ACRAH will be at CAA2027. The topic of next year’s session will be The Materials of Race. We are welcoming submissions and look forward to you joining us in person at CAA in New York in February.
The deadline to submit for CAA is August 31, 2026.
Abstract:
Race is a powerful ideology, one advanced in images and objects that are the outcomes of artists’ manipulation of chosen materials. What is the significance of materials in critical race art history? Scholars working in this area might consider the perception of materials which play a part in historical and contemporary racialization of places, experiences, objects, and living beings. In what ways are characteristics and descriptions of texture, density, strength, malleability, reflectivity, and weight associated with racial quality and/or personality (or both)? If a material like paper is considered “a carrier of memory and process” (Frederick, Donnelly, and Kenney 2026), how do materials contribute to racialization as an historical and ongoing preoccupation? As other social historians do, critical race art historians might analyze the circulation and value of materials in local networks and global markets to map the connections to agential action and the exercise of power. Because the most recent material turn has been driven by a revived appreciation for craft and simultaneously threatened by the lightning fast adoption of generative AI-created art and design, interrogations of liberal claims that digitization lowers barriers to access (while distancing us from material engagements) are also relevant. This panel seeks varied perspectives from scholars, curators, artists, and/or archivists to contribute to this panel discussion.
The full CFP for CAA2027 can be found here.
ACRAH 