Call for Papers: Symposium for English Graduate Students

SEGue is a gathering of MA students, their peers, mentors, and those interested in cultural conversations and creativity, for the purpose of showcasing the best work of English MA students through the previous academic year; connecting with other graduate students and faculty; and preparing for MA students' next professional steps, be those further study or entering a profession.

From Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter to Concerned Student 1950, the dissenting voice has undeniable significance for our own cultural moment; the significance of that voice is not limited to any particular time or place. How have artists—whether themselves disenfranchised or not—represented those relegated to the margins of their cultures in poems, short stories, novels, or in drama? How, in short, does political and social struggle emerge within the space of narrative? How have texts throughout history, whether overtly or implicitly, resisted the status quo? What strategies have writers deployed to subvert cultural hegemony in any form? How have the disenfranchised sought, by means of their voice, to renegotiate the conventional boundaries and hierarchies of dominant social structures?

While such a topic is intentionally broad and open, possible avenues of investigation might include theory, representation, and praxis in the following areas: Representing disability, Race, Gender, Religion, Sexual orientation.

The SEGue Committee invites two types of proposals:

®    A 15 minute paper that will investigate the role and importance of dissenting voices in literature, philosophy, history, and/or art. 

®  Original creative works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and/or a hybrid of any of these genres. Creative works may approach the symposium topic in a direct, oblique or otherwise unconventional manner. 

Submitting for Consideration :

Interested graduate students should submit an abstract of approximately 300 words by no later than February 29^th, 2016. Abstracts can be submitted to:digitalcommons.brockport.edu/segue    (The following information is required for submission: presenter’s name, email, institution, short bio -200 words, faculty advisor, faculty email .)

Questions . . . Contact Conference Co-Coordinator, Cherise Oakley at coakley@brockport.edu