Putting the Bowtie on Funk : The Sound of Philadelphia

Guaranteed session for MLA 2024 sponsored by Forum MS Sound, in collaboration with Forum African American Literature, Language, and Culture

Philly Soul, with its roots in the Black performance traditions of gospel, funk, and rhythm & blues, transformed popular music in the 1970s. How have…[Read more]

CFP: We invite papers examining Lessing’s critique of neocolonialism in works such as <i>African Laughter</i>, especially in conversation with postcolonial African writers from Aidoo, Gordimer, Dangarembga, and Vera to Gappah, Bulawayo,and Mbue. Bio and 250-word abstract. Deadline: 20 March, 2023. Josna Rege jrege@worcester.edu, jo…[Read more]

CFP: We invite papers exploring figures of the griot—as chroniclers, poets, song makers, and Memories—in Doris Lessing’s later works, and in the works of writers from Africa and throughout the postcolonial diaspora. Bio and 250-word abstract. Deadline: 20 March, 2023. Josna Rege jrege@worcester.edu, josnarege@comcast.net

Dear colleagues,

we’ve extended the deadline for submitting to ENN7, the European Narratology Network conference.

The new deadline is: 10th March 2023 (timezone: anywhere in the world).

This year’s conference is co-located with IGEL 2023, the conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature, and the common theme i…[Read more]

[This session is organized by the HEP Teaching as a Profession Forum]

Teaching Beyond University

In its effort to recognize other spaces for postgraduate careers beyond 4-year institutions, the Teaching as a Profession Forum is inviting submissions for a virtual roundtable focused on teaching beyond a traditional university department. We are…[Read more]

[This session is organized by the HEP Teaching as a Profession Forum]

Ungrading as Liberatory Practice 

As a pedagogical practice, ungrading decenters grade-based assessment and focuses instead on student learning. It is based on the philosophical premise that grades are not an accurate assessment of learning, and institutionalized grading…[Read more]

I am proposing a special session at MLA 2024 on “Political Oratory and African American Literature.”  Papers will examine speeches by elected officials as contributions to African American literary discourse.   Please email 300-word abstracts to matthewcalihman@missouristate.edu by March 13.

Matthew Calihman, Professor of English, Missouri S…[Read more]

2024 marks the centennial of the Surrealist Manifesto. Roundtable participants will examine the conceptual, verbal, and formal tools and strategies at stake in this preeminent artistic and critical stance in 20th-century French studies. They will explore the evolving ways in which surrealism still manifests in today’s cultural and literary imagina…[Read more]

Dear Colleagues,

I’d like to call your attention to three CFPs for the 2024 MLA convention that may interest you.

• The Range of Contingency: Models and Strategies for Success: As the nature of contingency evolves with non-tenure track faculty assuming increased responsibilities within the academy, what models or strategies can help to a…

[Read more]

An op-ed article I co-wrote with Latinx Studies colleagues David J. Vázquez and Magdalena L. Barrera was just published in Salon. Check it out!

“What the New York Times gets wrong about the “American Dirt” controversy: Who gets to wield the power of representation might be important to columnist Pamela Paul, but it’s a…[Read more]