CFP: Annual Graduate Student Conference in African-American History @ UMemphis

The Graduate Association for African-American History (GAAAH) at The
University of Memphis invites graduate students at all levels to submit
proposals for its 14th Annual Graduate Student Conference in
African-American History, to be held October 31-November 2, 2012, in
Memphis, Tennessee. We welcome the submission of individual papers,
complete sessions, workshops, and roundtables on all topics relating to the
scholarship and teaching of African-American/African Diaspora histories and
cultures. We encourage the participation of graduate students who represent
a broad range of disciplinary and methodological approaches.

Individual paper proposals should include a 300-word abstract, including a
paper title; author contact information; postal address and e-mail address;
and a brief curriculum vitae. The organizers of complete sessions should
send, in a single submission, abstracts and cvs for each of the paper
presenters; 200-word description of the session; and contact information
for all participants. Please list audio-visual requirements, if any.

This year’s conference will feature a keynote address from Dr. Deborah Gray
White, Professor of History at Rutgers University and the author of Ar’n’t
I A Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South (1985 and 1999), the
groundbreaking gendered analysis of the institution of slavery.
Additionally, she is the author of Too Heavy a Load: Black Women in
Defense of Themselves, 1984-1994 (1999) and Let My People Go:
African-Americans, 1804-1860 (1996).  Professors from area institutions
will serve as panel commentators and participate in a workshop on
professional development and the job market.

The submission deadline for proposals is September 22, 2012. A committee
of University of Memphis professors will consider all papers for the
“Memphis State Eight Paper Prize” which is awarded to the conference’s best
paper. The first place prize includes a monetary award. Second and third place
papers will also receive recognition.

Participants will be notified of acceptance by October 1, 2012, and
completed 10-12 page papers must be received no later than October 15,
2012.

Please submit all proposals by e-mail to GAAAH President Micki Kaleta.
gaaah.memphis@gmail.com or mykaleta@memphis.edu.

For questions, you also may call Ms. Kaleta at (901) 678-3395 or contact
GAAAH faculty advisors Dr. Arvin Smallwood at (901) 678-3869 and
asmallwd@memphis.edu or Dr. Ernestine Jenkins at
eljenkins@memphis.edu and ( 901) 678-3450.

CONF: ‘Disturbing Pasts: Memories, Controversies and Creativity’ @ Museum of Ethnology, Vienna

Conference homepage:http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/disturbing-pasts/

We are pleased to announce the details of the conference ‘Disturbing Pasts: Memories, Controversies and Creativity’ at the Museum of Ethnology, Vienna, on the 20th to 22nd November, 2012. This is part of a two-year international research project led by Dr Leon Wainwright (The Open University, UK; http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/arthistory/wainwright.shtml ) and funded by HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area, the European Science Foundation).

‘Disturbing Pasts’ brings together artists, photographers, curators, policy makers and academics from around the world, with the aim of networking with one another and exploring creative engagements with controversial and traumatic pasts in art practice, curating and museums.

Our theme:    Traumatic pasts have complex and often dramatic influences on the present. In many countries, legacies of war, colonialism, genocide and oppression return again and again to dominate contemporary politics, culture and society. The controversies surrounding traumatic pasts can shape policy, make or break governments, trigger mass demonstrations, and even spark violent confrontation. These pasts also inspire rich visual and creative responses, through which the past is remembered, remade and challenged, and the public space of the modern museum is the primary venue for these responses.

Confirmed speakers include artists, curators, policy-makers and academics:

Peju Layiwola, Dierk Schmidt, T. Shanaathanan, Christopher Cozier, Rita Duffy, Paul Lowe, Rafał Betlejewski, Joanna Rajkowska, Heather Shearer, John Timberlake, Shan McAnena, Sofia Dyak, Wayne Modest, Liv Ramskjær, Maria Six-Hohenbalken, Margit Berner, Clara Himmelheber, Maruska Svasek, Fiona Magowan, Alexander Etkind, Uilleam Blacker, Andrij Portnow, Elizabeth Edwards, Sigrid Lien, Susan Legêne, Annette Hoffmann, Erica Lehrer, Simon Faulkner, Carol Tulloch

‘Disturbing Pasts’ marks a collaboration between three HERA-sponsored research consortia drawn from universities throughout Europe, in partnership with the Museum of Ethnology, Vienna. They are:

o   ‘Creativity and Innovation in a World of Movement’ (CIM) http://www.qub.ac.uk/sites/CreativityandInnovationinaWorldofMovement/

o   ‘Photographs, Colonial Legacy and Museums in Contemporary European Culture’ (PhotoCLEC) http://www.heranet.info/photoclec/index

o   ‘Memory at War’ (MAW) http://www.memoryatwar.org/

The project will publish its scholarly and creative work in a special issue of the Open Arts Journal (www.openartsjournal.org), and the conference will generate audio-visual material to be made available through the Open Arts Archive (www.openartsarchive.org).

Entrance to the conference is free, but places are limited, and so we ask that you please reserve in advance by writing to Julia Binter, Julia.Binter@ethno-museum.ac.at

Committee members for the project include: Dr Leon Wainwright (The Open University, UK), Dr Barbara Plankensteiner (Museum of Ethnology, Vienna), Dr Maruska Svasek (Queen’s University, Belfast), Professor Elizabeth Edwards (De Montfort University, Leicester), Dr Alexander Etkind and Dr Uilleam Blacker (University of Cambridge).

Description: Description: The Open University                        Description: Description: Museum fur Volker Kunde

Description: Description: HERA         Description: Description: HERA

The project ‘Disturbing Pasts: Memories, Controversies and Creativity’ is financially supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme which is co-funded by AHRC, AKA, DASTI, ETF, FNR, FWF, HAZU, IRCHSS, MHEST, NWO, RANNIS, RCN, VR and The European Community FP7 2007-2013, under the Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities programme.

 

Representations of Slavery Symposium Audio Now Online!

blackatlanticresource's avatarBlack Atlantic Resource Debate

We are happy to announce that audio recordings for the symposium recently held at Newcastle University – Representations of Slavery in Neoliberal Times – are now freely available online.

The recordings of papers and subsequent roundtable discussion are available to listen to on the School of Arts and Cultures webpages, these include:

Alternative Empathies: Representing Slavery’s Affective Afterlives
, Carolyn Pedwell, Newcastle University

Negative Positives: The Guardian, The Slave, The Wit and The Money, 
Lubaina Himid, Centre for Contemporary Art, University of Central Lancashire

Debt, Freedom and Slavery in Neoliberal Times,
 Julia O’Connell Davidson, University of Nottingham

To listen to these recordings click here. Thanks to sympoisum organiser Daniel McNeil for letting us know about this great resource.

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CFP: (In)appropriated Bodies Graduate Student Symposium @ Cornell

(In)appropriated Bodies
Cornell University Annual History of Art Graduate Student Symposium
Keynote Speaker: Amelia Jones, Art History & Communication Studies, McGill University
November 16-17, 2012
Ithaca, New York
Merriam-Webster defines appropriation as taking exclusive possession of something; setting it apart; assigning it to a particular purpose or use; and taking or making use of it without authority or right. This definition begs the question of whether it is inappropriate to appropriate, particularly when it comes to bodies.
This symposium aims to address how bodies have been appropriated in seemingly inappropriate ways. We are interested in improper, incorrect, perverse, and unsuitable uses of bodies that figure as unexpectedly apt creative strategies and political interventions. Artists have appropriated bodies, visual and corporeal, as a strategy to subvert established norms and meanings. Curators have categorized, displayed, and reconfigured imagery of bodies.  Furthermore, scholars have appropriated concepts of race, gender, nation or culture onto bodies to develop the socio-political discourses that surround them. In all of these cases, questions of inappropriateness often arise. However, these (in)appropriations also reveal themselves to be alternative forms of inquiry or representation that encourage new ways of seeing and speaking about bodies.
We invite graduate students of all disciplines to present papers on the appropriation of bodies by artists, curators, scholars which have been (or could be) considered inappropriate, and how this aspect of their work proves useful in expanding the ways we look at art and understand its significance and purpose in culture, society, politics and history. Possible approaches to the topic include, but are not limited to:
● Negotiation of identities (race, gender, class, and so on) through appropriation
● Subversion of power dynamics by appropriating identities
● Grafting of theoretical approaches on to bodies
● Past or present collections and displays of bodies
● Loss or theft of corporeal identity, ownership or originality
● Reenactments and portrayals of bodies in film, dance, video and performance
● Caricatures, stereotypes, and other visual misrepresentations in art or performance
● Reuse/revision of ignored, avoided or dismissed theoretical approaches to bodies
● Mimicry, quotation, or allusion as a creative strategy or concept
● Political and governmental co-optation of figural forms
Presentations for this two-day conference should be in English and 20 minutes in length. For those interested in participating, please email a 200-300 word abstract and c.v. by August 15, 2012 to cornellgradsymposium@gmail.com.

CFP: Subaltern Rising: Racialization and Visual Culture in the Wake of Independence @ CAA/ACRAH 2013

CFP: Subaltern Rising: Racialization and Visual Culture in the Wake of Independence
Association for Critical Race Art History (ACRAH) Sponsored Session
College Art Association Annual Conference
New York, February 13-16, 2013

Chair: José Esteban Muñoz, New York University

The years 2012 and 2013 mark fifty years of independence for dozens of former colonies across the globe. This panel is dedicated to the consideration of art and other forms of expressive culture at the moment of historical transition, especially as it was evident in the reconfigured  racialization of citizens, economies, geographies, and political systems.

Key regions of post-coloniality include the Caribbean, South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. Commissioned public monuments and state architecture; redrawn cities, renamed streets and other public spaces; and the establishment of cultural institutions—including national museums and libraries—were acts of autonomy in newly independent Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Algeria, and Western Samoa (all 1962), and elsewhere.

How was the burst of creativity among artists producing work for the state, reorganized marketplaces and other commercial venues, performance, and national pageants inevitably informed by the preceding colonial order? Which post-colonial strategies reflect symbolic and stylistic borrowings from the language of European modernism in general?

What comparisons and contrasts can be made with post-colonial art produced earlier in short India and Pakistan (1947); Sri Lanka (1948); Laos (1949); Cambodia (1953); Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, and Sudan (1956)? How do all these mid-twentieth century breaks from colonial and imperial rule influence subsequent visual and cultural programs in the Bahamas (1971), Suriname (1973), Papua New Guinea (1975), the Panama Canal Zone (1979), Australia and New Zealand (1986), and Eritrea (1993)?

Please submit a 350-word preliminary abstract and short CV (2 page maximum) in one MSWord or PDF file attachment to: acrah@ymail.com by May 11, 2012. Email submissions with one attachment only.

CAA membership is NOT required to participate in or attend the session.

CFP: African-American Popular Culture Area @ MPCA/ACA Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS
AFRICAN-AMERICAN POPULAR CULTURE AREA CALL:

The African-American Popular Culture Area of the Midwest Popular Culture
Association/American Culture Association is seeking panel sessions,
papers, and proposals examining historical and/or contemporary aspects
of African-American popular culture including African American
stereotypes, icons, personas, artifacts, rituals, genres, holidays,
art forms (music, orature, dance, literature, visual art, television,
film, comic art, etc.), festivals, foodways, folklore and folklife,
practices, religion, and etc.

The 2012 MPCA/ACA Conference will be held in Columbus, Ohio
Friday, October 12 through Sunday, October 14, 2012 at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel

PROPOSAL INFORMATION: Submissions should be made electronically via
our online submission system at <http://mpcaaca.org/columbus-2012/2012-cfp/>.

(1) Complete/key-in your Contact Information as requested

followed by a (2) full Title.

(3) Select the African-American Popular Culture area
from the drop-down menu.

(4) Key-in (or cut-and-paste) a 250-word (or less) Abstract in the space provided. You may also attach a document with the .doc, .pdf, or .rtf extensions, if desired.

(5) You must indicate if you need a TV/DVD player for your presentation.

Also, if necessary, you may (6) indicate dates or times you are UNABLE to present.

NOTE: (a) The only audio-visual equipment available from the
Association will be a DVD player and monitor, and you must ask for it
at the time you submit your proposal. With appropriate preparation, a
DVD player can play audio, video, and still images.

(b) You must include the name, affiliation, and email address of each
author/participant.

(c) If you do not include an email address, you must include a postal address.

(d) If you wish your presentation to be listed as MACA (rather than MPCA), please include this request with your submission.

Deadline for receipt of proposals is Monday, April 30, 2012.

REGISTRATION AND MEMBERSHIP: All conference participants must be
members of the Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American
Culture Association.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION: Conference panel sessions will run at the
following approximate times:
–Friday 2:30pm-7:30pm
–Saturday 8:30am-6:15pm
–Sunday 8:00am-1:00pm.

(The conference may begin at 12:45pm on Friday, if demand so dictates).

Special events will include two featured speakers and a cash-bar reception on Friday, October 12 and a luncheon which is scheduled on Saturday, October 13 from 12:00pm–1:30pm. These events, plus continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, will be free for conference registrants.

CFP: 2012 MESDA CONFERENCE on American Material Culture

CALL FOR PAPERS: 2012 MESDA CONFERENCE on American Material Culture
Deadline: May 15, 2012

The seventh biennial MESDA Conference for recent research in the field of early American material culture and decorative arts will take place on October 25-27, 2012 at the East Tennessee Historical Society in Knoxville, Tennessee. The conference provides the only major forum for scholarly presentation and interaction on American material culture and decorative arts with specific emphasis on the South. The MESDA Conference includes the Gordon Seminar, a day of presentations on a variety of topics in American material culture. The conference also includes a day of field trips to regional material culture sites and decorative arts collections in east Tennessee. Scholars and graduate students in American studies, southern studies, decorative arts and other fields as they relate to early southern material culture are invited to submit proposals. Papers are to be twenty minutes in length. Subjects with an interdisciplinary approach and with emphasis on the study of southern decorative arts and material culture are highly encouraged.

Proposals will be accepted for individual papers or for panel sessions. Paper proposals must include the author’s name, the paper title, a one‐page abstract, and the author’s curriculum vitae. Session proposals must include a chair, list of presenters, cover letter, a one‐page summary of the session theme, presenter curriculum vitae, and abstracts for all papers.

Deadline for proposals: May 15, 2012

Notification of acceptance will be received by June 15, 2012.

Accepted papers must be submitted in full by September 15, 2010.

Electronic submission in Word format is preferred. Submit emailed proposals to Sally Gant : sgant@oldsalem.org

Or send hard copies to:
Sally Gant, MESDA Conference
924 South Main Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Phone: 336-721-7361 Fax: 336-721-7367

For conference information, visit MESDA.org/conference

Conference registrar Martha Ashley: 336-721-7360 or email MESDAPrograms@oldsalem.org

LMU Professor Examines Race in Comics

Corey Blake's avatarThe Comics Observer

Loyola Marymount University‘s Dr. Adilifu Nama, Chair and Associate Professor of African American Studies and author of Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes, will hold a conference tomorrow on race in comics.

Dr. Nama shares some of his findings in this video produced by LMU:

His take on Luke Cage as more than simply a blaxploitation character, which is typically how he’s dismissed, but a reflection of the debate about the criminal system and rehabilitation going on at the time, particularly stands out to me. This isn’t just another regurgitation of comics history but an indication of someone bringing their own knowledgeable perspective to the ongoing dialogue and analysis. I’m bummed I can’t make this conference, but I’m very interested in checking out his book as a consolation prize.

The colloquium ran from 9 AM to 4 PM and included a line-up of professors and professional…

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CFP: Feminist Art History Conference @ American University

Announcing the Third Annual
FEMINIST ART HISTORY CONFERENCE
at American University in Washington DC

Friday-Sunday, November 9-11, 2012

CALL FOR PAPERS: please submit via email a one-page, single-spaced proposal and two-page curriculum vita by May 15, 2012 to fahc3.cfp@gmail.com. 

Notification of acceptance by July 1, 2012

This conference builds on the legacy of feminist art-historical scholarship and pedagogy initiated by Norma Broude and Mary D. Garrard at American University. To further the inclusive spirit of their groundbreaking anthologies, we invite papers on subjects spanning the chronological and geographic spectrum to foster a broad dialogue on feminist art-historical practice. Speakers may address such topics as: artists, movements, and works of art and architecture; cultural institutions and critical discourses; practices of collecting, patronage, and display; the gendering of objects, spaces, and media; the reception of images; and issues of power, agency, gender, and sexuality within visual cultures. 

Keynote address:
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Feminism, Art History and the Story of a Book”
Whitney Chadwick, Professor Emerita of Art History
San Francisco State University

 Sessions and keynote will be held on AU’s campus

with additional events at the National Museum of Women in the Arts

in conjunction with its 25th Anniversary celebration

 

Sponsored by the Art History Program, Department of Art,
College of Arts and Sciences at American University
Organizing committee:  Kathe Albrecht, Juliet Bellow, Norma Broude, Kim Butler,
Mary D. Garrard, Namiko Kunimoto, Helen Langa, and Andrea Pearson

CFP: Extended Deadline for Proposals for AHAA-sponsored session @ CAA 2014

DEADLINE REMINDER: Proposals for the AHAA-sponsored scholarly session at CAA 2014 are due April 1. Because April 1 is Sunday, proposals will be accepted through Monday, April 2.

As an affiliated society of CAA, AHAA (Association of Historians of American Art) sponsors two sessions at the CAA annual conference: a one-and-a-half-hour professional session and a two-and-a-half-hour scholarly session.

AHAA-sponsored scholarly sessions are similar to the scholarly sessions generally held at CAA, although sometimes more topical issues are addressed. Scholarly session proposals should be sent by email to Katherine Smith, AHAA Sessions Coordinator (kasmith at agnesscott.edu). Successful chairs will be notified by June 1, 2012.

AHAA seeks to include new voices, and younger scholars are encouraged to make submissions. Chairs of AHAA-sponsored sessions must be current members of both AHAA and CAA. Proposals should include a title for, and short description of, the session along with the proposer’s c.v. and a statement of expertise on the topic or area proposed. For examples of appropriate topics, see the list of past AHAA-sponsored CAA sessions at ahaaonline.org.