My Mind Words Paper:
conference papers

Deadline: 11 January 2012

The Black Diaspora Conference is an annual interdisciplinary forum bringing together scholars and thinkers to reflect on issues and concerns related to people of African descent. The objective of the series is to promote and expand public awareness, scholarship and research in the area of Black Diaspora studies. Themes and discussions at the annual conference will focus on achieving a qualitative and quantitative impact on the various Black Diaspora micro-communities in the Diaspora as well as on the African continent.

The theme for the 8th Black Diaspora Conference is “Intellectuals of the Diaspora.” We invite submissions for papers and panels from scholars, faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students. While papers on any aspect of the theme are welcome, the organizers are particularly interested in papers that explore the experience of Black people as they have and continue to navigate the spatial world within the world of Black and pan-African reality in the following areas: history, culture, literature, religion, politics, social organization, race relations, gender, internet networking, psychology, performing arts, etc. Contributions may be historical, theoretical, empirical, or comparative. Innovative approaches are especially welcome.

Paper contributions should be for a 20-minute presentation. Acceptance of a submission implies a commitment to register for and attend the Conference. (Registration Fee: $100; $15 for students and retired scholars).

Dr. Obiwu Iwuanyanwu
Black Diaspora Conference
Department of Humanities
P.O. Box 1004
Wilberforce, Ohio 45384
Telephone (937) 376-6215; Fax (937) 376-6029
Email: oiwuanyanwu@centralstate.edu

Or

Dr. Anthony Milburn
Black Diaspora Conference
Department of Humanities
P.O. Box 1004
Wilberforce, Ohio 45384
Telephone (937) 376-6459; Fax (937)376-6029
Email: amilburn@centralstate.edu

Contact Information:

For inquiries: oiwuanyanwu@centralstate.edu or amilburn@centralstate.edu

For submissions: oiwuanyanwu@centralstate.edu or amilburn@centralstate.edu

Deadline: 9 December 2011

The story of Africa in the world is in some ways a history of crime: from the Atlantic slave trade to the Nigerian “419” email scam, violence and illegality have often been the means by which the continent is inscribed in the Western imagination. On a more local level, crime has also served as the medium through which Africa and its peoples have negotiated engagement with globalization. Besides the obvious movement of illicit goods onto the global market, this is evident in the intricate international networks for smuggling people across the Sahara; in the prostitution rings that link parts of Africa to parts of Europe; and in the poaching syndicates driven by Asian demand for exotica such as rhino horn. The problematic role of law and/or its absence has long been the focal point of historical and social scientific work on Africa, though not without controversy over the line between voyeurism and observation.

Increasingly, fiction writers and literary scholars have also got in on the act. In South Africa, authors such as Deon Meyer and Margie Orford have topped the best-seller lists with their crime fiction, and the genre has gathered steam across the continent. What explains this development? What, if any, is the connection between the boom in writing about crime, and the problem of crime as it is experienced day to day? Finally, how can we both acknowledge crime’s dominant place in African narratives (and narratives about Africa), and question the limitations of this negative paradigm?

We invite scholars from across the disciplines working on crime in Africa and related subjects to a conference at Yale University on March 23rd, 2012. Young and established scholars are welcome at what we hope will be an open and informal forum for pondering these issues. Those interested in delivering papers as part of themed conference panels should submit abstracts to crimeinafrica@gmail.com by no later than December 9th, with copies of accepted papers to be submitted no later than March 16th.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: crimeinafrica@gmail.com

For submissions: crimeinafrica@gmail.com

Deadline: 30 September 2011

In spotlighting the contributions of Sola Olorunyomi – author of the seminal Afrobeat!: Fela and the Imagined Continent and other influential texts – to literary and cultural studies, this colloquium intends to incite a debate around the ferment that Olorunyomi has generated as an idea, a scholar, a teacher within and outside the classroom, a performer, a social activist and a fifty-year-long insurrectionary event.

Popular culture and performance in Africa, more intently, are isolated as the hub around which the colloquium’s sub-themes will revolve. We also want to look, beyond the normative cultural forms, at para-artistic sites such as television reality, telephony, virtual interaction (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), open-market hawking, etc. The colloquium’s immediate objective is to update critical engagements with popular modes of culture, taking into consideration the recent emergence of new forms such as hip-hop, on the one hand, and the transformation of other forms such as home video culture as exemplified by Nollywood, on the other.We therefore seek panel and individual presentations from scholars and practitioners that address issues relating, but not limited, to the following:

- Performance (Music, Drama, Disc Jockeying, etc.)

- Virtual Communication/ Cyberculture

- Reality Television

- Telephony

- Advertising

- Stand-up Comedy

- Slogans

- Home Video

- Football Fandom

- Body Art

- Fashion

Abstracts of not more that 250 words should be sent as email attachments to olorunyomiat50@yahoo.com. Deadline: Friday, September 30, 2011 (12 midnight, Nigerian time). We will respond to applicants regarding acceptance not later than Monday, October 3, 2011.

The colloquium will hold at the University of Ibadan in late November, 2011. A festschrift of presented papers will be published afterwards.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: olorunyomiat50@yahoo.com

For submissions: olorunyomiat50@yahoo.com

Deadline: 17 August 2011

Contributions are invited from participants who possess knowledge and practice/ life experience relevant to the conference program:

· Recognition, Social Inclusion and Capacity Building

· Contributions of people of African Descent to Australian society

· Stories of the people of African descent since the First Fleet and through the periods of the White Australian policy, Assimilation policy, integration and multicultural policy.

· The economic, social, cultural and political rights of people of African Descent in Australia

· Issues of identity, maintenance of identity and the impact of Diaspora on identity

· Exploration of Identity and community in a vastly diverse community in Diaspora.

· Creating spaces for advocacy.

Preparing an abstract

The abstract should outline the subject of the presentation in no more than 250 words.

Additionally, it should include a concise title and the full names and contact details of the authors. The lead author/presenter should be listed first as the key contact. Any additional authors should be listed in the space provided and be clearly identified if they will be co-presenting.

A brief personal biography (approximately 100 words) from the presenting author/s must also be included which can be used to introduce speakers at the conference.

Please do not include any acknowledgments, figures or references in the abstract. Please provide details if you have presented this paper previously (i.e. conference, conference location and date).

Please indicate on your abstract submission form if it should be considered for a 30-minute presentation (20 minutes presentation, 10 minutes questions). Timings are subject to change based on the final program and presenters will be notified of their allocated time.

The abstract will be published in the final conference program.

Submitting an abstract

Abstracts must be submitted electronically by 5.00 pm Wednesday, 17 August 2011 using the abstract submission form.

Completed abstract submission forms should be returned by email, to registration@africanwomenaustralia.org

The program advisory committee for the conference will consider all abstracts for potential inclusion in the conference program and authors will be notified of the outcome by 30 August 2011.

This is a community event, hence, all Authors of accepted papers are expected to register and attend the conference. All expenses associated with attendance are to be covered by the presenter.

CONFERENCE INFORMATION AND REGISTRATION

You are invited to the National Conference to mark the 2011 International Year for People of African Descent: “People of African Descent: Recognition, Social Inclusion and Capacity Building” to be held at the Sebel Hotel 350 Church Street Parramatta New South Wales on 30 September, 2011. The conference is collaboratively organised by African Women Australia Incorporated, in partnership with The Hills Holroyd Parramatta Migrant Resource Centre, Australian Human Rights Commission and several African and African Descent community groups around Australia. The conference will be open to all government agencies, service providers, academics and the general community.

An Official Reception will be held 29th September 2011, 6:00pm at Bankstown Arts Centre, 5 Olympic Parade, Bankstown. This will include official speeches, a play, and performances

For inquires, please contact Dativah on e-mail address (info@africanwomenaustralia.org).

To register please read, complete, sign and return the registration, Proof of payment and application (where applicable) forms to the AWAU Inc. by e-mail: registration@africanwomenaustralia.org Receipt of each delegate’s Registration, Proof of Payment and Application Forms will be acknowledged within 5 working days.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2011 INTERNATIONAL YEAR FOR PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT CONFERENCE

The year 2011 was declared by the United Nations a International Year for the People of African Descent to strengthen national actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of people of African descent in relation to their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights, their participation and integration in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society, and the promotion of a greater knowledge of and respect for their diverse heritage and culture.

Conference Objectives:

1. Celebrate and acknowledge the presence of people of African descent in Australia raise awareness of the challenges facing people of African descent. It is hoped that the conference will foster discussions that will generate proposals for solutions to tackle these challenges.

2. Explore the collective depths of the delegates’ expertise and skills in order to inspire strategies for change that can advance the recognition for the people of African Descent.

3. And showcase contributions, explore issues and canvass strategies for the way ahead.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: info@africanwomenaustralia.org

For submissions: registration@africanwomenaustralia.org

Website: http://www.africanwomenaustralia.org

Deadline: 30 September 2011

THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, 7-9 FEBRUARY, 2012

In 1961, an Arabic unit was established in the University of Ibadan to assuage the desire of scholars who were desirous of accessing information on the history of North African societies most of which were written or documented in Arabic. Led by the famous American historian, John Hunwick, the Department later became a full-fledged Department in 1962. It began to cater for the needs of Nigerians and indeed West African scholars through its programmes in Arabic and Islamic studies broadly defined even as it has facilitated the establishment of similar Departments in Universities all around the country. This conference is, therefore, being organized to mark its golden jubilee anniversary. The conferences shall attempt to look back at the various patterns and contours in Arabic and Islamic culture and scholarship in Nigeria since 1962 and attempt to chart a new course for the future. The need appears to have arisen for us to do a critical appraisal of the current state, future destiny, fortunes and benefits in the study of Arabic/Islamic culture in an era in which globalization and the emergence of new state and non-state actors are shaping and re-shaping cultural and cross-cultural identities and politics. Of what use is Arabic-Islamic culture and scholarship to Nigerian and indeed African future? What new directions could be suggested for the teaching of Arabic-Islamic culture in the West-African region? How have the various departments of Arabic and Islamic Studies faired in Nigeria today, what are the challenges impeding their vision and mission and what prospects lie ahead of them? How might we begin to gauge the impacts of the graduates of Arabic-Islamic culture on national and international alliances and development particularly in the West African sub region since 1962? How might Arabic and Islamic culture be critical for the development of interdisciplinary studies in the academia all around the world? What are the fissures, contradictions and paradoxes that could be observed in-between Arabic-Islamic culture as taught inside the Ivory Towers and the culture outside the universities? The conference organizers would welcome papers which engage with these and similar issues. Such papers may benefit from the following sub-themes which are evidently not exhaustive:

• Arabic and Islamic Studies in Nigerian Universities since 1962.
• Arabic/Islamic Culture and Scholarship in West Africa in the contemporary period.
• Graduates of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Nigeria's Public and International Spheres since 1962.
• Arabic and Islamic Studies and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
• Arabic and Islamic Studies in the Arts and the Humanities.
• Arabic and Islamic studies in African Universities and non-formal Quranic Schools.
• En-Gendering Arabic and Islamic Studies in Nigeria.
• Muslim NGOs and Arabic-Islamic Scholarship in Nigeria.
• Arabic-Islamic culture and the Muslim Youth in Nigeria.
• New Strategies and directions in Arabic-Islamic culture and scholarship around the World.
• Pedagogy, epistemology and Arabic-Islamic scholarship.
• New horizons in graduate studies in Arabic-Islamic culture

1. Hasan Ahmed Ibrahim, Professor of African, Islamic and Middle Eastern History and Civilization, Dean, International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Title of Proposed Lead Paper: "The Role of Arabic/Islamic Sources in Enriching African Historiography and Historical Legacy".

2. Amidu Olalekan Sanni, Professor of Arabic, Department of Religious Studies, Lagos State University (LASU), Lagos, Nigeria.

Title of Lead Paper: Textual and Source Criticism in Modern Scholarship on Quranic Studies.

3. Ishaq. O. Oloyede, Professor of Islamic studies and Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria

Title of paper not yet decided

Languages of the Conference: Arabic and English

Abstracts of not more than 250 words should be sent to the conference Secretary/convener, Dr Ibrahim Uthman via the following e-mail address not later than 30 September 2011. fiftyarabicyears@yahoo.com. The Ag. Head of Department and Chairman of the Conference, Afis. A. Oladosu PhD, can be reached via the following e-mail addresses: arabic_studies@mail.ui.edu.ng afism3@yahoo.com. For phone contacts: The Chairman and Secretary can be reached through the following lines: +234-8055-11-5001/ +234-80-3620-1617

Registration fee: 100 Dollars

Contact Information:

For inquiries: arabic_studies@mail.ui.edu.ng or afism3@yahoo.com

For submissions: arabic_studies@mail.ui.edu.ng or afism3@yahoo.com

Deadline: 16 September 2011

Women and Film in Africa Conference: Overcoming Social Barriers, Conference organised by the Africa Media Centre, University of Westminster, Date: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November 2011, Venue: University of Westminster, Marylebone Campus 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS

This is a 1st Call for Papers for a conference on the contemporary and historical role played by women in the film, television and video industries in Africa. From the Arab North Africa, West Africa, Central and East Africa, through to Southern Africa, women have emerged from the double oppression of patriarchy and colonialism to become the unsung heroines of the moving image as producers, directors,actresses, script writers, financiers, promoters, marketers and distributors of film, television and video in postcolonial Africa. Sadly, such immense contributions by women are underrepresented, both in industry debates and in academic research. There are now many cases in which African women in front of and behind the camera have overcome social barriers and yet this is sidelined. This conference invites students, practitioners, academics and researchers to debate how women have contributed to film, television and video markets in Africa from pre-colonial, colonial to postcolonial periods. Existing industry and academic work should also discuss the ways female audiences in Africa have engaged with film, television and video texts. The conference will include a session with leading female filmmakers. Papers may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following themes:

* The Influence of Feminism on African filmmakers;* Women in front and behind the camera in African film;* Women in the African feature film industry;* Women in technical roles in film, video and television in Africa;* Women documentary makers in Africa;* Gender and Representation of Women in African film;* Audiences for films by African women/Female audiences in Africa;* Case histories of leading African women film makers;* Women scriptwriters;* African women acting in video, film and television;* Censorship and the portrayal of African women in film and television;* The role of NGOs in commissioning women filmmakers and issue-based films;* How African governments have helped or hindered filmmaking by African women

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS

The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday 16 September, 2011. Successful applicants will be notified by Friday 23 September, 2011. Abstracts should be 200 words long. They must include the title of the conference, presenter’s name, affiliation, email and postal address,together with the title of the paper. Please ensure when saving your abstract that your name is part of the file name. Please email your abstract to Helen Cohen, Events Administrator at: (journalism@westminster.ac.uk).

PROGRAMME AND REGISTRATION

This two day conference will take place on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 November, 2011. The fee for registration (which applies to all participants, including presenters) will be £135, with a concessionary rate of £55 for students, to cover all conference documentation, refreshments and administration costs. Registration will open in September 2011

Contact Information:

For inquiries: journalism@westminster.ac.uk

For submissions: journalism@westminster.ac.uk

Website: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/

Deadline: 31 October 2011

The digital revolution is profoundly affecting African studies. New digital resources are making available large areas of content, as well as greatly improving access to bibliographies. In Africa, governments and NGOs are publishing online, some publishers are moving to print on demand and e-books, and international academic journals are increasingly becoming available in university and national libraries.

Yet the story, as is well-known, is far from straightforward or unproblematic. This conference will mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of SCOLMA by taking a critical look at the field of African studies and how it is changing. In particular, although there has been much discussion of new digital resources and what their creators plan to do, we have a limited understanding of their impact on their users and on knowledge production in general. For example, what are the implications for historical research of the availability of digitised sources, and of the choices made in their selection? How do social science researchers work in a field in which much, but not everything, is now available online? Are e-journals – or indeed mobile phones – beginning to change the research process in Africa? And, more generally, how have broader historical and political developments changed African studies and librarianship over the last half-century?

We welcome papers on these themes across the humanities, arts, social sciences and sciences. Papers may deal with digital content, whether digitised or born-digital, of any kind, e.g. archives and manuscripts; audio-visual material; maps; newspapers; books, journals and theses; photographs, prints, drawings and paintings; ephemera; statistical databases; and social media.

The conference will bring together academics and other researchers with librarians and archivists. We aim thus to have a productive exchange of expertise, experience and analysis on the question of knowledge production in African studies.

Themes may include, but are not limited to: • How scholars, researchers, librarians and archivists use digitised resources. • How African studies is changing, and the place of the digital revolution in these changes. • Access to, selection of, and training in the use of digital resources in the library context. Are resources under-used? • To pay or not to pay? How easy is it for researchers to find subscription e-resources? And for libraries to fund them? What is the balance of free and charged resources in the research process? How well do the models for making e-resources available in Africa work? • How well does user consultation work? • Access to the technology that underpins e-resources. • Digital scholarship: are scholars in African studies using digital collections to generate new intellectual products? • The impact of mobile phone technology on African studies. • How patchy is the creation of digital resources, and what – and who – is being left behind? • Language in Africa and new technology.

One-page abstracts of papers on these themes are warmly welcomed. If you would like to give a paper, please send your abstract to

Lucy McCann SCOLMA Secretary Email: lucy.mccann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Tel.: 01865 270908

THE DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS IS 31 OCTOBER 2011.

Papers in French are welcome if a summary is provided in English.

SCOLMA: The UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa
50th ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE
Dis/connects: African Studies in the Digital Age
Oxford, 25–26 June 2012

Contact Information:

For inquiries: lucy.mccann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

For submissions: lucy.mccann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

Website: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/library/scolma/

Dates: 22 - 23 March 2012

The Department of English at Texas Southern University will host the Fourteenth Annual Interdisciplinary McCleary Symposium, March 22-23, 2012, Houston, Texas.

The general topic for the presentations is “Asian & African Diaspora Literature, History, and Arts.”

Scholarly research and presentations are invited that cover a wide area of interest, including but not limited to the following:

• National and Global Influences
• Exodus Literature: Roads Away, Roads Back
• Lost Generations
• Translations
• Women in Art and Literature
• Following History’s Ariadne’s Thread through the Past
• New Voices in Adopted Languages
• Social Impact and Change
• Literature in New Form—Blogs and Bloggers
• Cyber Art, Cyber Fiction
• The Internet’s Impact
• You Tube as an Expressive Form
• Modernism and Postmodernism
• Conflict and Protest Art and Literature
• Post WW II Considerations
• The Short Story
• Expatriate Artists
• Literature and War
• Anti-government art and literature
• Poetic and Artistic Influences

For more information or to submit an abstract to the 2012 McCleary Interdisciplinary Symposium, contact the Department Chair Rhonda Saldivar at 713-313-7667 or Saldivar_rx@tsu.edu. We encourage electronic submissions of abstracts.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: Saldivar_rx@tsu.edu

For submissions: Saldivar_rx@tsu.edu

Deadline: 1 August 2011

SOCIETY OF MOVIE SCHOLARS (SoMS) in collaboration with NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO CENSORS BOARD (NFVCB) and ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA THEATRE ARTS PRACTTIONERS (ANTP) INVITES THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE THEORIZATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF AFRICAN REGIONAL MOVIES

Background

African movies across its regions have grown to the extent that there is need to critically do their in-depth studies with the purpose of generating theories on their packaging, analysis and proper classification into genres. Most movies produced in Africa are packaged without recourse to definite theories. Broadly speaking, most of the movies can be categorized into three groups namely, cultural or epic; modern and religious movies. While the religious and cultural movies could be in local or foreign languages, modern movies are so described because they are often located in the context of urban or rural populace and are produced in foreign or local languages, treating themes bothering on modern issues. But where they are in local languages, they are often lazed with Pidgin English or code mixed. However, these groupings possess the tendency to overlap if these categories are to be retained. Thus, it is difficult to arrogate to these groupings as genres on their own, more so that these grading are not guided by definite theories.

To define these groups effectively therefore, it might be necessary to do a close survey of their constituents. This is when the components can be highlighted into specific genres for stimulating and rich academic exercise. It is expected as the outcome of the exercise that specialization, originality and scope-widening and thus further ground for employment creation and legitimacy of production and its development would be engendered. Then practitioners’ specializations on specific genres would increase, and the tendency to recycle old ideas for new creations would be reduced.

This conference is therefore organized with the intent of gathering interested scholars and practitioners within and outside Africa to rub minds so as to evolve specific theories of packaging, analysis, and map out what genres African movies could be grouped. Taking a leap from the fact that movies are audio-visualisation of literature and literary texts and are analysed based on definite theories, the objective therefore is to cut a niche for African movies like literature, and place them strategically in the world movie categorizations but based on African development ideals and thus globalise what hitherto were local mediations.

CALL FOR PAPERS

In view of the above, abstracts are invited from academics, media industry professionals, movie producers, distributors, government agencies, policymakers, movie regulators, agencies, donors, civil society organisations, independent consultants, research groups and students, on any aspects of the under listed sub-themes. Such abstracts which should not exceed 200 words should be based on the analysis of select movies that fall within the sub-themes. This would eventually argue out the basis for specified theories and why the movie should be classified within the genres that the scholar is advocating. Contributors should however not forget to state under which sub-theme they are submitting their abstract.

Abstracts are to be sent to our E-mail address: moviescholars@gmail.com on or before August 1st 2011, while full paper must reach us before September 1st, 2011.

Sub-themes

Below are the likely, but by no means the only sub-themes on which abstracts can be submitted.

1. Trends in movie Theories.
2. Existing Literary Theories and the need or not, for distinct African movie theories.
3. Generating theories on African movies.
4. Emergent genres in African movies.
5. Movies and the relevance of African-specific genres.
6. Classifying African urban and rural movies.
7. Gender and social issues in African movies, need for classical genrization.
8. War and crime movies and proper classification.
9. Travel movies and issues of depiction.
10. African movies and the global media culture.
11. Representation of economic, social and political issues in African movies
12. Africans’ contributions to the Theories of Gaze.
13. Sociology and Psychology of African movies.

Proposals should include abstract title, author's name, address, telephone number, email address, and institutional affiliation.

Conference fee: A non-refundable registration fee of N10, 000 or (USD 200, BP100 for participants from the US, Europe, and other African countries). This must be paid immediately when an abstract is accepted. It is expected that all participants will raise the funding to attend the conference please.

LEAD PAPER: Professor Ahmed Yerima, Head of Department, Department of Theatre and Performing Arts, Kwara State University Malete Kwara State (Title of Paper: African Movies: The needs for unique identities)

GUEST OF HONOUR: Emeka Mba, Director General, National Film and Video Censors Board, Abuja

KEY NOTE ADDRESS: Comrade Victor Ashaolu, National President, Association of Nigeria Theatre Arts Practitioners, National Theatre, Lagos

Conference Dates:

• Arrival- October 24th, 2011
• Opening and plenary sessions 25th--27th October, 2011

Enquiries:

For more details, please visit the website: www.moviescholars.org OR contact any of the following:

*Kayode Animasaun, PhD: Osun State University, Ikire Campus, Ikire. Chairman LOC: +2348073787551, drkayanimasaun@gmail.com

*Gloria Ernest-Samuel, Imo State University Owerri- Secretary. LOC: +2348035085625, gloimsu@yahoo.com

*Ameh Akoh PhD H.O.D Languages and Linguistics Department, Osun State University, Ikire Campus, Ikire- Convener : +2348035992490, amehakoh@yahoo.co.uk

Contact Information:

For inquiries: drkayanimasaun@gmail.com

For submissions: moviescholars@gmail.com

Website: http://www.moviescholars.org/

This panel seeks papers concerning the stage life of African-American characters in 20th century drama. How has the portrayal of the black body changed in the last hundred years? What signifance does the historical traditions of blacks in theater play in current performance? How has the adaptation of literature to the stage aided or hindered the portrayal of African-Americans in modern productions?

Please send 300-500 word abstracts to Jenna Clark Embrey - jennaclarkembrey@gmail.com

Contact Information:

For inquiries: Jenna Clark Embrey - jennaclarkembrey@gmail.com

For submissions: Jenna Clark Embrey - jennaclarkembrey@gmail.com

Website: http://www.nemla.org/

Deadline: 30 September 2011

The aim of this panel is to discuss the contributions of people of African descent to the discourse on speculative literature from the African diaspora by contemporary writers. In Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora editor Sheree R. Thomas states that her purpose for the series “. . . [is] to offer readers an enjoyable entrée to the diverse range of speculative fiction from the African diaspora and to encourage more talented writers and scholars to explore the genre” (xii). Sheree also uses the term “unobserved literary tradition” to acknowledge the unrecognized contributions people of African descent make to speculative fiction.

Works from writers who deconstruct racial stereotypes like Samuel Delany, Steven Barnes, Octavia Butler, Tananarive Due, and Nalo Hopkinson are welcome. Also, paper proposals that show the marginalization of people of African descent from other connected genres such as science fiction and fantasy are possibilities; along with theoretical approaches to enhance our understanding of speculative literature from the African diaspora is also welcome. Submit a 250-500 word proposal by September 30, 2011 for consideration to Dierdre Powell, dmpowell2@aacc.edu

Contact Information:

For inquiries: dmpowell2@aacc.edu

For submissions: dmpowell2@aacc.edu

Website: http://www.nemla.org/convention/2012/

Deadline: 30 May 2011

Adopting as a first premise the existence of affective differences underlying the Middle Eastern and Western literary traditions, this panel undertakes the exegetical work of interpreting works from the Middle East to posit a new approach to poeticized vulnerability. Papers will track the possibilities for a new conceptualization of “vulnerability” as reflected in Middle Eastern poetry—one that eludes past epistemologies by opening unforeseen territories of experience. Here, individuated, subjective sensation and its formulation are transformed into the universalized, the cosmic, the infinite and boundless: poeticized iterations of humankind's continual indefensibility.

Specifically, we are interested in tracing the compelling ways in which vulnerability generates transformative consequences for poetic expression that then allow for unforeseen “becomings.” In exploring the theoretical territories of vulnerability, this session will consider thematic and conceptual currents such as sensation, cruelty, pain, pleasure, desire, power, laughter, loss, horror, intimacy, movement, and space. Ultimately, such intensified domains will culminate in revaluations of openness from Middle Eastern vantages.

2011 SAMLA Convention: November 4-6

Loews Hotel Atlanta

Contact Information:

For inquiries: psstleeg@aol.com

For submissions: psstleeg@aol.com

Website: http://samla.gsu.edu/