This is the early April MAPACA Newsletter. The next conference is November 7-9, 2019 (Pittsburgh, PA).
In this newsletter, we have:
Our Call For Papers for #mapaca19
Information about #mapaca19
Area-specific Calls for Papers from
- Death in American Culture
- Novels, Then and Now
- A combined call from Music, Native American Studies, Latino/a Studies and Performance Studies on indigenous resurgence, resistance, and decolonization
Call for Papers for #mapaca19
Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) 2019 Annual Conference November 7-9, 2019 Pittsburgh, PA — Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel
Call for papers:
Proposals are welcome on all aspects of popular and American culture for inclusion in the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) conference in Pittsburgh, PA. Single papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative formats are welcome.
Proposals should take the form of 300-word abstracts, and may only be submitted to one appropriate area. For a list of areas and area chair contact information, visit mapaca.net/areas. General questions can be directed to mapaca@mapaca.net. The deadline for submission is Sunday, June 30, 2019.
MAPACA’s membership is comprised of college and university faculty, independent scholars and artists, and graduate and undergraduate students. MAPACA is an inclusive professional organization dedicated to the study of popular and American culture in all their multi-disciplinary manifestations. It is a regional division of the Popular Culture and American Culture Association, which, in the words of Popular Culture Association founder Ray Browne, is a “multi-disciplinary association interested in new approaches to the expressions, mass media and all other phenomena of everyday life.”
For more info, visit mapaca.net.
Information about #mapaca19
This year, our conference will be in Pittsburgh, PA on November 7-9 at the Pittsburgh Marriott City Center Hotel.
Pittsburgh Information
For information about events and food in Pittsburgh, please see Visit Pittsburgh’s website. Pittsburgh has a lot of great museums and restaurants, offers inexpensive public transport options throughout the region, and is also serviced by Lyft and Uber.
Pittsburgh: Zombie Capital of the World
Since George Romero released Night of the Living Dead in 1968, Pittsburgh has been associated with zombies and zombie fandom. From 1985’s Day of the Dead (shot near Pittsburgh) to 2004’s Shaun of the Dead (shot in the UK) to 2019’s Kingdom (shot in S. Korea), zombies have become a worldwide popular culture phenomenon, but Pittsburghers still claim ownership over the shambling undead. This year, we want you to propose papers and panels with a zombie theme!
If zombies aren’t your favorite, we still want you to bring us your non-zombie themed papers as well! We will never restrict our conference to just one theme.
Death in American Culture CFP
The Death in American Culture Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association is seeking proposals for its sessions scheduled for the 2019 Annual Conference.
Papers are welcome on any aspect of American cultural responses to death. Proposals may be from any appropriate discipline and cover any historical period. General topic areas include but are not limited to the following:
Attitudes toward and practices relating to death, including the medicalization of death, the social construction of death, death in art and literature, funeral customs, the evolution of the funeral business and the cemetery, changing attitudes toward the dead body and its disposal, and burial and mourning practices.
Memorialization, including the history, iconography, and rhetoric of gravemarkers and memorials; regional and ethnic practices; and gender, class, and race in the cemetery.
Those interested are invited to submit a proposal (100-150 words) suitable for printing, together with full contact information (name, affiliation, postal address, email address, and phone number), by June 30, 2019, to the MAPACA website at www.mapaca.net. If you have any questions, please contact J. Joseph Edgette jedgette@verizon.net or Richard A. Sauers historian.riverviewcemetery@gmail.com
Novels, Then and Now CFP
The Popular Novels area includes all novel genres, authors, time periods, cultures, and settings. Consider it a safety net for novels that don’t fit neatly into a specific genre or that cross genres. Consider the many sub-genres of Romance with a capital “R”—western, thriller, paranormal, religious, romance (with a small “r”), detective, urban fantasy, etc. From Pearl S. Buck to Lee Child, from Laurie King to Tony Hillerman, from Julia Spencer-Fleming to Emilie Richards—all are welcome.
With this is mind, the area chairs for the “Novels, Then and Now” section of the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association (MAPACA) invite papers on the above as well as on the following themes:
Bridging narratives. Inspired by Pittsburgh as the “City of Bridges” papers may examine how narratives bridge time, space, genre, or plot. How can one novel bridge to another as palimpsest or adaptation?
Manufacturing narratives. How has the production of novel changed? How has popular culture influenced the way we manufacture our narratives or how we manufacture authorial personae. Papers may examine how new media has supported or changed how novels are created and/or how authorial identities are manufactured, positioned, and circulated.
Steeling/Stealing novels: We invite submissions that examine how novels help readers face or prepare for difficult situations. Papers may also play with the concept of steeling/stealing by focusing on stealing time to read or the stealing/appropriation of narratives.
Pedagogy: how do we teach the novel? How can we teach adaptations?
We invite submissions for either individual papers or a roundtable proposal about teaching the novel to majors or non-majors.
Submission Process: Submit a 250-word proposal including A/V requests and a brief biography by June 30, 2019 to our online submission form at www.mapaca.net
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly. Sarah Creel: Screel6@kennesaw.edu Ann Gagne: ann.gagne@durhamcollege.ca Co-Chairs, The Novel: Now and Then, MAPACA
Music, Native American Studies, Latino/a Studies and Performance Studies CFP on Indigenous Resurgence, Resistance, and Decolonization
Indigenous resurgence, resistance and decolonial efforts have, in recent years, been on the rise. Indigenous elders, adults and youth have mobilized to collectively challenge colonial structures of power imbalances, domination, assimilation and elimination. Continued efforts to protect sacred Indigenous lands and waterways like the Bagua Blockade in Bagua, Peru, Idle No More in Canada, and the No DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) in Standing Rock Sioux Reservation have been at the forefront of many Indigenous communities throughout the Americas and the world. Indigenous peoples, as well as independent organizations have begun to pursue a myriad of strategies to revive and rejuvenate Indigenous social and cultural practices, many of which interrupt and interrogate settler assumptions and the imperial order. Decolonial efforts have also led to an increase in the awareness of Indigenous peoples rights and sovereignty. Some of this has been reflected in local social movements, while others have reached national or global attention. In Canada, Indigenous women tirelessly worked to increase awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG). Their efforts led to a national inquiry. This is but one example of a social and political movement steeped in resistance and decolonial activism.
This special call for papers between Music, Native American Studies, Latino/a Studies and Performance Studies invites individual paper proposals and roundtables about Indigenous resurgence, resistance and decolonization or any related topic. Sponsored as joint sessions between all four areas, we encourage presenters to submit their best work as it relates to the aforementioned themes as they are exemplified in, but not limited to, music, literature (academic or otherwise), film, dance, theatre and performance.
Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA)
P.O. Box 25033 Philadelphia, PA 19147-0033