Update: new deadline is 1/15/02
Second International Conference of the United States Association
for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
April 26-28, 2002
Santa Clara University, California
(40 miles south of San Francisco; one mile from San Jose airport)
"Rethinking Commonwealth/Postcolonial Literatures:
Cartographies and Topographies, Past and Present"
Guest Speakers: Arif Dirlik, Chitra Divakaruni, Shirley Lim, Satendra
Nandan, Opal Palmer Adisa and others.
Amitav Ghosh's novel, The Glass Palace, was recently named a
finalist for the Commonwealth Writers Prize. In asking that it be
withdrawn from the competition Ghosh objected that "this phrase
anchors an area of contemporary writing not within the realities of
the present day, nor within the possibilities of the future, but
rather within a disputed aspect of the past. In this it is completely
unlike any other literary term (would it not surprise us, for
instance, if that familiar category 'English literature' were to be
renamed 'the literature of the Norman Conquest'?)." This novelist's
objections demonstrate that the notion of "commonwealth" can be called
into question and its implications should be explored as the world's
global geo-political economy further expands into the new century. If
by "commonwealth literature and language studies" we also include, as
is sometimes done, not only materials in English from current members
of the British Commonwealth (Canadian, Australian, Anglophone Africa,
etc.) but also in French, Spanish, Portuguese (Chinese? Kikuyu?,
etc.), what are the boundaries of this expanding field of research?
Papers dealing in some way with aspects of this topic are encouraged,
but so too are others that may not seem immediately implicated in the
question. Thus:
Multifocal approaches to the study of language and literature:
commonwealth, multiethnic, postcolonial, and transnational
perspectives --Commonwealths: global-regional reconfigurations and
transformations at the turn of the century --The impact of
technology on postcolonial literatures (Santa Clara University is in
the heart of Silicon Valley) *Questions of local or national
languages in the creation of "new" literatures *"Maps"
(personal, national, philosophical) *Close readings of
individual works or sequences in one or several authors' writings
*Cross-cultural comparative analyses of texts; US culture and ethnic
American literatures *Pedagogical issues, either undergraduate
or graduate *Proposed panels and roundtables on topics of mutual
interest *Film *Creative readings by authors
Deadline for applications: January 15
300 word abstracts should be sent to: John C. Hawley, Dept. of
English, 500 El Camino, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara CA 95053.
English departmental FAX: 408 554 4837
email: jhawley@scu.edu The conference has the support of San Jose
State University, Stanford, UCB.
Membership in the USACLALS is $25, or $10 for students, adjuncts, and
retired professors. Please send name, affiliation and fees for
membership to Terri Hassler, Bryant College, 1150 Douglas Pike Rd,
Smithfield, RI 02917. And see http://web.bryant.edu/~usaclals/
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or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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