[nativestudies-l] CFP: "The Power of Stories: Authority and Narrative in Early America" An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference

[Alyssa Mt. Pleasant]

Please forward widely:

*Call for Papers* -- Deadline 3/15/2011

"The Power of Stories: Authority and Narrative in Early America"
An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference

Hosted by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of
Pennsylvania

September 29 - October 1, 2011

This conference will bring together a diverse group of graduate students to
discuss the power of stories and their relationship to authority in early
America and the Atlantic world before 1850. Addressing written, pictorial,
oral, or other narratives, papers might consider examples of how groups or
individuals decide what stories to tell about themselves; why some
narratives come to predominate over others; how narratives change over time
and across generations; and the ways in which stories can strengthen or
undermine political, ethnic, religious, economic, or other communities. At a
broader level, papers might address how scholars can harness the power of
stories in their own writing as a means of evoking past worlds.

We seek papers that will engage a wide range of disciplines, including
history, anthropology, Native American studies, literature, American
studies, African American studies, political science, art history,
geography, material culture, and race and gender studies. In order to be
considered, applicants should email their proposals to
mceas.stories.2011 at gmail.com by March 15, 2011. Proposals should include a
one-page c.v. and a prospectus of no more than 250 words. Paper
presentations will be limited to 20 minutes. Limited financial support is
available for participants' travel and housing expenses. Decisions will be
announced by May 15, 2011.

Please direct conference-related questions to Whitney Martinko at
mceas.stories.2011 at gmail.com.
_______________________________________________