American Studies

Calls for Papers and Conferences

• "Papers, Please": Theorizing Border Discourses after Arizona House Bill 2281 & Senate Bill 1070
  Proposal Deadline: May 30, 2013

• Repensar la Política y la Historia de lo político en Chile : Lenguajes, Discursos y Prácticas del Poder. Rethinking the Political and the History of Politics in Chile: Languages, Discourses and Practices of Power.
  Proposal Deadline: May 30, 2013

"Papers, Please": Theorizing Border Discourses after Arizona House Bill 2281 & Senate Bill 1070
Proposal Deadline: May 30, 2013

In Arizona, recent immigration and education legislation has sparked national controversy.  In the previous two years, the legislation of Arizona SB1070 and HB2281 have taken effect, and that leaders have acted upon them offer an especially kairotic moment for theorizing border rhetorics, identities, and discourses (the small section of SB1070 that was held, called the ‘papers please’ clause). While theorists from various disciplines have successfully begun to address the complexities and outlets of border theory, broader scholarly interest has yet to synthesize the discourses of Arizona SB1070 and HB2281 as an interdisciplinary enterprise.

We see this historical moment as a site rich with potential for explorations of border theories related to identity politics, pedagogy, educational policies, writing instruction and interdisciplinary cultural studies. In the wake of these controversies, which may or may not be mutually exclusive, scholars and educators are given an occasion to explore how the rhetoric of the borderland invites a sophisticated interrogation of difference. We wonder then, how can theorizing border discourse establish a foundation for sociopolitical and/or community activism? To that end we seek submissions that provoke perspectives better equipped to explore contemporary problems such as globalization, economic exploitation, contact zones, border issues, mestizaje consciousness, multiculturalism, heternormativity, anglonormativity, imperialism, and educational hegemony.

Our extended goal for this conference is to develop interest and direction for an edited collection. Given the broad audience, we see several major purposes for a collection on Arizona SB1070 and HB2281

Submit any questions and proposal to Jose Cortez at papers.please.cfp@gmail.com

Return to top

Repensar la Política y la Historia de lo político en Chile : Lenguajes, Discursos y Prácticas del Poder. Rethinking the Political and the History of Politics in Chile: Languages, Discourses and Practices of Power. 
Proposal Deadline: May 30, 2013

Conference Dates: October 9-10, 2013

2013 in Chile will combine the end of the celebrations of the bicentenary since Independence with the commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of the coup d’etat which ushered in a bureaucratic authoritarian dictatorship. This invites us to rethink the future of the Chilean Republic and the different processes of transformation that have moulded its political history. The intellectual debate surrounding the historical and political problems of this latter period left us with a series of important academic publications that appeared between the years of political repression and the plebiscite of 1988. Paradoxically, after the return of democracy, the critical spirit of that intellectual exercise became diluted by party political conflicts and special interests, exposing the tensions in the controversial “political transition”.

Interestingly the celebration of the Bicentenary was also marked by this failure to live up to intellectual expectations. There was nothing comparable to the Centenary celebrations which were nourished by the burgeoning of critical creole thought. The so-called “essayists of the Centenary” embraced the task of dissecting the political, social and cultural problems that the country confronted having been politically independent for a century, but this did not occur with the Bicentenary.

In this context a group of historians, political scientists and economists has organised the First International Colloquium of the History of the Political. This meeting, organised jointly with the Chilean National Archive, seeks to ignite a new academic debate exploring the history of “the political” by means of an interdisciplinary perceptive that focuses on the intersections of history, political philosophy, social science, constitutional law and political economy.

Within this perspective we will consider the following methodological questions and heuristic problems that should orientate our academic reflection on politics and the history of the political in Chile:

In what was does language and discourse construct and/or determine the political sphere? To what extent can they be differentiated and on the basis of what methodologies? What is their provenance in what context do they emerge? Can micro and macro analysis make it possible to trace the sensibilities, practices, events and moments that produce and modify them? How are the future of social and political life linked? What are the contributions and limits of the human and social sciences to the understanding of the (trans)national texts and contexts that have marked the politics and history of the political in Chile?

For more information, click here.

Return to top