The DePaul English Department is cosponsoring an event with the LGBTQ Studies Program, “James Arthur Baldwin: Legacy.” This roundtable discussion on the impact of the thought, writing, and activism of James Baldwin is occasioned by the 50th anniversary of the publication of Another Country and “Down at the Cross,” 25 years after his passing.
Please join Keynote speaker Randall Kenan of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and roundtable panelists Ernest Hardy, Los Angeles based writer‐critic; Bill Johnson Gonzalez, English Literature, DePaul University; Daniel McNeil, Ida B. Wells Barnett University Professor, DePaul University; and Lisa C. Moore, Publisher, RedBone Press for this timely discussion. The event will take place from 2:00‐4:30 p.m. in the SAC Room 161 and is free and open to the public.
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On October 30th, the Department of English will be hosting a reading for Professor Kathleen Rooney to 
celebrate the release of her new novel in poems, Robinson Alone. Robinson Alone is based on the life and work of Weldon Kees, and has just been released by Gold Wake Press.
Join Prof. Rooney for a reading and reception on October 30th, at 6:00pm in the Richardson Library on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus in Room 115. Refreshments will be served.
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Call for papers: BEYOND THE MARGINS May 17-18, 2013 at DePaul University
Beyond the Margins, a graduate student conference hosted by the Media and Cinema Studies program in the College of Communication at DePaul University, invites current graduate students in any discipline to submit proposals focused on the dialectic between the mainstream and the marginal as it occurs within various media. This conference will serve as a forum to bring together graduate students with similar interests to share and discuss his/her work, with the general public welcome in the audience. Panelists are invited to approach the concept of marginality and the media from such critical perspectives as culture and representation, technology and distribution, history and canonization, audiences and journalism, creators and transgression, among other approaches.
Each panelist will be given up to 20 minutes to present their paper. Potential topics for papers and panels include, but are not limited to:
- The role of the academy in ‘reclaiming’ neglected media texts
- Case studies of marginalized films, programs, texts, etc.
- The ‘mainstreaming’ of sub-culture
- The phenomenon of ‘cultural currency’ and media products
- Cult audiences
- ‘Trash’ media texts
- The ‘cross-over’ phenomenon and media audiences
- Social media and fandom
- The political economy of marginal media texts
- Advertising and niche audiences
- Marginalization and race, gender and/or sexuality in the media
- Journalism and the formation of ‘the popular’
- Public relations as advocate for marginalized audiences, publics, and or stakeholders
- Public relations as a media advocacy tool
- Marginal media texts and personal identity
Proposals should be between 250-300 words, and should also provide a list of three to five keywords related to your subject along with a brief biography.
Full panel proposals on a single theme are also welcome, and should include a 250-300 word description of the panel’s larger significance/objectives in addition to each panelist’s individual proposal. Panels must consist of exactly four panelists.
Please email your abstract, keywords and biography to Prof. Blair Davis: bdavis47@depaul.edu. The deadline for proposals is January 15th. Notification of acceptance will be given by February 1st.
The subject line should contain the writer’s last name followed by “Beyond the Margins Abstract.” Please contact Prof. Davis directly if you have any questions or concerns.
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The Department of Visual Arts at Western University is pleased to announce the interdisciplinary graduate conference (Re)Activating Objects: Social Theory and Material Culture in London, Ontario.
They have issued a Call for Papers for the conference, which will take place March 15-17, 2013.
Re)Activating Objects will investigate the ways material culture provide a lens to examine the systemic structure of our socio-cultural-economic worlds. (Re)Activating Objectspulls from a variety of disciplines and approaches that address the fundamental and theoretical questions about social constructions, social politics, and social ethics.
The topic asks candidates to ‘activate’ objects that are under-theorized and/or ‘reactivate’ objects with shifting or multiple ideologies. Ultimately, how do ‘activated’ objects create a productive discomfort that forces us to ask questions about our current worldviews? Furthermore, can they point us toward an imagined future?
Graduate students at the M.A., M.F.A., and Ph.D. levels have been invited to submit abstracts for presentations and artist talks from the fields, including but not limited to, visual arts, history, museum studies, indigenous studies, gender studies, and theory. (Re)Activating Objects: Social Theory and Material Culture will build on existing research and contribute to the advancement of knowledge in a number of disciplines. The multidisciplinarity of (Re)Activating Objects encourages participants to bring their particular trajectory and field of study to the conference for a lively and collegial exchange of ideas. Successful candidates will also be considered for a corresponding online publication.
For inquiries, please contact reactivating.objects@gmail.com. The due date for abstract submissions is: December 5th, 2012.
More details can be found at the conference website, reactivatingobjects.wordpress.com.