Friday, May 06, 2005

CFP: Re-Thinking Ephemera in the Classroom and Beyond

CFP: Re-Thinking Ephemera in the Classroom and Beyond

Seeking proposals for a volume of essays tentatively entitled Re-Thinking Ephemera in the Classroom and Beyond. The editors are looking for 5-6,000 word manuscripts to fill the roughly ten-essay volume. By presenting a wide range of definitions and theoretical perspectives as well as a variety of pedagogical strategies and approaches for teaching and exploring notions of early modern ephemera, contributors will seek to address the following kinds of questions.

· What do we mean by ephemera? (non-extant, performative/gestural/anecdotal, non-canonical, produced or circulated for singular or temporary use, other meanings)
· How can ephemeral matters/texts complicate discussions of plays/performance/cultural contexts?
· How can we problematize binaries between ephemera and canonical works?
· To what extent can ephemeral traces and remnants serve pedagogical ends? What kinds of justifications are there for incorporating ephemera in the classroom?
· What kinds of teaching strategies and lesson plans work and what kinds are less effective in the exploration of ephemeral matters?

The aim of Re-Thinking Ephemera is two-fold: (1) to work toward defining ephemera as a complex and multi-faceted critical category in terms of its literary, cultural, and historical significance and (2) to serve as a
handbook to provide pedagogical strategies and teaching tools for exploring ephemeral matters in the undergraduate and graduate level classroom.

Please submit proposals (preferably by email) of no more than 500 words by
June 30th, 2005 to:

Joshua B. Fisher
Campus Box 3052
Department of English
Wingate University
Wingate, NC 28174
jbfisher@wingate.edu