Early Notice: 2008 International American Studies Conference at Purdue

American Studies will sponsor an international conference in 2008 titled “American Studies and Imperial Designs: New Scholarship and Perspectives on the U.S. in the World.” The conference will be held September 11-14, 2008 at Purdue.

We seek papers, panel proposals and performances that demonstrate bold new ways of thinking about the role and place of American Studies in challenging and describing current moments and acts of imperialism. These can include but are not limited to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, global economic restructuring, new forms of global culture, threats to academic freedom, censorship, forms of anti-globalization activism, media, the arts and building cultures of resistance. The conference especially invites papers which articulate new forms of social organizing and resistance to imperialist designs. That is, the conference seeks to bring together scholars and activists committed to the theory and practice of social change, on one hand, and an intellectual project rooted in transformative goals. Finally, the conference seeks to refresh understanding of the terms imperialism and empire on one hand, resistance and revolution on the other. The conference seeks to create a dialectical moment and space for the production of new work and ideas, and new networks of alliance that may move us past the 'imperial moment' into a just global future.

Individual paper proposals with abstracts of up to 250 words; panel proposals no more than one page, with a complete description of the panel and individual papers; roundtables and open hearings on crucial issues and ideas up to 250 words in length; performances and/or readings on the conference theme up to 250 words are all acceptable. All proposals must include mailing address, e-mail address and telephone number for all proposed participants.

Proposals may only be sent via e-mail to Bill Mullen, Director of American Studies, Purdue at bvmullen@purdue.edu or to Delayne Graham, Program Assistant in American Studies at dkgraham@purdue.edu. Only e-mail submissions will be considered for review. Deadline for submission: Dec 15, 2007.