Each spring, CSA holds an international annual conference. As with other professional organizations, the conference members an opportunity to meet and network with other professionals in the discipline, introduce students to the wider professional community, and share and discuss current efforts in cultural studies research and practice. Programs from past conferences are also available.
2023 Cultural Studies Association Conference
June 1-4, 2023 Online and in-person, hosted by The Cultural Studies Program and Affiliates at George Mason University, Fairfax. VA Deadline for Submissions: Friday, February 17th, 2023 11:59pm The Cultural Studies Association (CSA) invites proposals for participation in its twenty-first 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 “Conclusions.” THIS YEAR’S THEME:
From the fall of nations to global health crises, those in power have long claimed the right to define or declare conclusions: the end of history, of race, of truth, of colonialism, of slavery, of stagnation, of democracy, of an epoch, of the world. Critical scholars and marginalized communities from around the globe, in turn, have prudently treated the purpose of declared conclusions with warranted suspicion – are they meant to warn, to assuage, to control, to prevent other “ends” or endings? What even are conclusions? Do events or processes ever really have a definite stopping point or is the conclusion just a means of compartmentalizing everything that is still left to be studied, debated, and decided? Is the conclusion a way of marking a definable moment of progress or death? Is the conclusion the best, most effectual way to allow something to be forgotten or ignored? Why do we feel that conclusions are necessary? Can we conceive of a perspective of history or of society without conclusions to mark the way? Do we want to? This year’s theme is concerned with the (im)possibilities of articulating a “conclusion,” informed by the work of scholars of Latina/o/x studies, Black Atlantic thought, Indigenous and Native Studies, and decolonial theory who have long reflected on the political, economic, social, and cultural politics of temporality as a site of power and resistance. The Cultural Studies Association invites work that considers “concluding” as a process whose manifestation is preceded by the assembling of the infrastructure necessary for its occurrence, and trailed by specters like renewal, rebirth, repetition, or “the sequel.” To what extent do the endings that conclusions mark out operate unevenly, so that what is understood and experienced as an isolated event for some is often the continuation of the same for others? Do such continuations and endings constitute disaster or hope, and for whom? Above all, we view conclusions—in all their ambiguities, contradictions, and intensities—as a space to investigate several pressing and provocative questions, and position cultural studies as an transdisciplinary practice uniquely situated to address them. Register here! |