Call for Panel Proposals
The Executive Committee of the Global Arab and Arab American Forum welcomes proposals for panels that we could sponsor at the 2016 MLA convention in Austin, TX. We welcome ideas for panel topics related to the forum’s focus on cultural and literary production by global Arab and Arab American writers, artists, theorists, and cultural workers. We are willing to work with you on particular themes and are open to suggestions and ideas related but not limited to global Arab studies, global Arab diaspora, Arab American subject formations, Islam in the Arab diaspora, Arab transnational literary formations in local and global contexts, Arab cultural production across the Americas, and similar topics.
Please send your suggestions and a sample CFP (that should be 35 words maximum) by February 5, 2015 to Carol Fadda-Conrey: cfaddaco@syr.edu.
Description of CLCS Global Arab and Arab American Forum
The Global Arab and Arab American forum is interested in works of the Arab diaspora, including the cultural production of Arab American and global Arab writers. The category “Global Arab” allows for a broad conceptualization of diasporic and multilingual work situated within the various national, ethnic, religious, and cultural contexts of the Arab world and the Middle East. The designation “Arab American” is linked to the category “Global Arab” yet deserves special attention as a distinct subfield within American literature that engages with the discourses of race and ethnicity in the United States as well as with the history of Arab and Middle Eastern migrations to the Americas.
Current board members of the forum include: Carol Fadda-Conrey, Chair; Pauline Homsi Vinson, Secretary; and Hatem Akil, Board Member. We will be soliciting nominations for elections of two additional members. Please stay tuned and consider nominating yourselves. The nominees must be MLA members, work in Global Arab and Arab American literature, and currently not serving on another MLA executive committee.
