Conference 2013

Beyond Disciplinarity: Interventions in Cultural Studies and the Arts

Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL

May 23-26, 2013

Key Dates

• Open for Proposal Submissions: 7 January 2013
• Deadline for Proposals: 11 February, 2013 22 February 2013
• Notification of Acceptance: 18 March 2013
• Early Conference Registration: 4 March 2013 - 22 April 2013 - Register Now
• Deadline for Inclusion in the Conference Program: 13 May 2013

The Cultural Studies Association (CSA) invites proposals from its current and future members for participation in its eleventh annual conference.

Proposals from all areas and on all topics of relevance to cultural studies are welcome. The theme of this year's conference, "Beyond Disciplinarity: Interventions in Cultural Studies and the Arts," especially encourages submissions that reflect on the nature, limits, and merits of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary practices across the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. This theme refers to the historic role of cultural studies as a field that intervenes in social and intellectual modes of disciplinarity from a variety of critical locations. The conference aims to attract work that meets those challenges by willfully reorganizing and redistributing the sensibilities and knowledges of disciplinary and interdisciplinary formations.

We are particularly interested in proposals that highlight research and teaching projects intended to rearrange existing forms of knowledge in an effort to create and imagine new institutional contexts for the development of cultural studies and its inquiries, including departments, programs, art centers, museums, and community organizations. As at past CSA conferences, we also welcome proposals from all areas and on all topics of relevance to cultural studies, including literature, history, sociology, geography, politics, anthropology, communications, popular culture, cultural theory, queer studies, critical race studies, feminist studies, post-colonial studies, legal studies, science studies, media and film studies, material culture studies, platform studies, visual art and performance studies.

Note: All proposal submitters must be current members of the CSA at the time of submission.

This year's conference is hosted by Columbia College Chicago, the largest arts and media school in the United States with over 10,500 students pursuing degrees within over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs, including a well-established undergraduate program in Cultural Studies. Founded in 1890, the College houses a Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Center for Black Music Research, the International Latino Cultural Center, and the Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in Arts and Media, and is located in downtown Chicago, blocks from the Symphony Center of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Museum Campus and the Theater District. The city is also home to over a dozen independent film festivals, around 200 theatre groups and venues, more than 88 colleges, several internationally recognized research libraries, over 35 radio stations (in several languages), and more than 25 magazines and newspapers, just to name a few cultural and media institutions.

Submission Deadline and Process

The CSA administers submissions electronically. Please prepare all the materials required to propose your session according to the given directions before you begin electronic submission. We recommend saving a copy of this information in a rich or plain text document--not an MS Word document. You will be asked to enter the information into the fields provided (you may choose to cut and paste). Notifications of acceptance will sent out no later than 18 March 2013.

Registration

Early conference registration at a discounted rate opens 4 March and runs through 22 April 2013. In order to be listed in the program, conference registration must be completed online before 13 May 2013. All program information - names, presentation titles, and institutional affiliations - will be based on initial conference submissions.

While non-members may register and attend the conference, only CSA members can present research and participate in panels, roundtables, and seminars. Register Now.

Like our membership fees, the registration fees will be on a sliding scale:

NOTE: There will be a late fee of $30 charged to all registrants after April 22.

Conference Formats

1. PRE-CONSTITUTED PANELS

Pre-constituted panels allow a team of 3-4 individuals to present their research, work, and/or experiences, leaving 30-45 minutes of the session for questions and discussion. Panels should include 3-4 participants. Proposals for pre-constituted panels should include: the title of the panel; the name, title, affiliation, and contact information of the panel organizer; the names, titles, affiliations, and email addresses of all panelists, and a chair and/or discussant; a description of the panel's topic (<500 words); and abstracts for each presentation (<150 words). Pre-constituted panels are preferred to individual paper submissions.

2. INDIVIDUAL PAPERS

Successful papers will reach several constituencies of the organization and will connect analysis to social, political, economic, or ethical questions. Proposals for papers should include: the title of the paper; the name, title, affiliation, and email address of the author; and an abstract of the 20 minute paper (<500 words).

3. ROUNDTABLES

Roundtables allow a group of participants to convene with the goal of generating discussion around a shared concern. In contrast to panels, roundtables typically involve shorter position or dialogue statements (5-10 minutes) in response to questions distributed in advance by the organizer. The majority of roundtable sessions should be devoted to discussion. Roundtables are limited to no more than five participants, including the organizer. We encourage roundtables involving participants from different institutions, centers, and organizations. Proposals for roundtables should include: the title of the roundtable; the name, title, affiliation, and contact information of the roundtable organizer; the names, titles, affiliations, and email addresses of the proposed roundtable participants; and a description of the position statements, questions, or debates that will be under discussion (<500 words).

4. WORKSHOPS

Workshops allow a facilitator or facilitating team to set an agenda, pose opening questions, and/or organize hands-on participant activities. The facilitator or team is responsible for gathering responses and results from participants and helping everyone digest them. Proposals for workshops should include: the title of the workshop; the name, title, affiliation, and contact information of the (lead) facilitator and of any co-facilitators; a description of the activities to be undertaken (<500 words). Please also include a description of space requirements, if appropriate.

5. SEMINARS

Seminars are small-group (maximum 15 individuals) discussion sessions for which participants prepare in advance of the conference. In previous years, preparation has involved shared readings, pre-circulated ''position papers'' by seminar leaders and/or participants, and other forms of pre-conference collaboration. We particularly invite proposals for seminars designed to advance emerging lines of inquiry and research/teaching initiatives within cultural studies broadly construed. We also invite seminars designed to generate future collaborations among conference attendees. Once a limited number of seminar topics and leaders are chosen, the seminars will be announced through the CSA's various public e-mail lists. Participants will contact the seminar leader(s) directly who will then inform the Program Committee who will participate in the seminar. Seminars will be marked in the conference programs as either closed to non-participants or open to other conference attendees as auditors (or in other roles).

A limited number of seminars will be selected by the program committee, with a call for in the chosen seminars announced on the CSA webpage and listserv no later than 18 February 2013. Interested parties will apply directly to the seminar leader(s) for admission to the session by 11 March 2013. Seminar leader(s) will be responsible for providing the program committee with a confirmed list of participants (names, titles, affiliations, and email addresses required) for inclusion in the conference program no later than 18 March 2013.

Proposals for seminars should include: the title of the seminar; the name, title, affiliation, and contact information of the seminar leader/team members; and a description of the issues and questions that will be raised in discussion, along with a description of the work to be completed by participants in advance of the seminar (<500 words). Individuals interested in participating in (rather than leading) a seminar should consult the list of seminars and the instructions for signing up for them, available at conference website after 18 February 2013. Please direct questions about seminars to S. Charusheela: scharusheela@uwb.edu.

Please note: To run at the conference, seminars accepted for the inclusion by the program committee must garner a minimum of 8 participants, in addition to the seminar leader(s).

6. DIVISION SESSIONS

Divisions are listed on the CSA website. All divisions have two sessions at their command. Divisions may elect to post calls on the CSA site for papers and procedures for submission to division sessions or handle the creation of their two division sessions by other means. Division chairs will facilitate the creation of two sessions drawing from, but not limited to, division members; and submit their two sessions, including the appropriate information as listed above, to the conference website. They should include a note designating the session as an official submission of the division. They should also email their two sessions directly to the CSA's "division wrangler" Sora Han: sora.han@uci.edu.

7. PANEL CHAIRS

We invite people to volunteer to chair panels. To do so please submit your name, title, affiliation, and email address, as well as a brief list of your research interests through the conference website.