Guaranteed Sessions
Division of Colonial Latin American Literature: Political Animals: Nature, Culture, and Race in the Early Americas
Early modern Europe inherited from the Platonic and Aristotelian traditions the powerful notion that humans were ‘by nature’ political creatures: according to Aristotle, humans, as animals endowed with the unique power to reason, achieved various degrees of realization through the hierarchical organization of male and female, master and slave, families, villages, and ultimately the state. As we know, the particular and aggregate natures of individuals and nations were thought to be primarily a function of natural habitat or geography, but also of genealogy: different geographies and genealogies produced different – ‘better’ and ‘worse’ – individuals and nations. Initial and long-term contact between Europeans, Indians, and Africans and their descendants variously put this resilient bio-political concept to the test – spawning controversy over the legitimacy of empire and the rights of colonials, as well as anticipating modern notions of ‘race’. This panel invites papers on the various routes that such controversies took in Spanish colonial letters. One-page CV and abstract by 03/15 to Nicolás Wey-Gómez nwey@caltech.edu
GEMELA (Grupo de Estudios sobre la Mujer en España y las Américas): Fear: Women’s Fears and Fear of Women in Pre-1800 Iberia and the Americas
We welcome participation of MLA members that address women’s fears or fear of women in Iberian and Latin American texts produced by women during the years 1300-1800 on both sides of the Atlantic. This guaranteed session of GEMELA aligns itself with the 2014 MLA Convention’s theme “Vulnerable Times.” We seek participants who will discuss women as the agent of fear (i.e. the one who experiences fear) or the subject to be feared by her counterparts. An agent of fear is confronted by her vulnerability and responds in various ways. Fear acts as a threat and may become a powerful force for change in both individuals and societies. Send 200-word abstracts and a 2-page CV not later than February 20th, 2013 to Dana Bultman, University of Georgia: dbultman@uga.edu
Special Sessions
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New Oceanic Studies of the Colonial Americas. Division: Colonial Latin American Literatures (in collaboration with the Division of American Literature to 1800)
How have oceanic studies reframed approaches to early Anglo and Iberian colonialisms? This collaborative panel seeks papers exploring the place of oceans in the cross-currents of our fields, proposing an exploration of the impact of Oceanic Studies on the so-called hemispheric turn in colonial American studies. We are interested in examining how an oceanic perspective – both Atlantic and Pacific – might transform the way we think hemispherically or transnationally about the colonial experience in the Americas, as well as how an oceanic model might better connect colonial Latin American studies to Early American studies. In pursuit of this goal we seek papers which pose the following as well as other questions: In what ways can Oceanic Studies lead us away from imperialist narratives of triumph to more nuanced accounts of colonial lack or vulnerability? How do narratives of shipwreck or being cast away function as counter-narratives to other models of transatlantic conquest, migration, circulation, and settlement? In what way do oceanic texts serve as privileged vantage points from which to explore themes of accident, exigency, improvisation, encounter or captivity? One-page CV, abstract by 15 March 2013; Stephanie Louise Kirk (skirk@wustl.edu) and Kathleen Donegan (kdonegan@berkeley.edu).
Colonial heroes and Martyrs
Explorers, conquerors, and victims in early North and Latin America. Are heroism and sacrifice (think: John Smith and Pocahontas) interwoven? Abstracts by 15 March 2013 to Joanne.van.der.Woude@rug.nl
Demons, Goblins, Ghosts and Witches in Medieval and Early Modern Hispanic Literature
Papers will focus on demonology, demonolatry, idolatry, witchcraft, bestiality, demoniality, etc. Send an abstract (400-500 words) and a CV by 15 March 2013 to Jorge Abril-Sánchez (jorgeabrilsanchez@hotmail.com), University of New Hampshire.
Scenes of Reading in Luso-Hispanic Cultures (c. XV-XIX)
Special Session examining ideologies embedded in textual and visual representations of reading in Luso-Hispanic cultural productions (c. XV-XIX). Send 250-word abstract and CV by 15 March 2013 to Heather Allen (hjallen@olemiss.edu) and Anna Nogar (anogar@unm.edu).
The expulsion of the moriscos (1609-1614): History and memory
Post-1614 history and memory of the Moriscos: where they went and how they were remembered. 250 words abstract, CV by 15 March 2013; Raúl Marrero-Fente (rmarrero@umn.edu)