“Home/Not Home: Centering American Studies Where We Are”
Call for Participation: Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association
November 17-20, 2016 / Denver, Colorado
Application deadline: January 10, 2016
Send ideas/abstracts to: Anne Verplanck (aav3 at psu dot edu)
The Material Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association wishes to encourage participation in the 2016 Annual Meeting: “Home/Not Home: Centering American Studies Where We Are,” November 17-20, 2016, Denver, Colorado. To read the conference Call for Papers please click here.
Areas of interest related to the theme include (but are not limited to) the material culture of:
- Dwellings
- House vs. Home
- Consumerism – what things make a house? What things make a home?
- Non-traditional houses/homes
- Communities
- Institutions
- Gender
- Feminism/patriarchy
- Heteronormism/queerness
- Racism
- Access
- Hospitality
- Defense
- Families, friendships, relationships
- Communications
- Diaspora/migrations
- Work and management
- Other uses or understandings of home
- Comfort/discomfort
- Youth and/or aging
- Social status
- Empire and colonialism
- Slavery
- Crisis and trauma
- Poverty
- ‘Basic needs’:shelter
- Household labor
- Ruins and preservation
- NAGPRA, repatriation, and cultural patrimony
- Religion and spirituality
- Disability/access
- Entertainment
We hope to help link potential panelists with shared interests in material culture topics. If you, your colleagues, or doctoral students are considering proposals for the conference, please email us your panel CFP or your paper idea and we will work to connect similar panelists and papers. We are also happy to offer suggestions on complete panels.
Additionally, we welcome opportunities to work with other ASA caucuses and committees.
NB: All interested parties who email us will still be responsible for following all posted instructions and for submitting their own panels or papers to the ASA by the ASA deadline (February 1, 2016).
After submitted panels are reviewed and selected by the ASA, the Material Culture Caucus may select two of those panels for official sponsorship. The MCC will publicize all related papers and panels.
If you are interested, please submit your ideas or abstracts to Anne Verplanck (aav3 at psu dot edu) as soon as possible (and before January 10, 2016). Feel free to be in touch, by email with any questions.
Interested in the 2014 Material Culture Caucus session that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the caucus: “Twenty Years, Twenty Questions to Ask an Object?” To view the video:
To read the questions: http://www.theasa.net/caucus_material/item/twenty_years_twenty_questions_to_ask_an_object_the_video/
Emilie Johnson, Monticello
Anne Verplanck, Penn State, Harrisburg
