Call for Papers: African American Literature since 1970 (NeMLA Convention 2013, Boston)

Deadline: 30 September 2012

This panel seeks a broad range of papers addressing trends in African American literature and criticism since 1970. The panel asks contributors to assess the historical and social terrain shaping African American literature after the end of Jim Crow and the legal victories of the Civil Rights Movement. What do recent African American writers’ formal strategies and choices tell us about the post-segregation, post-Civil Rights social landscape within and against which they operate? How do aesthetics and politics interact in this literature?

TOPICS OF SPECIAL INTEREST MAY INCLUDE

• discourses of crisis (of community, identity, urban space)
• the status of history
• the legacy of black cultural nationalism and Black Arts
• post-identity politics or post-Blackness
• continuities and discontinuities, textual and otherwise.

With these foci, the panel addresses recent scholarly calls to examine the concrete historical conditions of post-Civil Rights America that African American authors negotiate, in order to locate the aesthetic and political interventions these writers are making.

Please send 250-300 word abstract to Shaila Mehra.

PLEASE INCLUDE WITH YOUR ABSTRACT

• Name and Affiliation
• Email address
• Postal address
• Telephone number
• A/V requirements (if any; $10 handling fee with registration)

The 2013 NeMLA convention continues the Association's tradition of sharing innovative scholarship in an engaging and generative location. The 44th annual event will be held in historic Boston, Massachusetts, a city known for its national and maritime history, academic facilities and collections, vibrant art, theatre, and food scenes, and blend of architecture. The Convention, located centrally near Boston Commons and the Theatre District at the Hyatt Regency, will include keynote and guest speakers, literary readings, film screenings, tours and workshops.

Interested participants may submit abstracts to more than one NeMLA session; however, panelists can only present one paper (panel or seminar). Convention participants may present a paper at a panel and also present at a creative session or participate in a roundtable.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries/ submissions: shaila.mehra@gmail.com

Website: http://nemla.org/convention/2013/

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