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Annual Meeting
Submitting a Proposal
Call for Proposals: ASA Convention (Closed)
"Back Down to the Crossroads: Integrative American Studies in Theory and Practice",October 16-19, 2008, Albuquerque, NM
The 2008 ASA Program Committee invites colleagues in American Studies and all related disciplines to submit proposals for individual papers, entire sessions, presentations, performances, films, round tables, workshops, conversations, or alternative formats described below on any topic dealing with American cultures, including topics in disciplines that have been under-represented in American Studies research and teaching. The ASA Annual Meeting is open to anyone having an interdisciplinary interest in the study of American cultures.
Proposals must be submitted through the ASA's online submission system, which can be found at http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/theasa/theasa08/index.php?. The online submission site is now closed. Deadline for submissions is 11:59 (Pacific) on January 25, 2008
Meeting Theme
The theme for the 2008 ASA Convention is "Back Down to the Crossroads: Integrative American Studies in Theory and Practice."
The idea of "the crossroads" has long served as an important structuring metaphor in American Studies. The ASA Crossroads website, a prominent university press publications series, and our 2004 meeting have all keyed on the word, embracing its evocation of intersections and possibilities. Bluesman Robert Johnson, according to legend, cut his deal with the devil "down at the crossroads," which should also remind us that the site is a place not only of possibility, but of seduction and danger. Has the frequent use of the metaphor led us to see the crossroads as a destination -- of cultures crossing, disciplines in dialogue, human geographies in motion -- rather than a journey of chance meetings and productive uncertainties? Has American Studies focused on certain kinds of travels along certain kinds of roads, forgetting sometimes to pause, stand apart, and look around? The 2008 Program Committee proposes another deal with the devil, returning back down to the crossroads to risk the old metaphor against the possibility of a new and integrative vision of American Studies. Our use of crossroads is meant to reflect a place of simultaneity, an open space for taking stock and cultivating a capacious vision of a broad terrain.
The Program Committee for the 2008 Annual Meeting seeks proposals that will situate the work of American Studies at a new figuration of the crossroads, one that encapsulates, surveys, and establishes dialogues among the programmatic and intellectual initiatives of the last decade. We see one important road running between two apparent destinations: multicultural ethnic studies, on the one hand, and, on the other, the trans- and inter-national initiatives of recent years. Over the last decade or so, American and Ethnic Studies scholars have engaged in a variety of discussions about the relation between these two areas. One powerful structuring question, for instance, has been whether American Studies can serve as a "home" for various ethnic studies practices, and if so, how such rapprochements might restructure both fields. This dialogue remains in the category of unfinished business.
Over roughly the same period of time, the American Studies Association has also sought to de-center both "America" and the United States in relation to the rest of the world, with important efforts to open up dialogues with international scholars, both at our annual meetings and through meetings and exchanges around the world. Under the keyword "transnational," we have explored diasporas, migrations, militarism, locality and localism, the global commons, the vexed place of the nation-state, borders and borderlands, among other topics and ideas. We have tried to create the occasions for understanding the U.S. in other contexts, as seen from a range of locations. This effort, too, must be considered unfinished. And yet, both of these movements have matured to the point at which they demand a broader field of discussion and more focused intellectual and institutional exchange. Just as intra-national dynamics of race and citizenship, colonization and ethnic formation are imbricated in global histories, supra-national processes of empire, migration and diaspora are anchored in national and regional contexts of belonging and exclusion, politics and power.
We also see a second road crossing the first, with its own distinct pair of destinations. It runs between explorations of the local, project-based, community production of knowledge and our obligation and desire to participate meaningfully as intellectuals in the public, civic life of the world. Even as initiatives in ethnic studies and international scholarship have moved forward, so too has the recognition that many American Studies interests exist most vitally in public institutions and community organizations outside college and university contexts. Collaboration within and across institutional lines offers us one of our most important paths toward the future. Independent scholars, K-16 educators, artists, and scholars based in museums, arts organizations, historical societies, and governmental agencies have all been important participants in recent American Studies work that crosses a range of institutional settings. Programmatic initiatives and active Site Resource Committees have made community-based collaboration a key theme in our recent meetings. Here too, much work remains to be done. At the same time, many American Studies scholars have continued the long-standing practice of demanding a role in civic life, in the broadest and most activist sense. If we reach out to students, publics, and communities, we also want -- and need -- to influence the leaders, officials, opinion-shapers, and constituents that make up civil society. How do we function as scholars, educators, and citizens, and how can we make our activities count in ways that seem to make a difference? Many have found the last decade disheartening in this respect, even while some of our own members have been powerfully creative in exploring the practices of citizenship, public spaces, and responsive scholarship..
We seek panels and individual papers situated at three distinct levels of engagement with these crossroads. First, we seek proposals that advance these discrete areas of inquiry -- multicultural, transnational, public and civic scholarship -- by presenting excellent and innovative work from all disciplines and approaches. Second, we look for proposals that explore "single" roads, placing "multicultural-transnational" or "community-civic" in productive dialogue. And finally, we will particularly value proposals that are integrative across these domains, and that encourage participants to consider the relations and tensions existing among these -- and other -- critical concepts. We encourage proposals for panels and papers that will allow our intellectual community to take stock of the diverse initiatives of the last decade through scholarship that is connective, dialogic, and reflective. We welcome the special lenses that might be brought to such crossroads scholarship through queer studies, sexuality studies, performance studies, Pacific and Atlantic Studies, cultural geography, and a wide range of other disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and multi-disciplinary approaches.
While emphasizing the broadest possible canvas of excellent work in American Studies and its interdisciplinary partner fields, we call special attention to two focused fields of interest, both of which offer new opportunities for integrative American Studies. In recognition of our meeting in Albuquerque, one of the heartlands of Native North America, we encourage proposals that exemplify the possibilities and the centrality of the category of the indigenous in the practice of American Studies. And in recognition of the long history of American Studies engagement with critical social and political movements, we suggest that the time is long past for a consideration of ecological issues, movements, and strategies. We thus encourage proposals that open new ground in the culture-based study of the environment and environmental movements.
Albuquerque, the site of our 2008 annual meeting, is itself an important crossroads location, uniting the central east-west route across the southern part of the continent with a north-south highway active at least as far back as the ancestral Pueblo people. We invite meeting participants to join us in exploring the meetings of cultures and peoples in this region -- at once the American Southwest and Mexican North, the West of the deep South, and the East and Southeast of the Pacific Rim. Albuquerque is a crossroads not only in terms of its borderlands geography, its location between indigenous nations, and its situating of multiple human migrations. It crosses the temporal as well, with a "colonial present" that seems to saturate every space, with the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and monuments and memorials to Spanish colonizers and the atomic age all reflecting efforts to build a modernity atop an insistent colonial past.
The committee encourages proposals that investigate a full range of cultural and social expression, including performance, material culture, foodways, sports, media, music, technology, medicine and public health, literature, dance and public arts. We particularly welcome sessions that include participants from outside the United States, and we strongly encourage proposals that mix together participants' disciplines, domains, institutional locations, geographies, and backgrounds.
Modest travel, lodging and per diem funds may be available for non-academic participants but limited by the Program Committee's "discretionary" budget. Those participants may request funds during April 2008, and the Program Committee may honor a limited number of such requests. Although the Program Committee may accept proposals that include non-academic participants, it does not thereby obligate itself to provide them with grants. Indicate alternative actions should the program committee not be able to grant your request. Please mail formal, written requests for funding, post-marked in April, to: Convention Director, American Studies Association, 1120 19th St. NW Suite 301, Washington, D.C. 20036.
Proposal Submissions
We encourage you to consult Getting on the ASA Meeting Program: A Practical Guide before you submit a proposal.
Please carefully read the proposal submission requirements and guidelines below before proceeding to use the online submission site. Follow the directions precisely and start the application process early. The ASA staff is eager to help people submit their sessions and papers, but it is much easier to do that work when the staff is not pushed up against the deadline. If you encounter any problems please contact us at .
We will, starting on December 1, 2007, accept proposals only through our online submission site. Emailed or posted proposals will NOT be accepted. To submit a proposal for a complete session or for an individual paper click here http://convention2.allacademic.com/one/theasa/theasa08
There are a number of ways that our membership could help both themselves and the program committee when using the on-line system. First, ASA guidelines clearly state that a member may appear only once on the program. When members do not heed this advice, they create more work for the program committee as well as jeopardize both of the panels for which they have committed themselves. Second, we encourage members who have agreed to participate in a panel or have submitted a paper not to then double register as commentator and chair. Third, ASA guidelines state that sessions should reflect institutional and disciplinary diversity. One of the benefits of attending a national conference is to interact with scholars from institutions and fields other than our own. So, when proposals arrive with presenters from only one institution or field they are less attractive to a program committee regardless of content. Finally, it is important to remember that the competition for these slots is extremely competitive.
Pre-Proposal Networking. The American Studies Association website publishes proposed abstracts for members wishing to advertise possible sessions for the 2008 annual meeting. Interested members are invited to examine these abstracts and contact the authors to construct session proposals for the 2008 Annual Meeting by visiting the following website: Submitting Caucus Proposals. Caucuses are authorized and encouraged to submit session proposals. All Caucus proposals must adhere to the same conditions, deadlines and restrictions as other session proposals, and are subject to review by the Program Committee. Caucuses are encouraged to submit multiple session proposals for the annual meeting (subject to existing policies and procedures). All Caucus proposals must be clearly marked as such in the session title and abstract. They must be complete and submitted online by the published January Call for Proposals' deadline (11:59 pm Pacific) in order to be considered by the Program Committee. Although Caucuses may solicit or assist in the creation of several proposals for the ASA Annual Meeting call, they may officially sponsor only one session on the ASA Annual Meeting Program. Therefore, if the program committee approves their session proposal(s), the caucus may be listed in the official program book as the session sponsor for one session. Caucuses are not entitled to an automatic slot on annual convention programs. Rather, they must submit proposals of a quality comparable to other accepted proposals in order to be included in the program. Caucuses may request social and professional space at the annual meeting on a space-available, first-come, first served basis. The 2008 Program Committee has designated Joni Adamson Joni.Adamson@asu.edu to act as its Caucus Liaison, who will liaise with ASA Caucuses; follow the organization of sponsored sessions; track them through the review process; and notify the Caucus Chairs of the acceptance/rejections of sponsored sessions. The Caucus Liaison will apprise the Program Committee of the sponsored sessions and the strong constituencies they represent. If more than one caucus-sponsored sessions proposal is evaluated favorably, the Caucus representative(s) should advise the Caucus Liaison which one the caucus wishes to officially sponsor. If none of the caucus-sponsored session proposals are evaluated favorably, the Caucus representative(s) should consult with the Caucus Liaison to consider other accepted panels with similar subject matter for possible caucus sponsorship.
The ASA will supply all session rooms with a Digital Equipment Package. Included: LCD/multimedia data projector, laptop (MS Powerpoint, CD, & DVD capable, PC but MAC compatible), screen, and on site technical support. Not included: sound projection or live internet connection. If you want to use an Overhead Projector, Slide Projectors, or TV/VCR/DVD's, you will have to bring your own equipment or rent it at your own expense. Proposals may be submitted for entire sessions, presentations, performances, films, roundtables, workshops, conversations, or individual papers on any topic dealing with American Studies. Proposed presentations should represent work in progress, rather than published work. Presentations should offer unique, original work not presented elsewhere. Proposals for workshops, roundtables, and conversations should indicate in a one-page description the session subject/s and the proposed format. Such proposals should also include all relevant information requested below, though they need not include abstracts. Standing Committee, Caucus, Taskforce, and Program Committee members are authorized and encouraged to submit session proposals. Proposals from organizations affiliated with the ASA are also welcome. All Standing Committee, Caucus, Taskforce, Affiliated Society, and Program Committee member proposals must adhere to the same conditions, deadlines and restrictions as other session proposals, and are subject to review by the Program Committee. All individual paper submitters will need the following: The CV forms should include current position, employment history, education, areas of specialization, as well as selected publications.
Those submitting individual paper proposals will receive a confirmation e-mail that the paper has been submitted. The Program Committee will organize as many individual papers as possible into sessions. Proposals may be edited after submission until January 25, 2008. Session submitters will need the following: The CV's for each participant, including the chair, commentator/s, and presenters, should include current position, employment history, education, areas of specialization, as well as selected publications. After you log in to the submission system, there is one large CV box in which you can paste all of the participants' brief CV's.
The session submitter will receive a confirmation e-mail upon submission and will serve as the primary contact with panelists and the ASA. Individual authors will each have an account, and can edit their personal information. The session submitter will be responsible for editing paper titles and abstracts. The submitter may edit the session proposal until January 25, 2008. The Program Committee also supports innovative formats that disrupt the conventional "three people reading papers" format. Traditionally, very few people have followed this lead, and then at the conference we complain about stodgy formats. The Program Committee believes that we cannot think about new, powerful connections between the academy and the world if we use only conventional academic forms. The Committee is proposing, therefore, several formats different from conventional paper-reading sessions. The Committee urges you to consider them if they seem appropriate and useful. In order to broaden the modes of presentation and discussion in the Annual Meeting program, we invite proposals in two broad categories of untraditional formats: A. Sessions with Papers. Although these resemble conventional sessions in having a chair, presentation of papers to an audience, and commentary, papers in these sessions will not be read aloud, allowing more time for informed, informal, and engaged discussion. These sessions require an abstract for both the session and each paper. "Talk" format. Presenters will write papers, as usual, and distribute them to the chair, commentator, and other panelists by the deadline. But in the session they will "talk" their paper from notes, speaking directly to the audience rather than reading line-by-line. On-line format. Presenters will post their papers on the Internet, via Crossroads, one month before the meeting. These sessions will be prominently marked in the program as intended primarily for an audience that has read the papers in advance and followed whatever on-line discussion they may have generated. The session will be devoted to formal commentary and group discussion. Exhibit format. Presenters will post their materials on a large bulletin board that can accommodate text pages in large type, graphics, primary source extracts, etc. Video and audio clips can also be used. These sessions will feature three or four such presentations grouped around a common theme. The first half of the session gives the audience time to read and discuss each exhibit with the presenters. The second half encourages group discussion, facilitated by a chair and commentators. Traditional format. This is a session with papers. The session will have a chair, paper presenters, and a commentator. Presenters will read papers to an audience, and the commentator and audience will comment. B. Sessions without Papers. In past meetings, the ASA has already sponsored many kinds of alternative sessions: roundtables, conversations, performances, multi-media presentations, readings of creative work, workshops involving audience participation, and presentations linked to the community outside the hotel (community centers, museums, secondary schools, prisons, etc.). These formats will experiment with creative forms of expression, performance and dialogue that represent a significant departure to conventional presentations of papers. These sessions require an abstract only for the session and not for the individual presentations. Performative format. Presenters will perform their work. This could include the range of artistic performing arts (dance, music, drama, spoken word, performance art) to multi-media presentations (video, film, audio, digital media) and readings of creative fiction and non-fiction. Dialogue format (Roundtables). Presenters will engage in dialogues with each other and the audience. Possible formats could include roundtables of academics; forums with scholars, community activists, mass or alternative media-makers and public officials; conversations between performing and/or visual artists, curators, and educators about aesthetic and expressive innovations or the challenges of developing public cultures in diverse communities. This format might be particularly well suited to creating linkages with the communities outside the hotel (community centers, performing arts centers, museums, secondary schools, prisons, libraries, and other public sites). Workshop format. Presenters will create venues to verbally and physically interact with the audience. Educators, artists, and curators, for example, could lead these workshops to emphasize the interactive challenges and possibilities of interdisciplinarity and American Studies. We are excited about the possibilities for Albuquerque 2008. We hope you will join us in making this a stimulating, conversational, and useful conference for the American Studies Association and its members. All participants on the convention program must be listed on the ASA membership roll by April 30, 2008. If a program participant does not join the ASA by April 30, 2008, he or she will not be listed in the printed program book and should be replaced immediately. All members of overseas affiliated societies may participate in the convention as full members, i.e., may pay member registration fees. On occasion, non-academic participants or specially invited distinguished academic speakers may, with written permission of the Executive Director, be exempted from the membership requirement. Applications for exemption shall be submitted in writing to the Executive Director of ASA by April 30, 2008. All participants on the Convention program must pre-register for the Convention by May 31, 2008. If a program participant does not pre-register for the convention by May 31, 2008, he or she will not be listed in the printed program book and should be replaced immediately. Non-members must register at the non-member rate. The Program Committee advises each participant of his or her professional and ethical obligation to appear, and also to locate suitable replacements in the event of an unavoidable withdrawal. Participant Registration Fee (postmarked on or before May 31, 2008): Non-Member $90.00 All participants are responsible for obtaining the funding they need to attend the Annual Meeting. Neither the ASA nor the Program Committee can underwrite: travel funds, honoraria, per diem, or other subsidies for any participant, including international scholars, non-academic participants, and specially invited speakers; breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, cocktail parties, receptions, and the like for participants and others; professional or individual video tape recording of sessions or events. Membership and registration fees are neither refundable nor transferable. Forfeited registration fees will automatically transfer to the Baxter Travel Grant Fund. The Baxter Grants provide partial travel reimbursement to advanced graduate students who are members of the ASA and will travel to the convention in order to appear on the Annual Meeting program. The Program Committee will organize sessions from individual paper proposals and, on occasion, will combine individual papers with proposed full sessions. If your paper or panel is not accepted, the Committee may call upon you to play an alternative role at the meeting as a chair or commentator. To facilitate the Committee's work, please indicate on the online submission form whether you are willing to act as chair or commentator on another session. The Committee also invites self-nominations from ASA members to serve as chairs and commentators exclusively on sessions constructed from individual submissions. After the January 25, 2008, deadline for submission of proposals, the Program Committee will meet to review the proposals and select the sessions to be held at the upcoming Annual Meeting. The Committee will approve proposals on the basis of their quality in relation to the others submitted. The Committee will also: attempt to include sessions on a wide variety of subjects and approaches, including scholarly, pedagogical, and professional subjects; consciously support the inclusion of panels focused on topics of concern to different minority groups; strive to balance its selections between topics of continuing interest and new topics to which little or no attention has been paid; look for sessions in which scholars in different fields engage one another on a common topic; and try to span different time periods and subject matters in sessions constructed from individual papers. There will be room for specialized sessions on particular subjects. To avoid favoritism, the Committee will take care not to overload the sessions with faculty and graduate students from institutions represented by members of the Committee. This does not disallow members of the Committee from presenting papers. The Committee will make every effort to assure diverse representation through the inclusion of minorities, women, graduate students, and international colleagues, and will seek to reflect the regional and disciplinary diversity of the Association's membership. Once the Committee has finalized the program, all persons who have submitted proposals will be notified in writing of the Committee's decisions. Session organizers are responsible for notifying the members of the proposed panel of the Program Committee's decision. If you do not receive an official letter or e-mail by April 30, please contact the Office of the Executive Director, 1120 19th St. NW, Suite 301, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 467-4783. E-mail: The session chair will coordinate contact among the session participants to ensure maximum integration of presentations. Participants should send the session chair a brief biographical statement to be used in introductions. If a session has a commentator, that session's participants must send copies of their completed papers to him or her by September 22, 2008. It is not possible to guarantee any session or panelist a day or time on the program. If notified by May 1, the Program Committee will honor requests not to schedule a presentation on a religious holiday, as well as those based on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ASA reminds participants of their professional and ethical obligation to appear in person at their session at the annual meeting. No-shows are conspicuous in their absence. They inconvenience the chair and fellow presenters, as well as those attending their session. The American Studies Association defines a no-show as someone on the program who is not physically present at her/his session at the annual meeting and either (1) has not notified ASA in advance that s/he cannot attend the meeting by September 1, 2008, or (2) has not submitted a presentation to be read by the chair or another person at the meeting by September 1, 2008. No-shows will not be considered for the following year's program. If you notify ASA in advance or submit a presentation to be made by someone else at their session, you will not be penalized. You are responsible for finding your own alternative presenter.
For further information about the Call for Proposals, you may contact the Convention Coordinator at , the President-elect Phil Deloria or the Program Committee Co-chairs: Julie Ellison , Nikhil P. Singh , and Robert Warrior . American Quarterly [official journal site] American Quarterly [editorial site]Audio Visual Equipment
Proposal Types
ASA Individual Paper Submission Instructions
ASA Session Submission Instructions:
Submission Restrictions and Guidelines
Session Length
Number of Papers or Presentations
Time Allowed per Paper or Presentation
Time Allowed for a Single Commentator
Time Allowed for Audience Comments
105 minutes
3
20
20
20
105 minutes
4
16
16
20
105 minutes
5
13
15
20
Alternative Proposal Formats for Albuquerque 2008
Participation Requirements
Fees and Funding
ASA Member or International Affiliate $70.00
ASA Member or International Affiliate-Income under $15,000 $50.00
ASA Member-Student/K-12 Educator $25.00
Non-Member-Income under $15,000/year $70.00
Non-Member-Student/K-12 Educator $40.00Program Decisions
Notification and Participation
No-Shows
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