Seminar Directors

Abigail Boggs
Cultural Studies
University of California, Davis

Greg Goldberg
Sociology
Wesleyan University

Sarah Rebolloso McCullough
Cultural Studies
University of California, Davis

Nick Mitchell
Post Doc
University of California, Berkeley

Liz Montegary
Cultural Studies
University of California, Davis

Elizabeth Bullock
Sociology
CUNY

Georgia Roberts
English
University of Washington

Seminar Description

This seminar builds on the CSA 2011 “The Institutional Life of Cultural Studies” seminar for junior faculty and students in cultural studies graduate programs, or in other programs (e.g. sociology, English, American Studies) that support cultural studies scholarship. The seminar will critically examine the institutional sites that produce cultural studies scholarship and train future scholars. Rather than focusing primarily on the challenges that individual graduate students or new professors face in doing interdisciplinary projects in a disciplined university, we will discuss the broader context within which graduate programs prepare cultural studies students to build a career based on their commitment to critical theory, historical investigation, and political action. At a meta level, this seminar will grapple with the place of cultural studies in the increasingly privatized and profit-driven U.S. academy and the role of cultural studies scholars as a flexible (and disposable?) labor pool within the humanities and social sciences. We want to question how the varying structures of cultural studies (i.e. self-standing units, research clusters, subsections of disciplinary departments, reading groups, etc.) affect funding opportunities, publication expectations, student training, and classroom pedagogy. How can we work across institutional and (inter)disciplinary boundaries to create an engaged and rigorous community of scholars within and beyond the academy?

In advance of the seminar, participants will be asked to submit a brief set of materials that includes a 1-2 page abstract of their current research project, a 1-2 page description of their institutional location (this could include a description of their home program/department and other research or reading groups that are important for their work), and a 1-2 page discussion of the challenges and future directions for cultural studies as a field.

Application Process

To apply to the seminar, please send a 1-2 page CV, a brief comment on why you would like to participate in the seminar, and short description (50-100 words) of your existing or emerging research or current project to Abigail Boggs.