Here is a list of Calls For Papers for relevant sessions being proposed for the 2017 MLA Convention in Philadelphia, PA. Note that some sessions may not be guaranteed inclusion in the final program. This post will be updated as additional CFPs are posted. Please consider submitting an abstract!
Sessions sponsored by the Slavic / East European / Eurasian groups at MLA:
Globalization and the Second World
From the age of empires to rise of the Internet, globalization overwrites existing borders; how have Eastern Europeans perceived this process, from their “second world” perspective? 300-word abstract, 3-page CV by 15 March 2016 to Edyta Bojanowska (bojanows@rutgers.edu).
100 Years of October: Reconsidering the Russian Revolution
This panel welcomes papers that examine the cultural impact and/or image of the 1917 Revolution from new perspectives, including (but not limited to) the vantage points of non-Russian literatures and cultures, such as those of Central Asia, the Caucasus, or the Far East. 200-word abstract and CV by March 15, 2016 to Rebecca Stanton (rjs19@columbia.edu).
Propaganda Reconsidered
How do emerging theoretical models contribute to the study of propaganda? This panel examines literature’s role in shaping ideologies and reconsiders the entanglement of art and politics. 200-word abstract, CV by 15 March 2016 to Jon Stone (jstone2@fandm.edu).
Soviet-era Dissidence Revived?
In light of authoritarianism in Russia today, how does the current generation of artists adopt or adapt elements of Soviet-era dissident tradition? 200-word abstract and CV by 15 March 2016 to Julia Vaingurt (vaingurt@uic.edu).
Travel Narratives and Communication Technology
From reliable postal systems to the telegraph to cellphones, how does changing communication technology affect experience and description of travel across long distances? CV and 200-word abstract by 15 March 2016 to Gabriella Safran (gsafran@stanford.edu).
Svetlana Alexievich and Sverkhliteratura
This panel analyzes the “super-literature” of Alexievich, Belorussian writer and 2015 Nobel Prize recipient, in light of her critique of fiction and against the broader cultural politics of post-socialist memory. CV, 200-word abstract by March 15 to Jeff Gatrall (gatrallj@mail.montclair.edu).
Flight, Migration, Diaspora
Beyond its humanitarian, logistical, and political challenges, Europe’s current refugee crisis underscores (and, paradoxically, masks) the fact that European civilizations have continuously been shaped and reshaped by the movement of populations. This panel will address how emigration, resettlement, and contact among diasporas are represented in modern and contemporary European literature. While we will draw on a broad variety of texts, our discussion will be anchored by a core question: How does textual representation challenge or reify national, ethnic, or state boundaries? CV, 200-word abstract by March 15 to Benjamin Paloff (paloff@umich.edu).
Special session CFPs
The following sessions are being proposed by individual members of the MLA, and may be of interest to members of the various Slavic / East European / Eurasian Forums:
Russian Formalism Reimagined
Long treated as a prelude, could anything about the school be interesting in its own right, to literary studies after post-structuralism? Papers on methods, themes, figures, or relations. Abstracts by 4 March 2016 to David J. Gorman (dgorman@niu.edu).
Russian Shakespeares
Papers investigating significant Russian adaptations or translations of Shakespeare's works that received little attention in the West. Abstract of 300-words – CV by 5 March 2016 to Sabina Amanbayeva (amanbayeva.sabina@gmail.com).
