CFP: Emerging WRiters

Emerging Writers: Western Identities and Alternative Discourses

deadline for abstract submissions: 9 August 2021

full name / name of organization: Journal of Western American Literature (WAL)

contact email: bennionj@duq.edu, surabhib@umich.edu, waljournal@gmail.com

Guest edited by Jillian Moore and Surabhi Balachander, Graduate Representatives to the Western Literature Association

In Alt Dis: Alternative Discourses and the Academy, Patricia Bizzell suggests that composition instructors are most successful when they imbue students with the skills and tools that they need to transfer experiences in composition coursework to future classes and other contexts. Such skills and experiences are often acquired through analyzing and engaging with alternative discourses. “Academic discourses” have historically been narrowly defined. Today’s rapidly evolving social and academic climate calls on scholars of western American literature to face our own limitations–in content, scholarship, and cultural programming. Responding to more accurate representation and adapting inclusive practices is a task currently being taken up by the Western Literature Association and its members. Inviting alternative discourses into our writing and analyses allows us to not only face our own limitations, but also move beyond academia’s traditional cultural biases in order to bring more identities and lived experiences into the academic fold. One way that discourses are being disrupted is through changing technologies that challenge traditional meanings and understandings of what is “academic” by engendering new forms. In this and other ways, emerging scholars and writers are on the frontier of crafting alternative discourses.

Western American Literature: A Journal of Literary, Cultural, and Place Studies is a platform that values and appreciates scholarship that pushes established theoretical boundaries and that creates new frameworks with which to examine the Western American literary imagination and culture.  Building on Bizzell’s arguments and the discussions in Alt Dis, we invite emerging writers to submit work that either participates in redefining what is academic discourse or analyzes forms of discourses materializing in today’s scholarship. This guest-edited issue of WAL: Emerging Writers: Western Identities and Alternative Discourses aims to account for the rich and diverse alt discourses with which emerging scholars and writers are engaging, both on a personal level and within their academic classrooms. Emerging scholars and writers include graduate students, faculty who are pre-tenure or not on the tenure-track, scholars outside of the academy, and others who face precarity within the academic system. We welcome traditional papers or creative or hybrid works.

Themes and possible topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Western discourses
• Reimagining the West
• Job market precarity, alt-ac, or ac-adjacent
• Adjunct and non-tenure track faculty experiences
• Pedagogy and andragogy (widely understood)
• Identity, race, gender, and/or sexuality, in literary works or in the classroom
• Digital humanities
• Popular culture
• Material culture
• Correspondence between public intellectuals and the academy

We invite proposals of up to 250 words for scholarly essays or creative works with a strong focus on identity, academic discourses, in relation to one or several of the above topics (suggestions for additional ones are welcome). The deadline for submission of proposals (MLA Style) is 9 August 2021. Proposals should include a short bio note. If a proposal is accepted, manuscripts of 10-12 pages will be due 15 November 2021. Please submit your work to the linked Google Form.

Publication date: Summer 2022

The tulsa Race Massacre at 100

The Tulsa Race Massacre at 100: Creative Writers Reflect on Its Impact, Legacy, and Lessons  

Fiction writer Rilla Askew and poet Quaraysh Ali Lansana in conversation with Kalenda Eaton, University of Oklahoma 

Date: Monday, May 17, 2021 at 7 pm ET (6pm CT, 5pm MT, 4pm PT)

2021 marks the 100-year anniversary of the destruction of the famed “Black Wall Street” and neighboring community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The events of a white mob who burned, looted, and terrorized black citizens is widely known as “The Tulsa Race Massacre.”

Novelist Rilla Askew (Fire in Beulah) and Poet Quraysh Ali Lansana (The Breakbeat Poets) consider what it means for writers and artists to document the history of racist violence in the west and imagine the possibility of a different future. 

Rilla Askew

Quraysh Ali Lansana

Coordinator: Kalenda Eaton, University of Oklahoma

Participation is FREE to everyone. WLA membership is not required. But you must be registered by midnight the night before the event in order to receive a zoom link to participate in this webinar.

Register here: https://tinyurl.com/wlablackwallstreet

Seeking Nominations

Don D. Walker Prize 

On behalf of the Don D. Walker Prize Committee and the Western Literature Association, I am writing to request nominations for this year’s prize. Established in 1978, the Don D. Walker Prize is awarded each year for the previous year’s best scholarly essay published in western American literary studies. “Western” in this context is defined broadly and refers to all of North America that historically or critically has been considered “West,” as well as to comparative literary studies of the American West that cross regional or national boundaries. The award recipient will receive a framed certificate and a small honorarium.

As Chair of the Prize committee, I would be happy to receive nominations of up to three essays by June 1, 2021 for publications appearing in the calendar year 2020. Please submit the article(s) you wish to nominate (preferably by electronic attachment) to susan.kollin@montana.edu

In the event of print submission, please send 5 copies to:

Prof. Susan Kollin
Department of English
Montana State University
2-176 Wilson Hall
Bozeman, MT 59717

Nominated essays will be screened by the committee, which will select the recipient of this year’s award before the end of the summer. Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have questions or would like further information about the Prize.

Last year’s Don D. Walker Prize was awarded to Dr. Emily Lutenski for her essay, “Dickens Disappeared: Black Los Angeles and the Borderlands of Racial Memory,” published in a special issue on “New Directions in Black Western Studies” in American Studies. 
 
Best wishes,
 
Susan Kollin
Chair, Don D. Walker Prize Committee
http://www.westernlit.org/don-d-walker-prize/

WLA Virtual Engagement

WEBINAR: The Politics of Public Lands
in the Contemporary US West
Date: Saturday, April 17, 2021
Start time: 3:00 pm EST
From Standing Rock to Bears Ears, from Malheur to Nüümü Poyo, the politics of public lands in the US West remains contentious, divisive, and, occasionally, promising. This webinar, based on a special issue of Western American Literature, will examine issues of public lands from the perspective of literary studies, cultural studies, and settler colonial theory.

Moderator: Jennifer Ladino, Special Issue Editor, University of Idaho

Participants (and contributors to the special issue):
April Anson, San Diego State University
Stephanie LeMenager, University of Oregon
Meagan Meylor, University of Southern California
Luke Morgan, Texas Tech University
Ashley Reis, University of North Texas
Marsha Weisiger, University of Oregon 
Participation is FREE to everyone. WLA membership is not required.
Please register here: https://tinyurl.com/wlapubliclands

The entire special issue (WAL 54.1/spring 2019) can be accessed at Project Muse.

This is the first of four engagement events in lieu of a conference in 2021. For more information, please check our website: http://www.westernlit.org/virtual-events-2021/

Weird WEsterns (CFP)

Hell-Bent for Leather:  Sex & Sexuality in the Weird Western, Vol. II (critical collection)

deadline for submissions: 

May 1, 2021

full name / name of organization: 

Editors: Kerry Fine, Arizona State University

Michael K. Johnson, University of Maine–Farmington

Rebecca M. Lush, California State University San Marcos

Sara L. Spurgeon, Texas Tech University

contact email: 

weirdwesterncollection@gmail.com

From Brett Harte’s forbidden 19^th century interracial love stories to the homoerotics of Star Trek and other space westerns, from the gender-queer romances in China Miéville’s fantasy western Iron Council to the human-cyborg couplings of West World, from the tight pants and BDSM-inflected camp of The Wild, Wild West to the cross-dressing protagonist in Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturism western Parable of the Sower, as weird westerns weird other genre conventions they also frequently weird sex and sexuality. This follow-up to Weird Westerns: Race, Gender, Genre (University of Nebraska Press, 2020) will explore the myriad ways sex, sexuality, and gender expression and identity are imagined in weird westerns–a hybrid genre form that mixes western themes, iconography, settings, or conventions with elements drawn from horror, fantasy, futurism, supernatural, or science fiction genres.

We are interested in submissions that explore both how the weird western challenges the representation of sex and sexuality in the conventional western and how the weird western can serve as a way to reinforce existing sexual and gender paradigms in the genre. We welcome submissions that consider how weird westerns portray gender identity, in particular texts that highlight gender queer and trans positionalities.

We are especially interested in contributions that consider sex, sexuality, and various gender identities in relation to the inclusion and representation of African American, Native American, Chicanx/Latinx, and Asian American characters and creators in the weird western, as well as weird western texts (literature, film, television, games, comics, etc.) by and about LGBTQIA creators and characters. We are seeking contributions that consider the following possible topics (but the volume’s scope is not necessarily limited to only these):

• Weird Western violence in relation to BDSM
• Sex and Sexuality in Weird Westerns
• Two-Spirit representation and participation in Weird Westerns
• Non-binary Gender Identities in Weird Westerns
• Queer Romances in Weird Westerns
• Sexual Empowerment in Weird Westerns
• Sex Work and Sex Workers in Weird Westerns
• Monstrous sex(ualities) and/or sex with Monsters
• Ace Identities in Weird Westerns

Please send proposals to weirdwesterncollection@gmail.com by May 1, 2021. Proposals should be between 500-700 words. Those with accepted proposals will be expected to submit a full draft (6,000-8,000 words) in late August 2021. 

WLA 2020 Conference Update

CFP: Western Literature Association Virtual Conference “Graphic Wests”

Conference Info in Brief

Conference Theme: Graphics Wests
When: October 21-24, 2020
Where: Online
Proposals Due: July 15, 2020
Click here for details
Questions? Contact us WLAConference2020@westernlit.org

Join us for our first fully virtual conference. We are committed to creating an engaging experience with low registration costs to increase accessibility.

Due to the unusual and unprecedented public health concerns and attendant restrictions on university sponsored-travel related to COVID-19, the 2020 55th annual conference will be held virtually.

The theme “Graphic Wests” invites proposals that take up the graphic in all its connotations, from graphic content to visual texts as well as the intersections of the two when considering the varied literatures and cultural products of the North American West.

The conference will include special talks with the following confirmed guest speakers:

Stephen Graham Jones, novelist and WLA 2020 DAA recipient
Rebecca Roanhorse, novelist
Arigon Starr, graphic novelist, playwright, and singer/songwriter

Since we originally intended to host this meeting in Southern California, we are still interested in proposals that focus on issues related to California and the American West but as always, the WLA meeting remains interested in proposals that focus on any aspect of the literatures and cultures of the North American West (including Canada and Mexico).

In addition to proposals on any aspect of the literatures and cultures of the North American West, the WLA especially encourages panels and papers that explore the following topics:

• Comic books/graphic novels set in the West and/or western comics
• Filmic and televisual representations of the West/western
• Graphic violence, language, and/or sexuality in the West/western
• Texts set in the West, or that take up western themes, that incorporate visual elements or make use of graphic design in their engagement with language
• Creative submissions about the North American West
• Approaches to teaching texts and topics of the North American West
• Antiracist pedagogies/practices
• The work of invited speakers Rebecca Roanhorse and Arigon Starr
• The work of Distinguished Achievement Award Winner Juan Felipe Herrera
• The work of Distinguished Achievement Award Winner Stephen Graham Jones

The deadline is July 15, 2020.

We are ready to receive your submissions.

See our conference webpage for more details on this year’s presentation formats.

 

Statement from the Western Literature Association

The Executive Council of the Western Literature Association <http://www.westernlit.org/officers/> has approved for immediate distribution the following statement:

The Western Literature Association (WLA) is in solidarity with Black communities, after the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and the ongoing pattern of systemic racism and injustice that targets black and brown bodies. We recognize, as well, that the United States is built on a history of stolen lands and bodies and that Indigenous people, as well as other people of color, are targeted by racial violence. In light of these dark realities, we support the right to freedom of speech and the outcry against continuing patterns of government and police violence that has led to protests across the nation. They are both righteous and necessary.

As an organization, the WLA supports those fighting the racism, historical oppression, and structural injustices so deeply embedded in the United States. We mourn those who have been murdered as well as the senseless violence enacted against those voicing their grief and anger.

This is more than our commitment to celebrating the diverse voices and experiences of the American West: it is also our duty as an organization with its own social privilege. With recent WLA conferences held in Minneapolis (2017) and St. Louis (2018), we have enjoyed the hospitality of the communities that were home to George Floyd, Philando Castile, and Michael Brown. In their memory, we say their names and condemn the acts of violence that ended their lives. The institutions and laws of this country have failed individuals and communities of color, and we recognize the need to address such systemic racism and every act of violence it engenders.

WLA is donating a portion of the registration fees from our upcoming conference meeting to an organization dedicated to social justice, antiracism, and the promotion of equitable political and social practices for Black communities to demonstrate our solidarity. We also encourage scholars to continue their support of Black communities in their classrooms; as educators we can facilitate difficult but necessary conversations and through our syllabi provide spaces for Black voices.

#BlackLivesMatter

Western Literature Association Conference 2020 Update

Please note following update about the 2020 Western Literature Association conference from Drs. Kerry Fine and Rebecca Lush, co-presidents of the WLA:

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in our everyday lives and how we conduct business in academia. Due to concerns that there could be a renewed wave of infections in the Fall and the possibility of declining university support for conference travel, we have decided to transition our October 2020 meeting to an online format. These are unprecedented times and we cannot, in good conscience, risk the physical health of our members or the economic health of our association.

While we are saddened to not have an opportunity to meet in person as an association, please know that your 2020 co-presidents are working on putting together an online conference that still provides social connection and interaction. Please see our updated CFP attached to this message and always visit the WLA 2020 conference webpage for all the latest information. The portal for submitting proposals will be open very soon, and we’ve also extended the deadline to July 15. We know that many of you, ourselves included, have been extremely busy lately. Many of us have been shifting much of what we do to online formats, and so we trust that this extension will prove welcome and reassuring.

Despite these less-than-ideal circumstances, we ask you to join us in focusing on the positives of this unexpected turn of events. An online meeting will allow us to try a nearly carbon neutral conference format which our sister organization ASLE has done in the past. We are also happy to have increased accessibility with an online environment. We recognize that online is not a substitute for the connection and experience we enjoy each year at our face-to-face meetings, but we hope to connect with you all virtually this October and then in person in Fall 2021 in Santa Fe.

Kerry Fine, Arizona State University

Rebecca M. Lush, California State University, San Marcos

Western Literature Association Conference 2020

55th WLA Conference
Theme: Graphic Wests
October 21-24, 2020
Location: the Hilton San Diego Del Mar, a beautiful coastal location one mile from the beach!

WLA Co-Presidents for 2020 will be Dr. Rebecca Lush, California State University San Marcos, and Dr. Kerry Fine, Arizona State University.

San Diego, home of the Kumeyaay, is a region of shifting borders and contested spaces that has been controlled by Spain, Mexico, and, most recently, the United States. In contemporary times, the region of southern California has nurtured visual culture through Hollywood and Comic Con International, the largest convention for comic book culture in the world hosted annually in San Diego. Drawing on this mixture, the theme “Graphic Wests” invites proposals that take up the graphic in all of its connotations, from graphic content to visual texts as well as the intersections of the two when considering the varied literatures and cultural products of the North American West. We also invite papers that address the unique culture of Southern California, such as surf and coastal literatures, along with papers that examine California writers and themes.
The 2020 Distinguished Achievement Award winners, poet Juan Felipe Herrera (21st National Poet Laureate), and fiction author Stephen Graham Jones, whose works exemplify “Graphic Wests,” will join us at the WLA’s 55th annual conference. The 2020 conference will take place in the beautiful coastal area of the Hilton San Diego Del Mar located just one mile from the beach and in close proximity to the Cedros Avenue Design District and Solana Beach. Additional speakers will be announced at a future date.

In addition to proposals on any aspect of the literatures and cultures of the North American West, the WLA especially encourages panels and papers that explore the following topics:

• Comic books/graphic novels set in the West and/or western comics
• Filmic and televisual representations of the West/western
• Borderlands literature
• Graphic violence, language, and/or sexuality in the West/western
• Texts set in the West, or that take up western themes, that incorporate visual elements or make use of graphic design in their engagement with language
• California writers and texts (Le Guin, Steinbeck, Didion, Mary Austin, John Rollin Ridge, Helen Hunt Jackson, María Ruiz de Burton, etc.)
• Writers and texts that explore California surfing and beach culture
• The work of Distinguished Achievement Award Winner Juan Felipe Herrera
• The work of Distinguished Achievement Award Winner Stephen Graham Jones
We are also open to sessions on teaching and roundtable discussions. Proposals for individual papers must include a 250-word abstract, and proposals for panels and roundtable discussions must include an abstract for each paper or presentation. All submissions must include A/V requests. Proposals can be submitted using the ConfTool link accessible via the conference webpage starting in February 2020. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2020.

Please submit questions to Rebecca M. Lush or Kerry Fine at WLAConference2020@westernlit.org.

Call For Papers: Indigeneity and Disability

Call For Proposals

Disability Studies Quarterly is inviting abstracts for a special issue on disability and Indigenous lives, cultures, and experiences—past, present, and future.

We seek contributions in a range of formats, including personal narratives, fiction, academic articles, photo essays, artworks, book reviews, and community-based history. Co-authored works are warmly welcomed. Projects should engage a broad audience, and use clear and accessible language. Visual contributions such as artworks and photographs should be accompanied by image descriptions.

Contributors are encouraged to consider various themes in relation to Indigeneity and disability, including but not limited to:

Definitions and Concepts

What does it mean to be disabled and Indigenous? What other terms, concepts, and identities are important?
What stories do different Indigenous people, in North America and beyond, share about wide-ranging kinds of bodies and minds?
How do Indigenous concepts of medicine, health, spirituality, community, and justice change, challenge, or enrich the dominant Western narratives of disability and/or Indigeneity?
What can we learn by paying attention to relationships between land, mobility, wellness, and disability?

Teaching, Learning, and Research Practices in Indigenous and Disability Studies

What can we learn from tribal nations about disability and about creating communities that are supportive, caring, and well?
How do we teach Indigenous disability in the school classroom? The university classroom? The community hall?
How do we create accessible, inclusive, Indigenous-centered disability scholarship?
What methods and projects are being developed to help us understand and share Indigenous disability?

Indigeneity and Disability: Pasts, Presents, and Futures

What can we learn by considering the historical and ongoing relationship between Indigenous peoples, colonial violence, ableism, and disability?
What does the intersection of Indigenous disability, the education system, and the incarceration system look like through time? What can be hoped for?
How does history relate to current movements around health, land, and sovereignty, such as Idle No More, Standing Rock, and the Indigenous Environmental Network?
What does a just future look like with regard to disability and Indigenous peoples?

Please send a 250-word proposal to Susan Burch (sburch@middlebury.edu) by May 15, 2020 for consideration in this special issue. In your proposal please address the following:

What is your own relationship to the project? How will your project contribute meaningfully to the communities that intersect with your project?
What specifically is your contribution about? What story are you going to tell? What ideas are you going to share?
What format will you use for the project? (for example: personal narratives, fiction, academic articles, photo essays, and community-based history)
What is important about your project’s questions, arguments, findings, and/or sources?
Avoid jargon and clearly define special terminology. Indicate directly how your project will be accessible to a wide audience.

Contributors with written work should plan for their finished works to be between 750 and 2500 words (excluding citations). If your project is of a different length or format please note this directly in your proposal.

Relevant dates/ TIMELINE:

May 15, 2020: Submit abstract to Susan Burch: sburch@middlebury.edu

July 17, 2020: Prospective authors notified of proposal status

January 10, 2021: Full versions of selected contributions due to editors