Annual Conference2024 Cultural Studies Association (CSA) Annual
Conference: Expansions Twenty-Second Annual Meeting of the Cultural Studies Association (USA) May 30 - June 1, 2024 Hosted ONLINE, by The Cultural Studies Association DEADLINE EXTENDED: March 17th, 2024, 11:59 PM EST Registration |
Proposals are submitted through EasyChair. For best results, sign into EasyChair before clicking submit above. |
The Cultural Studies Association (CSA) invites proposals for participation in its twenty-second annual hybrid meeting. Proposals on all topics relevant to cultural studies will be considered, with priority given to those that engage this year's theme of “Expansions.”
THIS YEAR’S THEME: EXPANSIONS
Throughout history, the notion of expansions has been used to both build up and tear down entire cultures, nations, and peoples. It has been used as a justification for state, religious, and racial violence, and simultaneously has lifted millions out of poverty. Technological expansions have meant that our responsibilities as global citizens have broadened, as we bear witness to protests, conflict, and war across the world in real time. All the while, the growth of capitalism as a political and economic system perpetuates the cycle of expansions, even as we grapple with climate change as the existential crisis of our time to our planet and species.
How do we as cultural studies scholars make sense of expansions under these conditions? Do expansions directly correlate with growth and progress, or can we also think of expansions as sites of emptiness or uncertainty? Who has the power to expand, and who does not? How can we foster the expansion of marginalized or oppressed voices? What is the impact of expansions on the global and the local? Are expansions necessary for survival, or do they ultimately lead to destruction?
This year’s theme of “Expansions” continues the CSA's minimalist approach to conference themes that we have taken over the past two years with “Conclusions” and “Reckoning(s).” This theme gestures toward the expansion of the canon of cultural studies to include a greater variety of disciplines, methodologies, and voices. It makes reference to how the CSA is as an organization expanding, through its efforts to create new working groups and strengthen existing ones, as well as encouraging submissions in a diverse array of presentation and panel formats. More generally, it reflects how the academy as a whole is expanding, or must expand, to include a greater diversity of voices, as well as the increasing need to expand equity and accessibility in light of the structural faults revealed by the pandemic. Expansions as a theme lacks a clear positive or negative connotation, which allows for a variety of interpretations as to its application to the field of cultural studies. It could point toward tensions arising from expansion against political retrenchment, or could make reference to an expansion as a bridge, or joint, that emerges to connect two places or ideas. It brings to mind the notion of the expanse as a void, an empty space that can hold vast potential or elicit a fear of the unknown. It allows us to question whether expansions, of technologies, economic or political systems, or ideologies, are ultimately beneficial or harmful.
ENGAGING WITH THE THEME
As with past conferences, we welcome proposals from all disciplines and topics relevant to cultural studies. We also encourage proposers to think within, beyond, and perhaps against the following topics as they consider the shape and content of their prospective participation:
Travel and Lodging
The Savannah, Georgia area has a great deal of options for lodging - in hotels throughout the city, especially by the riverwalk and downtown, as well as AirBnBs. Public transit is available to and from the conference location, please plan accordingly. The Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is approximately 30 minutes to downtown Savannah.
CONFERENCE FORMAT
Our goal this year is to again hold all sessions in a fully hybrid format, as we have done successfully for all iterations of the conference in recent years. This is not only a matter of convenience or choice, but is due to the Governing Board’s commitment to make the conference more accessible for those who cannot join us due to health, mobility, or visa/travel. Hybrid means that most sessions will be composed of both in-person and virtual participants. All in-person participants are therefore effectively “hybrid” participants as well, ideally able to interact with both the other in-person participants in the room as well as the virtual participants in the synchronous Zoom session. We will update the website with any changes to format as we get closer to the event.
SUBMISSION AND REGISTRATION
● Friday, December 1, 2023: Submission System Open
● Sunday, February 11, 2024: Final Deadline for Submissions
● Monday, December 4, 2023 until Friday, April 5, 2024: Early Bird Registration
● Friday, March 1, 2024: Notifications sent out
● Friday, April 5, 2024: Early Registration Ends, Regular Registration Rate Begins
● Friday, May, 11, 2024: Last day to register to participate in the conference. If you do not register by this date and are not a current member, your name will be dropped from the program.
REGISTRATION: In order to participate in the conference and be listed in the program, all those accepted to participate must register before Friday, May 24, 2024. Remember: registration for the conference and membership in the CSA are combined transactions. All proposals should be submitted through Easy Chair using the following link:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=csa2024
Make sure to create and/or log in to your Easy Chair account before you attempt to submit. Please prepare all the materials required to propose your session according to the given directions before you begin electronic submission. All program information--names, presentation titles, and institutional affiliations--will be based on initial conference submissions. Please avoid lengthy presentation and session titles, use normal capitalization and standard fonts, and include your name and affiliations as you would like them to appear on the conference program schedule.
INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIPS include individual memberships for up to seven affiliate faculty, staff and students at member institutions. Graduate students who wish to submit proposals are strongly encouraged to speak with their Department Chair or Program Director about institutional membership and where possible, make use of the complimentary individual memberships and therefore reduced registration rates. Full benefits of institutional membership are described here.
SUBMISSION FORMATS: We especially encourage submissions of pre-constituted sessions, though individual paper proposals will be considered/accepted. Proposals with participants from multiple institutions will be given preference.
All sessions are 90 minutes long. All conference formats are intended to encourage the presentation and discussion of projects at different stages of development and to foster intellectual exchange and collaboration. Please feel free to adapt the suggested formats or propose others in order to suit your session’s goals. Further information regarding various session formats available for submission can be found below.
If you have any questions, please address them to Michelle Fehsenfeld at: [email protected]
LATERAL WORKSHOP: Lateral, the journal of the Cultural Studies Association, invites submissions of emerging work for constructive feedback with the Lateral editors at the Cultural Studies Association 2024 Conference. If you are interested in being considered for the workshop merely check “yes” when prompted to do so in Easychair and, if accepted to the conference, you will also automatically be considered for the workshop. We especially invite participation from junior scholars, graduate students, and those working beyond the bounds of the university, as well as those who intend to eventually submit their work to Lateral (workshop papers that are later submitted to the journal will undergo regular editorial and peer review). Those interested in participating will be notified of their acceptance into the workshop in February, and complete drafts of articles (approximately 4,000–9,000 words in length) will be due two weeks before the conference. Strong submissions will situate their considerations of cultural practices, critical theories, and/or pedagogies within established and emerging conversations in cultural studies. Prospective workshop participants should submit abstracts (no more than 500 words) or draft articles (approximately 4,000–9,000 words in length) through the submission system by the deadline for submissions. The journal can be accessed at csalateral.org
THIS YEAR’S THEME: EXPANSIONS
Throughout history, the notion of expansions has been used to both build up and tear down entire cultures, nations, and peoples. It has been used as a justification for state, religious, and racial violence, and simultaneously has lifted millions out of poverty. Technological expansions have meant that our responsibilities as global citizens have broadened, as we bear witness to protests, conflict, and war across the world in real time. All the while, the growth of capitalism as a political and economic system perpetuates the cycle of expansions, even as we grapple with climate change as the existential crisis of our time to our planet and species.
How do we as cultural studies scholars make sense of expansions under these conditions? Do expansions directly correlate with growth and progress, or can we also think of expansions as sites of emptiness or uncertainty? Who has the power to expand, and who does not? How can we foster the expansion of marginalized or oppressed voices? What is the impact of expansions on the global and the local? Are expansions necessary for survival, or do they ultimately lead to destruction?
This year’s theme of “Expansions” continues the CSA's minimalist approach to conference themes that we have taken over the past two years with “Conclusions” and “Reckoning(s).” This theme gestures toward the expansion of the canon of cultural studies to include a greater variety of disciplines, methodologies, and voices. It makes reference to how the CSA is as an organization expanding, through its efforts to create new working groups and strengthen existing ones, as well as encouraging submissions in a diverse array of presentation and panel formats. More generally, it reflects how the academy as a whole is expanding, or must expand, to include a greater diversity of voices, as well as the increasing need to expand equity and accessibility in light of the structural faults revealed by the pandemic. Expansions as a theme lacks a clear positive or negative connotation, which allows for a variety of interpretations as to its application to the field of cultural studies. It could point toward tensions arising from expansion against political retrenchment, or could make reference to an expansion as a bridge, or joint, that emerges to connect two places or ideas. It brings to mind the notion of the expanse as a void, an empty space that can hold vast potential or elicit a fear of the unknown. It allows us to question whether expansions, of technologies, economic or political systems, or ideologies, are ultimately beneficial or harmful.
ENGAGING WITH THE THEME
As with past conferences, we welcome proposals from all disciplines and topics relevant to cultural studies. We also encourage proposers to think within, beyond, and perhaps against the following topics as they consider the shape and content of their prospective participation:
- How the notion of expansions relates to state and political discourses of growth, as well as political, economic, and cultural power
- Expansions and transcultural/global flows of media, people, etc.
- How narratives of expansion challenge and/or reify narratives of racial, ethnic, national, religious identity
- Expansions of different dimensions of cultural studies as a field
- Expansions as both a threat to and means of preservation of cultural heritage
- How expansions produce and sustain ideas around imperialism, colonialism, capitalism, and other political and economic ideologies
- Expansions and climate change
- Expansions and migratory flows
- Questions of expansion stemming from other cultural and political circumstances such as COVID-19 and public health crises, authoritarianism and fascism, war and occupation, and emergent activisms and social movements
- How cultural studies has, can, or could grapple with the epistemology of expansions
Travel and Lodging
The Savannah, Georgia area has a great deal of options for lodging - in hotels throughout the city, especially by the riverwalk and downtown, as well as AirBnBs. Public transit is available to and from the conference location, please plan accordingly. The Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is approximately 30 minutes to downtown Savannah.
CONFERENCE FORMAT
Our goal this year is to again hold all sessions in a fully hybrid format, as we have done successfully for all iterations of the conference in recent years. This is not only a matter of convenience or choice, but is due to the Governing Board’s commitment to make the conference more accessible for those who cannot join us due to health, mobility, or visa/travel. Hybrid means that most sessions will be composed of both in-person and virtual participants. All in-person participants are therefore effectively “hybrid” participants as well, ideally able to interact with both the other in-person participants in the room as well as the virtual participants in the synchronous Zoom session. We will update the website with any changes to format as we get closer to the event.
SUBMISSION AND REGISTRATION
● Friday, December 1, 2023: Submission System Open
● Sunday, February 11, 2024: Final Deadline for Submissions
● Monday, December 4, 2023 until Friday, April 5, 2024: Early Bird Registration
● Friday, March 1, 2024: Notifications sent out
● Friday, April 5, 2024: Early Registration Ends, Regular Registration Rate Begins
● Friday, May, 11, 2024: Last day to register to participate in the conference. If you do not register by this date and are not a current member, your name will be dropped from the program.
REGISTRATION: In order to participate in the conference and be listed in the program, all those accepted to participate must register before Friday, May 24, 2024. Remember: registration for the conference and membership in the CSA are combined transactions. All proposals should be submitted through Easy Chair using the following link:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=csa2024
Make sure to create and/or log in to your Easy Chair account before you attempt to submit. Please prepare all the materials required to propose your session according to the given directions before you begin electronic submission. All program information--names, presentation titles, and institutional affiliations--will be based on initial conference submissions. Please avoid lengthy presentation and session titles, use normal capitalization and standard fonts, and include your name and affiliations as you would like them to appear on the conference program schedule.
INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIPS include individual memberships for up to seven affiliate faculty, staff and students at member institutions. Graduate students who wish to submit proposals are strongly encouraged to speak with their Department Chair or Program Director about institutional membership and where possible, make use of the complimentary individual memberships and therefore reduced registration rates. Full benefits of institutional membership are described here.
SUBMISSION FORMATS: We especially encourage submissions of pre-constituted sessions, though individual paper proposals will be considered/accepted. Proposals with participants from multiple institutions will be given preference.
All sessions are 90 minutes long. All conference formats are intended to encourage the presentation and discussion of projects at different stages of development and to foster intellectual exchange and collaboration. Please feel free to adapt the suggested formats or propose others in order to suit your session’s goals. Further information regarding various session formats available for submission can be found below.
If you have any questions, please address them to Michelle Fehsenfeld at: [email protected]
- PRE-CONSTITUTED PAPER PANELS: Pre-constituted panels allow 3-4 individuals to each offer 15-20 minute presentations, leaving 30-45 minutes of the session for questions and discussion. Panels should have a chair/moderator and may have a discussant. Proposals for pre-constituted panels must 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).
- INDIVIDUAL PAPERS: Individuals may submit a proposal to present a 15-20 minute paper. Selected papers will be combined into panels at the discretion of the Program Committee. Individual paper proposals must include: the title of the paper; the name, title, affiliation, and email address of the author; and an abstract of the paper (<500 words).
- 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. Proposals for roundtables must 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).
- PRAXIS SESSIONS: Praxis sessions allow a facilitator or facilitating team to set an agenda, pose opening questions, and/or organize hands-on participant activities, collaborations, or skill-shares. Successful praxis sessions will be organized around a specific objective, productively engage a cultural studies audience, and orient itself towards participants with minimal knowledge of the subject matter. Sessions organized around the development of ongoing creative, artistic, and activist projects are highly encouraged. The facilitator or team is responsible for framing the session, gathering responses and results from participants, helping everyone digest them, and (where applicable) suggesting possible fora for extending the discussion. Proposals for praxis sessions must include: the title of the session; the name, title, affiliation, and contact information the facilitators; a brief statement explaining the session’s connection to the conference theme and describing the activities to be undertaken (<500 words) and a short description of the session (<150 words) to appear in the conference program.
- 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. We also invite seminars designed to generate future collaborations among conference attendees, particularly through the formation of working groups. A limited number of seminars will be selected. Once the seminars are chosen, a call for participants in those seminars will be announced on the CSA webpage and listserv. Those who wish to participate in a particular seminar must apply to the seminar leader(s) directly by March 1, 2023. Individuals interested in participating in (rather than leading) a seminar should consult the list of seminars and the instructions for signing up for them, to be available on the conference website by April 12, 2023. Seminar leader(s) will be responsible for providing the program committee with a confirmed list of participants (names, affiliations, and email addresses required) for inclusion in the conference program no later than May 7, 2023. Proposals for seminars should include: the title of the seminar; the name, title, affiliation, and contact information of the seminar leader(s); and a description of the issues and questions that will be raised in discussion and an overview of the work to be completed by participants in advance of the seminar (<500 words). Please note that for them to run at the conference, seminars accepted for inclusion by the program committee must garner a minimum of 8 participants, including the seminar leader(s).
- MEET THE AUTHOR: Meet the Author Sessions are designed to bring authors of recent books deemed to be important contributions to the field of cultural studies together with discussants selected to provide different viewpoints. Books published one to three years before the conference are eligible for nomination. Only CSA members may submit nominations. Self-nominations are not accepted.
- WORKING GROUP SESSIONS: CSA has a number of ongoing working groups. Working Group submissions can either be an individual paper or pre-constituted panel and must be made through CSA’s online EasyChair submission portal. Choose either the Working Group Panel or Working Group Paper tracks, complete the submission information, and choose the appropriate working group from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the page. Working Groups page of the CSA website for the most updated calls: https://www.culturalstudiesassociation.org/working-groups.html
- MAKE(R) SPACE: The Make(r) Space is a space for the collaborative and praxis driven portions of Cultural Studies – making space for art, making space for political activism, making space for new modes of knowledge exchange. It is our goal that this space will be created for those that have been historically and systemically left out of these conversations: artists, activists, poets, and other cultural critics and makers. We want to create a space that helps the CSA fulfill some of the implicit praxis portion of its goals to “create and promote an effective community of cultural studies practitioners and scholars.” Building on the poets, dancers, painters, and activists already interested in the space, we welcome proposals for exhibits, performances, workshops, skill shares, story telling, and other ways of meaning-making and art-making in the world that consider the theme of “Interventions.” We especially encourage Make(r) Space submissions from individuals working beyond the boundaries of the university: artists, activists, independent scholars, professionals, community organizers, contingent faculty, and community college educators. Please email Make(r)Space submissions by March 12, 2023 to: [email protected].
LATERAL WORKSHOP: Lateral, the journal of the Cultural Studies Association, invites submissions of emerging work for constructive feedback with the Lateral editors at the Cultural Studies Association 2024 Conference. If you are interested in being considered for the workshop merely check “yes” when prompted to do so in Easychair and, if accepted to the conference, you will also automatically be considered for the workshop. We especially invite participation from junior scholars, graduate students, and those working beyond the bounds of the university, as well as those who intend to eventually submit their work to Lateral (workshop papers that are later submitted to the journal will undergo regular editorial and peer review). Those interested in participating will be notified of their acceptance into the workshop in February, and complete drafts of articles (approximately 4,000–9,000 words in length) will be due two weeks before the conference. Strong submissions will situate their considerations of cultural practices, critical theories, and/or pedagogies within established and emerging conversations in cultural studies. Prospective workshop participants should submit abstracts (no more than 500 words) or draft articles (approximately 4,000–9,000 words in length) through the submission system by the deadline for submissions. The journal can be accessed at csalateral.org
