THE W. E. B. DU BOIS DEPARTMENT OF AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
180 Infirmary Way
329 New Africa House
Amherst, MA 01003
Call for Papers
(Re)Conceptualizing Black Resistance
2nd Annual Afro-American Studies Graduate Conference
Extended Deadline: February 15, 2016 Conference Date: April 1, 2016
Studies of black racial subjugation throughout the Diaspora have increasingly highlighted narratives and embodiments of resistance as central aspects of the black experience. The survival of the black community when faced with slavery, sexual exploitation, and racial discrimination, depended upon measured and creative methods of resistance. Though some of the strategies by which black people historically and continuously challenge white supremacy and gender oppression are visible in the archive, many forms of resistance are subversive and elude researchers of black history, literature and culture.
The Du Bois Department Graduate Organization invites papers for its second annual graduate student conference that explore innovative approaches to the concept of resistance as enacted by people of African descent across the Diaspora. Papers that examine various expressions, embodiments, and representations of resistance are welcome. We are particularly interested in what this emerging body of literature on resistance indicates for the field, as well as the ways in which particular acts of resistance have been overlooked and the implications of such conceptual oversights.
Submission Guidelines
In relation to these themes, some questions for consideration include but are not limited to:
Why are certain forms of resistance privileged in studies of racial oppression?
How is subjectivity/agency (re)framed in relation to resistance?
How do intersectional approaches effect studies of resistance?
How do questions of affect and empathy shape interpretations of resistance?
How are subversive forms of resistance measured?
How are forms of resistance assigned categorization as social, cultural, political, collective, and individual?
Relevant disciplines include but are not limited to:
African Studies, African American Studies, American Studies, Art History, Childhood Studies, Communications, Critical Race Theory, Cultural Studies, Disability Studies, Environmental Studies/Ecocriticism, Film Studies and Film Theory, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Queer Theory, History, Literary Theory, Media Studies, Music Studies, Political Theory, Postcolonial, Global, and Transnational Studies, Psychology and Cognition Studies, Religious Studies, Rhetoric and Composition, Sociology, Science, Technology, and Culture, Theatre and Performance Studies
Acceptable forms of submission include:
Individual papers/projects: Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words. Attach a separate statement with your name, email address, paper title, institution, discipline, and a short biography.
Panels: Please submit a 1000-word proposal for an entire panel (3-4 presenters) with a panel title and abstracts of 200-300 words for each of the presenters. Attach a separate statement with the name, email address, paper title, institution, discipline, and a short biography of each presenter.
Please send proposals via email to Howard Ashford at eashford@umass.edu no later than February 15, 2016
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