CFP: Digital Revolutions: Interpreting and Historicizing American Culture at New England American Studies Association 2012 Conference (Providence, October 2012)
Call for Papers—Deadline Extended to May 3, 2012
New England American Studies Association 2012 Conference
Providence, Rhode Island
October 12–13, 2012
Digital
Revolutions: Interpreting and Historicizing American Culture
Recent developments in digital technologies have transformed
the place of the humanities in American life. From online versions of Cotton
Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana to a daily John Quincy Adams Twitter
feed to the Smithsonian’s publicly accessible Archives of American Art to the
Women Writers Online Project, digital technologists are reshaping our sense of
history, place, community, and identity. Digitization of America’s cultural
heritage has also fundamentally transformed work in the humanities itself. From
universities to libraries to cultural institutions, the information
infrastructure has brought forth digital collaborations across disciplines and
beyond the academy, as well as between scholars, educators, archivists and
programmers. But it has also brought forward concerns about copyright, control
and access to information and the future of print media.
Are such changes unprecedented? Prior evolutions in
communications technology suggest otherwise. From broadsides to blogs, such
changes have reshaped the way Americans interact and understand themselves both
in the present and the past. The 2012 NEASA conference, Digital Revolutions,
invites participants to consider what these developments are, how they are
redefining work in the humanities and what previous media revolutions suggest
for the future.
This conference will combine scholarly investigation of the
cultural, political and economic significance of communications media with a
series of panels, workshops and participatory forums that can take advantage of
technologies now available to us. In addition to individual paper proposals, we
also welcome submissions for roundtable discussions, hands-on workshops and
multimedia sessions such as film screenings, online presentations and 5-minute micropapers.
Proposals should include a one page abstract and title, as
well as the author’s name, address (including email), and institutional or
professional affiliation. For panel proposals please include contact
information for all participants, as well as a brief (no more than two page)
description of the session topic and format. Submit proposals by May 3, 2012
to neasaconference12@gmail.com.
Proposals or queries may also be sent to:
Sara Sikes, NEASA President
Massachusetts
Historical Society, The Adams Papers
1154 Boylston
Street
Boston, MA02215
For more information about the conference and NEASA,
including an expanded Call for Papers, please visit www.neasa.org.
