Tag Archives: Resistance

CFP: Monuments, The Biennial Conference of the Nordic Association of American Studies

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25 – 27 April 2019 in Bergen, Norway

Submission deadline: 1 November 2018

Monuments construct the past in the present, and link it to a predetermined version of the future. Monuments tell singular and unified stories, acting as master narratives that impede other voices. Monuments have become some of America’s most important storytellers, giving form to power, but also to particular acts of resistance.

This is perhaps only to be expected, for the word “monument” bears within it the Latin mon, from monēre, which means “to remind,” but also means “to warn.” In its descriptive form “monumental” connotes something massive or imposing, something great in importance, but also expresses a sense of excess, of being overwhelmed. The word itself thus invites a chain of questions: What do monuments call to memory? What might they warn us against? What versions of events do they impose in presenting greatness? Who and what deserves recognition? How can monuments commemorate different or competing pasts? What should be done with monuments that uplift violent pasts?

The NAAS 2019 conference in Bergen on “Monuments” welcomes panel and paper proposals that address monuments and the monumental in relation to American literature, history, politics, media, art and popular culture, transnational and transcultural and comparative approaches. Keeping in mind that not all monuments are made of stone—Hemingway has been called a monument, political symbols and landscapes act as monuments, the literary canon and the Bible are monuments to Western culture—the list of different kinds of monuments is near endless. Some themes may be, but are not limited to:

Conceptualizations of the American past
Preservation and commemoration
Tradition and cultural heritage
Cultural perceptions, shifting attitudes towards the monument
Representation Memory and forgetting
Genre or aesthetic form
Naming
Landscapes, places and spaces
Myth
Resistance to the monument
Inscription
The non-monumental
False memories
Amnesia
Nostalgia
Imaginaries
Ossification
War
Architecture
Photography
Religion
Visibility/invisibility

Please send abstracts and panel proposals to NAASBergen@gmail.com by 15 Sept. 2018. Abstracts for individual panel presentations (20 minutes) should be no longer than 250 words; proposals for panels or workshops should be no longer than 500 words. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out in October.

The conference is open to scholars and students from all countries, but we offer lower registration fees to members of NAAS (Nordic Association for American Studies), EAAS (European Association for American Studies), and ASA (American Studies Association in the U.S.).

A conference website will be made available in the autumn. If you have any questions regarding the conference or your proposal before then, please write to the conference organizers at: NAASBergen@gmail.com.

Conference organizers:
Jena Habegger-Conti, Associate Professor
Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
President, American Studies Association of Norway

Asbjørn Grønstad, Professor
University of Bergen
Vice-President, American Studies Association of Norway

Lene Johannessen, Professor
University of Bergen
Committee Chair, American Studies Association of Norway

CfP: Close Encounters in War Journal – n. 0

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Extended deadline to 30th November 2017

Special Issue: “Close encounters in irregular and asymmetric warfare”

Close Encounters in War Journal is a new independent and peer-reviewed journal aimed at studying war as a human experience, through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches ranging from the Humanities to the Social Sciences. The launch issue (n. 0) of Close Encounters in War Journal will be a Special Issue dedicated specifically to irregular warfare and titled “Close encounters in irregular and asymmetric warfare”.

Wars in general are cultural phenomena, among the most ancient and deeply rooted aspects of human cultural evolution: investigating their meaning, by reflecting on the ways we experience wars and conflicts as human beings is therefore essential. Conflict is deeply intertwined with language, culture, instincts, passions, behavioural patterns and with the human ability to represent concepts aesthetically. The concept of “encounter” is therefore fundamental as it involves experience, and as a consequence it implies the idea that the fact of encountering war shapes and develops our minds and affects our behaviour, questioning habits and values, prejudices and views of the world.

One of the most ancient types of warfare is what today is referred to as ‘irregular warfare’, as opposed to ‘conventional warfare’, which is a relatively more recent development. The combat strategies and tactics used by tribal warriors, modern guerrillas, resistance fighters and terrorists have recently been attracting the attention of military historians, strategists and intelligence experts due to the widespread terror threat, but how do human beings experience this particular type of warfare? Does it seem more threatening and scary because it can involve civilians more deeply? or because it blurs the traditional idea of war as open confrontation with a recognisable enemy? What drives non-combatants to arm themselves and become fighters? Is irregular warfare more violent, brutal and dehumanising than conventional warfare and if so, why? What is their cultural, linguistic and anthropological impact? And finally, is irregular warfare adopted also by regular armies? What is the impact of such warfare on the war-experience of the combatants involved?

For the launch issue (n. 0) of Close Encounters in War we invite articles which investigate irregular and asymmetric conflicts from ancient times to modern and contemporary periods, reaching beyond the study of military tactics and strategy and focusing on the way human beings ‘encounter’ with and within this type of armed conflict. Contributions are invited to promote discussion and scholarly research from established scholars, early-career researchers, and from practitioners who have encountered irregular warfare in the course of their activities.

The topics that can be investigated include but are not limited to:

· Irregular, asymmetric and unconventional warfare
· Insurgency and counterinsurgency
· Resistance and partisan war
· Terrorism and counter-terrorism
· Violence and trauma
· Cultural encounters and identity
· Representations of otherness, race, and gender
· Religion and politics
· Testimonies, witness-representations, oral history and memory studies

The editors of Close Encounters in War invite the submission of 3-500 words abstracts in English by 30th November 2017 to the following addresses: simona.tobia@closeencountersinwar.com and gianluca.cinelli@closeencountersinwar.com. Decisions will be made by 2nd January 2018 and the completed articles (6000-8000 words including footnotes, bibliography excluded, in English) will be expected by 15th May 2018. All contributions will go under a process of blind peer-review.

CFP: 1917: Revolution, Resistance and Radicalism in the Atlantic World

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Extended Deadline Call for Papers for the 18th Annual International Graduate Student Conference on Transatlantic History

“1917: Revolution, Radicalism and Resistance in the Atlantic World”

Submission Deadline: July 31
Conference Dates: October 19-21, 2017
Keynote Speakers: Dr. Erik S. McDuffie and Dr. Julia L. Mickenberg
Where: University of Texas at Arlington

The theme for this year’s conference is the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917 on the Atlantic World, examining the political, social, cultural, and economic reverberations and legacies prompted by the collapse of Russia’s ancient regime and the consolidation of Soviet/Bolshevik power. Inspiring hope and terror abroad, this conference aims to analyze the various transnational and international dimensions of the Russian Revolutions and how they shaped social and political movements in the Atlantic World, both directly and by virtue of establishing a new geopolitical context.

Topics may include but are not limited to the following:

Revolutions and uprisings of 1917-1923 (Russia, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Mexico, Greece, Ireland, Egypt, etc.)
Communist, socialist, and anarchist internationalism
Imperialism/colonialism, anti-colonial movements, and decolonization
Transatlantic solidarity struggles
Women’s and feminist movements
Radical and social movement networks
Anti-war and peace activism during World War I and World War II
Refugees and exiles
Social, political, and cultural forms of anti-communism – both left- and right- wing
Fascism and anti-fascism
Cold War Studies

We invite papers and panel submissions that are historical, geographical, anthropological, literary, sociological, and cartographic in nature–including interdisciplinary and digital humanities projects–that fall within the scope of transatlantic studies from both graduate students and young scholars.

We also seek to explore and further establish shared terminology, methodologies, and defining parameters as they pertain to the field of transatlantic history. This conference has become an interdisciplinary and intercontinental meeting place where such ideas can converge into a common conversation. Therefore, we also welcome papers on:

Twentieth-century empires
Transatlantic networks
Making of nation-states
Transnational spaces
Transatlantic migrations
Diaspora studies
Collective memory
Identity construction
Transatlantic cuisine and consumption
Intercultural transfer and transfer studies
Transnational families
Cartographic history

Selected participants’ papers will be considered for publication in Traversea, the peer-reviewed, online, open-access journal in transatlantic history.

Submission of individual paper abstracts should be approximately three hundred words in length and should be accompanied by an abbreviated (one page) CV. Panel proposals (3-4 people) should include titles and abstracts of panels as a whole, as well as each individual paper. Deadline for submission is July 31, 2017. We will notify authors of accepted papers by August 15, 2017.

Paper and panel submissions should be made at https://form.jotform.us/70865303289159

Please direct all questions to Lydia Towns at lydia.towns@mavs.uta.edu
Contact Info: Lydia Towns, Transatlantic History Doctoral Program at the University of Texas at Arlington