Deadline: 10 January 2002
This is a proposed session for the American Studies Association annual
meeting to be held in Houston, Texas. I would like to assemble a panel to
explore some of the ways in which standard philosophical issues reveal
themselves in early American colonial cultures. By what processes did
sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century colonials know what they
knew? How did matters of reference occur and questions of meaning arise,
and how were problems of signification resolved? In what ways was reality
judged and how was it constructed as a systematic explanation? Most
importantly, perhaps, what were the lived effects of such conceptualization?
Theoretical approaches to culture are acceptable, but not necessary. The
intent is to understand how contextual studies of traditional questions of
philosophy—of epistemology, ontology, or ethics, for instance—might still
improve our comprehension and critique of early American literature,
history, or society. Such questions themselves, of course, presume a
certain eurocentricity, but they are not restrictive by design or in fact.
Papers or presentations that address how colonial philosophical concepts
(implied or otherwise) might have been encountered, modified, subverted, or
recast by native cultures are also welcome and invited.
Since the theme of the 2002 conference is "The Local and the Global,"
proposals that are transatlantic in scope are especially welcome. The
Association, too, is encouraging alternative presentation formats, so I am
considering submitting this session as a roundtable discussion, and,
perhaps, putting the papers on-line.
Send a one-page proposal to
Clark Maddux
Department of Humanities
Indiana University Kokomo
2300 S. Washington Street
Kokomo, IN 46904
Email submissions are welcome at hmaddux@iuk.edu.
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