The Association for American Studies in South East Europe, the Serbian Association for Anglo-American Studies and the Faculty for Media and Communications (Singidunum University, Belgrade), are organizing a one-day conference on Transnationality of American Literature and American English. the conference will take place in Belgrade, on April 4th, 2020. Read on for the full announcement.
Call for Papers
Transnationality of American Literature and American English
Belgrade, April 4th, 2020
Key note speaker: Carmen Birkle, University of Marburg, Germany
According to Rocio Davis, transnationalism has become one of the constitutive modes of cultural production in the twenty-first century. Taking as a point of departure Shelley Fisher Fishkin’s mapping of the “transnational turn” in American Studies, it examines the multilayered contexts of cultural production in and beyond the United States. It explores the ways U.S. cultural production has been reimagined as a result of political and social movements in the twentieth century, how it has traveled and been received outside the country, as well as how globalization has shaped American sensibilities and artifacts. Contemporary cultural products are viewed as a transcultural phenomenon, which implies the play between global and local flows and influences.
We propose looking at American culture as a transnational phenomenon which implies the following:
– rethinking of the borders of cultures as porous and destabilized, which enables the mixing of different cultural gradients
– construction of different subject positions in the fictional works regarding the identity politics, with special focus on the hybridity of cultures and hybrid characters (African-American, Asian-American, Native American, Chicano, etc.)
– analysis of the hegemonic models of poetry, prose and drama, created within American literature that became global models influential in other parts of the world
– looking at the models of literature whose origins are in other parts of the world, or their ingredients, which have become important in American literature
Transnationality in the context of American English is understood as involving:
– the concept of transnationalism which is connected with the concepts of translinguism, and transculturalism (the status of American English in everyday practices as well as the relations of first and second, or third language in everyday use and in literature)
– examination of the notion of ideal cognitive or functional language competence
– discussion of the status of English in the globalized world as a lingua franca related to American imperialism
– non-native speakers’ reception of and attitudes toward varieties of American English.
Transnationality within EFL/ESL Methodology includes but is not limited to the followng topics:
– Re-thinking the role of EFL/ESL Methodology in the intercultural world the intercultural and digital world
– Interculturalism in foreign language education: challenges and perspectives
– Fostering intercultural communication in contemporary society
– Addressing culture in EFL/ESL classrooms: re-thinking practices
– Multicultural encounters in foreign language classrooms
– Developing intercultural communicative competence in the EFL classroom
– Addressing the professional development of language teachers in the international world
– Language learning and teaching in the context of international student exchange programs
– Developing intercultural empathy and sensitivity inside and outside the language classroom
Deadline for submission of abstracts: December 1st, 2019
Email address: 2020aassee@gmail.com
Contact persons: Jovana Petrovic and Sladjana Stamenkovic
Subject language: English
Notification of acceptance: January 30th, 2020
Conference fee: 30 EU. The conference fee is paid per paper and not per author (in case of co-authored presentations). It covers coffee breaks and lunch. The call is restricted to the members of AASSEE and its constituent members (HUAmS, SAAS, UAMS and MAAS).
Organizing committee
Prof. Dr Dubravka Djurić, Faculty of Media and Communications, Singidunum University, Belgrade, Serbia
Prof. Dr Aleksandra Izgarjan, English Department, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
Prof. Dr Sabina Halupka Rešetar, English Department, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia
Prof. Dr Jelena Šesnić, English Department, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Prof. Dr Aleksandra Nikčević-Batričević, English Department, University of Montenegro, Niksic, Montenegro
Prof. Dr Marija Krivokapic, English Department, University of Montenegro, Niksic, Montenegro
Prof. Dr Damir Arsenijević, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dr Aleksandra Žeželj Kocic, Phililogical High School, Belgrade, Serbia
