Conferences & Funding

March 24-26 2011 University of Michigan- Ann Arbor Fun & Games Keynote speaker: Glenda Carpio Professor of English & African and African American Studies Harvard University Author of "Laughing Fit to Kill: Black Humor in the Fictions of Slavery" From childhood play to the Olympic games, "fun and games" have a large role in cultures around the world. Yet, until recently, they have garnered little scholarly attention. In the past decade or so, a variety of disciplines have begun to pay closer attention to the cultural importance of sports, amusement parks, and other instances of fun and games in the public sphere. In the humanities, scholars have begun to theorize (the) play and humor in (of) literature and the arts. New Media Studies has triggered some new directions in these conversations. This conference aims to be a forum for exploring interdisciplinary instances of and reflections on humor, laughter, play, and diversion. Some of the questions

Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville, New York March 4-5, 2011 Keynote Speaker: Marilyn Wann, Fat Activist and Author of "Fat!So?" Also featuring: Susan Schweik, Author of The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public When it comes to “the body,” the definition of normal is fluid and changes across cultures and time. In each context, there are those who have been exploited and oppressed because they do not fit prevailing notions of beauty. This conference will explore the body politics around those with “deviant” bodies. This conference will address these and other questions: What are the dominant narratives and perceptions about beauty and bodies? How do these perceptions affect public policy around issues of health, civil rights, education, and accessibility? How do those whose bodies do not fit into the “proper” cultural norms challenge attitudes, laws and perceptions? How have they negotiated for and found power in unwelcoming environments, both now and in the past? How d

March 18-19, 2011 The Duquesne University English Graduate Organization welcomes proposals of academic papers from the humanities, arts, and sciences, as well as submissions of creative work. Our aim is to establish a space of intellectual inquiry in which scholars can explore the phenomenon of echoes as they reach across disciplines, genres, genders, religions, cultures, places, time periods, races, and classes. Possible questions include, but are not limited to: * How are echoes embodied and performed across the boundaries of gender, race, and class? * How do the arts echo other disciplines? * In what ways do collective memories of political bodies rely on or transform echoes of the past? * How do texts and art echo performances of identity? * In what ways is classical myth echoed in modern literature? * In what ways do colonial or imperial endeavors echo throughout the literature, visual / performing arts, or cultural practices of post-colonial cultures? * How do the