News and Notes, Vol. 15, Issue 2 December 2005

                                                Call for Conferences, Panels and Papers

29th Annual New Jersey College English Association, Spring Conference-- Saturday, March 18, 2006, Jubilee Hall, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ

Keynote Speaker: Norbert Elliott, New Jersey Institute of Technology Author of ON A SCALE: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF WRITING ASSESSMENT IN AMERICA

The New Jersey College English Association is soliciting panels and papers which consider a broad range of literary and composition topics for its annual conference. The NJCEA brings together those interested in language, literature, pedagogy, and other aspects of the teaching and study of literature and writing. Paper proposals are now being accepted for the following panels:

--Assessment in Composition: Grading and Beyond. Convener: Gita DasBender, dasbengi@shu.edu

--Critical Perspectives on American Poetry. Convener: John Wargacki, wargacjo@shu.edu

--New Approaches to the American Novel. Convener: Mary Balkun, balkunma@shu.edu

--New Jersey Writers. Convener: Edward Shannon, eshannon@ramapo.edu

--New Perspectives on Medieval Literature. Convener: Angela Weisl, weislang@shu.edu

--Perspectives on Ethnic American Literature. Convener: Mia Zamora, mzamora@kean.edu

--Poe and Popular Culture. Convener: John Gruesser, jgruesse@kean.edu

--Poetry as Theory, Theory as Poetry. Convener: Burt Kimmelman, kimmelman@njit.edu

--Readings of Original Works of Fiction, Poetry, and Creative Nonfiction. Convener: John Wargacki, wargacjo@shu.edu

--The Rise and Fall of Literary Reputations. Convener: Maxine Susman, msusman916@aol.com

--Writing and the First Year Experience. Convener: Susannah Chewning, chewning@ucc.edu

--Writing Center Pedagogy. Convener: Kelly Shea, sheakell@shu.edu

If you are interested in contributing to one of the panels listed above, contact the session convener directly. Anyone with an interest in other topics--in literature or composition--is encouraged to propose a panel. Full and part-time college instructors, graduate students, and other professionals within the field of English are invited to send panel proposals and 250-word paper abstracts on any topic related to college English to Dr. John Gruesser, Conference Chair, Department of English, CAS 301, Kean University, Union, NJ 07083, jgruesse@kean.edu.

DEADLINE FOR PANEL PROPOSALS: November 4, 2005 DEADLINE FOR COMPLETED PANELS, PAPER ABSTRACTS, AND GRADUATE STUDENT PAPERS: January 6, 2006

NOTE TO GRADUATE STUDENTS: You are cordially invited to submit papers for the NJCEA's annual Graduate Student Award. The winner of this award will receive a $50.00 Barnes & Noble gift certificate and have his or her paper published in COLLEGE ENGLISH NOTES, the official publication of the NJCEA. Send complete papers (not abstracts) IN ELECTRONIC FORM (MS Word) to the conference chair at jgruesse@kean.edu by January 6, 2006.

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Call for Papers:

The graduate students in the Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities are pleased to announce the upcoming conference, "Confronting Danger," which will take place April 6-9, 2006.

The purpose of this conference is to consider how the notion of danger affects individuals and society, how and why people engage in risky behavior, and how danger is represented in the media and the arts. Danger alerts, such as the constant threat of terrorist attacks, epidemics, and natural disasters have become almost quotidian and resonate with authorities and civilians in various ways. Whereas the evocation of danger is considered necessary for the preservation of life, it can also lead to paranoid reactions and the instrumentalization of fear. "Confronting Danger" aims at exploring the ambivalent nature of the concept of danger to negotiate its constructive and destructive potential. By rethinking the broad implications of the label "danger," our goal is to gain a better understanding of the importance of danger as a driving force behind socio-political, historical, cultural, and aesthetic processes.

How do we respond to danger on an emotional and psychological level as well as on a socio-cultural level? What motivates people to engage in dangerous activities? How does being labeled ?potentially dangerous? influence the lives of individuals and religious, ethnic or political groups? What makes one dangerous event or person celebrated and the other repressed or marginalized? How does the perception of danger change over time? And under which conditions can art itself be dangerous without annihilating its own discourse? How is danger mediated to the public? If we take into account that thinking the unthinkable and transgressing disciplinary boundaries has become nearly a requirement for academics, has the trope of the dangerous mind become an empty concept? What risks does a scholar have to take in order to produce transgressive and innovative rather than predictable research? Who decides what is dangerous and what hierarchies of power does this assume? To what extent is the person who engages in a dangerous activity aware of the consequences?

We welcome in particular critical and creative papers that employ interdisciplinary approaches to Germanic Studies.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

politics of paranoia

states of emergency

danger kitsch

pseudo danger

viral cultures

news agencies and reality television

taboos, transgressions, and disruptive events civil (dis)obedience, hero persecution or worshipping representations of danger in literature, film, music, media political, women's, artistic, student movements, strikes etc.

the unknown, the other, the excluded

persecution of marginalized groups

monsters, barbarians, hordes

violence and aggression

expulsion and excommunication

migration and exile, diaspora

the relationship between aesthetics and ethics manipulation and perception of fear and anxieties challenging canons and interdisciplinarity questioning the future of academia questionable publications, genre transgressions, censorship etc.

Please send a proposal of up to 300 words, in German or English, by December 15th, 2005 to Carrie Collenberg at colle027@umn.edu

Keynote speaker: Alice A. Kuzniar

Presentations will be in English.

Room and board and travel funds will be provided.

Acceptance will be announced by mid-January, 2006.