join
in an exploration of the manner in which arts, letters, and activism have
communicated various ideas of black identity across global/local
trajectories. In keeping with the American Studies Association’s 2012
theme, “Dimensions of Empire and Resistance,” we wish to probe the use of
cultural production and racial identity toward political ends—whether to
project regional racial issues onto the global stage on the one hand or to
harness transnational racial identities to local struggles on the other.
Through this conversation, we hope to further an investigation of the role
of art and race in both perpetuating and resisting manifestations of
empire, capitalism, and white supremacy at the global and local levels.
This call is open to projects which explore black self-fashioning of racial
identity as well as investigations of the manner in which others have
sought to thrust identity upon black Americans. We invite submissions
examining art, cultural production/practice, and all modes of
expression—whether aural, visual, or written. Additionally, while we are
particularly interested in the global/local transmission of racial identity
during the Jim Crow-era, we are open to projects dealing with any
historical time period.

Panelists: please send a 1 page CV and brief project proposal by December
27, 2011.
Chairperson/Commenter: please send a 1 page CV by December 27, 2011.
All proposals and inquiries should be sent to Robert Hawkins at
rlhawkins@bradley.edu
Notifications will be made before the 1st of the year.

CFP: Visual Culture Studies, American Studies Association

Call for Participation: Visual Culture Studies, American Studies Association

Deadline: January 10, 2012

The Visual Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association (ASA) invites
individuals and groups to participate in the 2012 ASA meeting on November
15-18, 2012 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

For paper abstracts and session proposals sent by January 10, the
Programming Committee of the Visual Culture Caucus can offer critical
feedback and facilitate networking among scholars who are looking for
session participants, chairs, or commentators. The committee will
subsequently select complete session(s) from those accepted by ASA for
official caucus sponsorship.

Session proposals should explore historical, theoretical, and/or
methodological issues in American visual culture, which includes (but is
not limited to) prints, photography, painting, sculpture, comics/graphic
novels, illustrated books, film, television, digital media, and a wide
range of practices of looking.  They must address the 2012 meeting theme,
"Dimensions of Empire and Resistance: Past, Present, and Future (see <
http://www.theasa.net/annual_meeting/page/submitting_a_proposal/>).

We encourage scholars to submit their proposals for meeting participation
to our new Works in Progress webpage, accessible through our caucus blog (
http://www.theasa.net/caucus_visual/). Any ASA member may join the caucus
by clicking on the registration column on the blog homepage (requires ASA
username and password).

Individuals wishing feedback or networking assistance for their abstracts
and session proposals  may also contact Robin Veder, Vice-Chair of the
Visual Culture Caucus, and co-chair of the Visual Culture Caucus
Programming Committee, at rmv10@psu.edu.

CFP: Journal of African Media Studies

Call for book and film reviews

The Journal of African Media Studies (JAMS) invites book and film reviews from
junior and senior researchers, scholars and professionals from around the
world, and particularly from the African continent. JAMS invites film reviews
on African films thematically anchored in Africa or films by the African
diaspora. Book and film reviews should not be longer than 1,000 words. All
reviews submitted should be original work. Reviews should follow both JAMS and
Intellect submission guidelines for contributors. Manuscripts can be e-mailed
to the Book Reviews Editor:
Martin Nkosi Ndlela
Hedmark University College, Norway
Nkosi.Ndlela@hihm.no

Please click here for submission guidelines and general information about the
Journal of African Media Studies
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=166/view,page=2/

CFP: 2012 BIENNIAL SCHOLARS’ CONFERENCE ON AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY

CALL FOR PAPERS
2012 BIENNIAL SCHOLARS’ CONFERENCE ON AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY
Center for Jewish History, New York City

The 2012 AJHS Scholars’ Conference will explore disciplinary and other
kinds of boundaries that currently confront the field of American
Jewish history. It will examine the opportunities and challenges that
arise from the engagement of history and the humanities (including
literary studies, media studies, theater, dance and art history,
cultural studies, and musicology) as well as the social sciences
(anthropology, economics, folklore, linguistics, political science,
psychology, sociology). The conference will also explore the impact
that the work of American Jewish historians has had on other
disciplines.

Looking beyond disciplinary boundaries raises various questions:  How
has the interdisciplinary study of American Jewry developed?  How does
the study of American Jewish history take shape in relation to area
studies or comparative programs, such as American Studies, Ethnic
Studies, Comparative Religions, or Jewish Studies?  What kinds of
cross-disciplinary engagements would best enhance the field of
American Jewish history?

In considering disciplinary boundaries, how do they compare with other
boundaries that figure in the work of American Jewish historians?
These other boundaries include:

*   Geographical boundaries (e.g., in studies of immigration or of
American Jews as part of a transnational or diasporic community)
*   Cultural boundaries (e.g., in studies that examine the relation
of Jews with their neighbors, comparative studies of Jews vis-à-vis
other groups, or the study of communities that test the limits of
Jewish peoplehood)
*   Discursive boundaries (e.g., in studies that engage non-verbal
forms of expression)
*   Institutional boundaries (in work that bridges the academy and
the arts, or institutions of public culture, or work that addresses a
general public audience or reflects Jewish communal concerns)

The committee invites proposals for papers that engage any of the
aforementioned issues and encourages the submission of complete panel
proposals and roundtable presentations. The organizers view the theme
of “beyond boundaries” very broadly, and will consider a wide range of
proposals bearing on all aspects of the American Jewish experience,
though preference will go to those that deal in some way with the
conference’s central theme.

Graduate students completing dissertations may submit proposals
accompanied by a letter of recommendation from their advisor. All
submissions must include a one-page (250 words) paper abstract, short
(120 words) biography, and a specific indication of technological
needs. Complete panel proposals are strongly encouraged. Please send
proposals to hsalomon@ajhs.org by November 15, 2011.

CFP: Representing the Irrepresentable: Narratives and Visual Images of Slavery, Forced Labor, and Genocide @ AHA 2013

CALL FOR PAPERS

Multi-Session Workshop: Representing the Irrepresentable: Narratives and
Visual Images of Slavery, Forced Labor, and Genocide

127th American Historical Association Meeting

New Orleans, January 3 – 6, 2013

Convened by Ana Lucia Araujo (Department of History; Howard University,
Washington, DC)

This workshop will gather scholars working on written narratives
(documents, autobiographies, personal journals, novels, etc.) and visual
images (painting, drawings, photographs, engravings, movies, etc.) dealing
with forced displacement, enslavement, slavery, forced labor, war, and
genocide. The various participants will engage in understanding how the
multiple dimensions of traumatic human experiences can be conveyed through
images and narratives. How historians can examine written and visible
representations of irrepresentable events? Can narratives and images
provide reliable and/or accurate information for historians to interpret
traumatic dimensions of past and present human experience? How historians
articulate the use of eyewitness accounts (visual and written) with
fiction (novel, films) in order to represent past traumatic experiences?
What are the limits, the challenges, and the possibilities faced by
historians who employ narratives and images of trauma in their works? By
focusing on various historical periods and geographical areas, scholars
are invited to submit proposals addressing these questions and examining
specific case studies. Papers focusing on the Atlantic slave trade and
slavery, colonialism in Africa, the Holocaust, Nazi labor camps, the
Armenian genocide, the Apartheid, the Rwandan genocide, the war in Darfur,
contemporary slavery, and human trafficking, are welcome.

Please send your paper proposal no later than February 1st 2012 to: aaraujo@howard.edu or analucia.araujo@gmail.com

Paper proposals must contain:

– Paper’s title

– Abstract (up to 300 words)

– Biographical paragraph (up to 250 words, no curriculum vitae, please)

– Correct mailing and e-mail address

– Audiovisual needs, if any

Chairs and commentators, please send:

– Biographical paragraph (up to 250 words, no curriculum vitae, please)

– Correct mailing and e-mail addresses

Please note:

– Abstracts of accepted proposals will be posted on the AHA program website.

– Papers must be submitted on December 1st 2012 for the panel commentators.

CFP: Pictures in motion: photography, empire, and resistance @ ASA 2012

Pictures in motion: photography, empire, and resistance

The announcement of photography’s invention in 1839 coincided with the rise
of imperial ambition in the United States and the development of
post-colonial states in the Americas. Since then, photographs have been in
constant circulation across this region, serving as instruments of both
imperial expansion and resistance. While the camera has documented people
and places in ways that define their subordinate relationship to centers of
power, it has also enabled subjects to undermine such power. For the 2012
Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association –“Dimensions of Empire
and Resistance: Past, Present, and Future,” November 15-18 in San Juan,
Puerto Rico–we are putting together a proposal for a session that examines
the cultural work done by photography’s circulation throughout the Americas.
We welcome papers that reflect on the photographic production,
dissemination, and reinterpretation of collective identities and/or
stereotypes. Papers that address the spread of photographic conventions and
their local adaptations are also appropriate, as are studies of photographic
practices that move between the center and periphery of imperial structures.
By December 15, 2011, please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words
and a current cv to: Elizabeth Hutchinson (ehutchin@barnard.edu) and Tanya
Sheehan (tsheehan@rci.rutgers.edu). Note that individuals may not
participate in more than one session at the ASA meeting.