Call for papers for a special issue of 'English in Education' on The Role
of Literature
There have been many changes and developments within English as a
curriculum subject over the years but literature has retained a key role.
Debates about what that role is, or might be, have raged, as have
discussions about the status of literature and how it is taught and
assessed. Different areas of English, for example language, literacy,
drama and media, have increasingly been seen as competing with, rather
than complementing, literature. The pendulum swings of statutory policy-
making have sometimes placed literature in a vulnerable position. As the
boundaries of English have expanded to include texts produced in new media
using new technologies, concepts of literature have changed yet again,
with considerable implications for assessment. Post-compulsory English has
become ever more varied, with an impact on how and where literature is
studied. Discussions about the nature and place of literature in higher
education have been lively, too, as the work of the English Subject Centre
in the UK has demonstrated. Meanwhile, outside the educational sphere, the
pleasure and power of reading literature remain – for many – undiminished.
It therefore seems a timely moment to devote a special issue of English in
Education to the role of literature. We welcome submissions on a wide
variety of topics including:
- Literature within or across all phases of education from early years to post-16 and higher education
- Selecting texts for literary study: what to read? who decides?
- Students’ engagement with literature
- Literature and cultural diversity
- New developments in literature teaching
- Historical perspectives on the role of literature in education
- Literature and teacher education
- Interdisciplinary approaches to literature
- Children’s literature in education
- Literature within and beyond the school and the classroom
- Literature and new technologies
- Literature in different media
- Literature teaching, learning and assessment
- The relationship between literature and examination
- The future of literature within English.
'English in Education' is the research journal of the National Association for the Teaching of English (NATE). NATE represents English teachers in the four countries of the UK, engaging with the concerns of the profession locally, nationally and internationally.
We would like to receive submissions from colleagues teaching and researching in all sectors and phases of English education, within the UK and internationally. For guidance, please refer to the ‘Notes for Contributors’ which can be found on the homepage of the NATE website in the section marked 'English in Education'.
The final submission date for this special issue is: October 1st 2007. Mark your submission ‘The Role of Literature’. The special issue is due to be published in the spring of 2008.
Guest Editor: Gabrielle Cliff Hodges, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, 184 Hills Road, CambridgeCB2 8PQ Email: gc234_at_cam.ac.uk
Call for Papers: Experimental Writing and Aesthetics
Abstract/Proposals by 1 November 2007
Southwest/Texas Popular & American Culture Associations 29th Annual
Conference
Albuquerque, NM, February 13-16, 2008
Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
330 Tijeras
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Phone: 1.505.842.1234
Fax: 1.505.766.6710
Panels are now forming on topics related to Experimental Writing and Aesthetics in such areas as the aesthetics of experimental writing in any genre or in multi-genre/multi-media works including digital and graphic compositions involving language, the poetics of performance of experimental compositions, critical studies of experimental writers, etc.
Creative writers interested in the selective creative writing readings panels should contact Jerry Bradley, Creative Writing Readings Chair, via > in the early fall.
Scholars, teachers, professionals, writers not affiliated with academic institutions, and others interested in experimental writing are encouraged to participate. Graduate students are also particularly welcome with award opportunities for best graduate papers.
If you wish to organize your own panel, I will be happy to facilitate your scheduling needs.
Send abstracts, papers, or proposals for panels with your email address by 15 November 2006:
Hugh Tribbey, Experimental Writing and Aesthetics Chair
Email: htribbey_at_ecok.edu
Mailing Address:
Dr. Hugh Tribbey
Department of English and Languages
EastCentralUniversity
1100 E. 14th St.
Ada, OK74820
Phone: 580-559-5524; Fax: 580-436-3329
Conference Website: < > (updated
regularly)
Speaking the Story: Orality and Fiction
39th Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
April 10-13, 2008
Buffalo, New York
This panel invites papers on all aspects of orality in fiction. Any national/cultural framework is welcome, though attention to cultural context as well as theoretical framework is encouraged. Dimensions of orality explored may include, but are not limited to, literary uses of oral voice, structure, and inset story; formal aesthetics; orality and print in postcolonial contexts; oral history in/through fiction; hearing and reading in the public/private spheres; and fictional representations of oral storytelling tradition. Please send 250 - 500 word abstract and one-page CV to Trinna Frever, Ph.D., tfrever_at_umich.edu by Sept 14. Inquiries directed to the same address are welcome.
Please include “NeMLA” in the subject line of your message. Also include with your abstract:
Name and Affiliation Email address
Postal address
Telephone number
A/V requirements (if any)
The Northeast Modern Language Association is a regional division of the MLA. Additional
conference information may be found on the NeMLA website:
index.html .
Call for Papers/Proposals for the Children's and Young Adult Literature
and Culture Area of the 29th Annual Meeting of the SW/TX PCA/ACA – Theme: Initiation
February 13–16, 2008
Hyatt Regency Albuquerque
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Proposal Deadline: November 15, 2007
E-mail submissions preferred:
Dr. Diana Dominguez
Area Chair
gypsyscholar_at_rgv.rr.com
Please put SWPCA Submission in e-mail subject line.
This year's area theme is Initiation, interpreted as narrowly or broadly as preferred. Children and young adults face multiple rites of passage in widely ranging ways: physical, intellectual, cognitive, spiritual, metaphorical, symbolic, psychological, and philosophical. How do the literature and culture productions aimed at the children's and young adult audience represent, reflect, aid in understanding, and influence these "initiation" stages and rites of passage? There is a multitude of ways this theme can be interpreted, as well as a multitude of ways Children's/YA culture can be interpreted, including, but not limited to traditional literature, graphic novels, comic books, periodicals, television, film, music (songs and videos), toys, fashion, web sites, blogs, and advertisement.
Please send 250 word paper proposals, or 500 word panel proposals, including full contact info for all participants for review to area chair by deadline of November 15, 2006. Please include a short (100 word) bio listing previous and current research activities, but no full CVs needed.
Interdisciplinary approaches and all scholarly fields are welcome. Also, as this is a popular culture conference, presentations that depart from traditional reading of papers are highly encouraged and welcomed. Presenters also need not have a university affiliation; we embrace all forms of experiential knowledge potential presenters might offer. Graduate students are especially encouraged to submit proposals.
Please see the Conference web site for information on Graduate Student Paper Awards, as well as two Graduate Student Travel Fellowships.
For further details regarding the conference, including Graduate Student Paper Awards (listing of all areas, hotel, registration, tours, etc.) please visit the conference website:
Full contact details:
Dr. Diana Dominguez
Dept. of English & Communication
U. of Texas-Brownsville/Texas Southmost College
80 Fort Brown
Brownsville, TX 78520
Phone: 956.882.8853
See you in Albuquerque!
What Work Is, Or Was: Twentieth Century Poetry of Work
Much of the poetry of the last 100 years or so has celebrated or taken up images of farm- and
factory-labor, even while actual examples of this kind of labor grow increasingly scarce, or less visible, in the world around us. This panel will explore the ways in which poets such as Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg, historically, as well as poets such as Seamus Heaney and Philip Levine, more recently, have represented and continue to represent work in their poems. Send proposals by e-mail to Andrew Mulvania at Washington&JeffersonCollege: amulvania_at_washjeff.edu
Performing Authenticity: Women, Country Music, and Media
39th Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
April 10-13, 2008
Buffalo, New York
This panel seeks to interrogate the ways in which the concept of authenticity is negotiated by female country musicians through song and performance. Further, it is interested in examining how mediated forms featuring or depicting female country musicians (such as the music video, the biopic, and the documentary) reflect an acceptance or rejection of (or a struggle with) traditional notions of country authenticity. Papers will examine this topic via analyses of specific musicians, performances, and/or mediated representations. Please send 250-500 word abstracts via e-mail to Molly Brost at mjbrost_at_bgnet.bgsu.edu. Deadline for proposals is September 15, 2007.
For complete convention information, please visit
A Dragon Wrecked My Prom: Wizards, Mutants, and Other Teen Heroes
"She saved the world. A lot."
- Epitaph, Buffy Summers
Teens save the world. A lot. This volume will collect a series of critical essays on the role of teens (and tweens) as world-savers, wizards, superheroes, and wielders of occult or technological power. Just as magic can allow an eleven-year-old to save the galaxy (Diane Duane, "High Magic"), technological augmentation can allow kids to take on dark lords, super-villains, and even death itself. Buffy, Joss Whedon's "Runaways," Harry Potter, The Neverending Story, and The Black Cauldron all present us with teens and tweens who have the power to save the world. Whether this power derives from magic, genetics, technology, or some mysterious dimension (ala Cloak and Dagger's light/shadow powers), I am interested in exploring what magic and mutation have to do with adolescence. How do these empowered teens manage to save the world while still acting like kids?
Although this volume originally focused on the role of the teen wizard, I have broadened it to encompass a whole array of empowered teens, from Sabriel to Alanna the Lioness to Vanyel Ashkevron. How are teens uniquely equipped (or ill-equipped) to save the world, and is supernatural teenlit--including paranormal teen romance, urban fantasy, and other forms of kidslit--supportive and encouraging towards ALL kinds of teens? Who gets left out? Who is ultimately disempowered in these narratives, and how does magic act as both an equalizing and an exclusionary force? I am particularly interested in examining the role of at-risk and marginalized youth in a variety of supernatural texts, including LGBT youth, mixed-race teens, disabled teens, poor teens, and teen subalterns who find inventive ways to negotiate their own heroic narratives. This also includes teen super-villains!
Abstract Deadline: Sept 30, 2007.
Please send abstracts with recent CVs and bios to:
jbattis_AT_gmail.com
Or, you can contact me via snailmail at:
Dr. Jes Battis
Dept of Film and Media Studies
Hunter College, 695 Park Avenue
Room 433 Hunter North
New York, NY 10021