PLEASE NOTE: DEADLINE FOR PROPOSAL EXTENDED TO JANUARY 15, 2013
CALL FOR PROPOSALS: CACLALS CONFERENCE 2014 Proposals due JANUARY 15, 2014 In conjunction with the annual Congress of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (CACLALS) will host its annual conference May 24-26, 2014, at Brock University, St. Catharines, ON. CACLALS invites proposals for individual 20-minute presentations, panels, workshops, or other special events for its 2014 conference on the theme of “Borders without Boundaries.” This theme reflects Brock University’s proximity to the geopolitical border with the USA and “primarily the need to think, work and create beyond traditional disciplinary, historical, cultural and social boundaries.” Conference organizers have elaborated further, stating that “‘Borders without Boundaries’ invites reflection on the links between the academy and the community, the mediation of boundaries in a virtual world, the development of new conceptions of rural and urban spaces, and the place and definition of friends, citizens and peoples in our social, academic and politically defined communities.” Reflection on the drawing of borders in colonization and decolonization, and on boundaries with respect to gender, ethnicity, race, class, sexuality, ability, nationality, religion, and nature/culture seems particularly appropriate for our examination of postcolonial literatures and theory. We might also ask whether or to what extent the idea of borders without boundaries reflects a neo-liberal view of the world in which the policing of borders national and otherwise remains a potent support for various kinds of hegemony. Other topics related to the conference theme that members may wish to consider could include but are not limited to: –transnational subjectivity as boundless challenge to national borders –the borderless environment, the boundedness of environmental regulation –the challenge to borders of standard English in decolonizing, diasporic, and transnational literatures –the persistence of borders in the contemporary world –the policing of borders –working on/through the borders of postcolonialism and feminist, queer, Marxist, ecocritical and other theoretical approaches –partitions, their politics and legacies –the construction of and challenge to religious boundaries –borders, boundaries, and Indigenous territories –boundaries of the human; e.g. post/colonial science fiction and medical humanities
CACLALS welcomes conference presentation or workshop proposals that address dimensions of any of the issues above or otherwise related to the Association’s mandate. We welcome traditional papers designed to be delivered in not more than 20 minutes, workshops, member-organized panels in which 4-6 members deliver brief position statements related to a single issue or text and then open up discussion to the audience, and member-proposed special events. If proposing the latter and the event would require funding—for instance, for screening rights or sessions on a single writer—we ask that the proposal include ideas about how at least partial funding might be secured. By JANUARY 15, 2014, proposals of not more than 350 words should be submitted via caclals.ca on the proposal form found under CFPs and Conferences>CACLALS>CACLALS at Congress 2014. They will be double blind-vetted. Please note that only proposals from paid-up members will be considered, and this stipulation applies to proposals for the Graduate Student Presentation Prize panel as well as regular proposals. The automated membership system created by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is now available on the website at caclals.ca, and we encourage everyone to use this system when renewing membership in CACLALS or joining for the first time. However membership inquiries and fee payment can also be directed to the CACLALS Secretary-Treasurer, Pamela McCallum, pmmccall@ucalgary.ca.
The Annual CACLALS Graduate Student Conference Presentation Prizes Information about the Graduate Student Conference Presentation Prize can be found at caclals.ca under the CFPs and Conferences tab. Graduate students wishing to be eligible for the prizes must check the “Grad Prize Submission” box on the proposal form at caclals.ca. They are welcome to submit proposals without entering the competition. This year’s Prize potentially joins with Studies in Canadian Literature, and finalists with submissions related to this field will be considered for publication.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Daniel Coleman teaches and carries out research in Canadian literary cultures at McMaster University. He has published Masculine Migrations (1998), The Scent of Eucalyptus (2003), White Civility (2006; winner of the Raymond Klibansky prize), and In Bed With the Word (2009). He has co-edited nine volumes of literary and cultural criticism, the most recent of which are Retooling the Humanities (2011) and Countering Displacements. The Fourteenth Annual Aboriginal Roundtable is another highlight of the CACLALS 2014 conference. Please watch for updates and news both on the website, and through our email notifications.