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A Two-Day Conference, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, 8-10 September, 2006.
Proposals for 20-minute presentations or panels of three to four presenters are invited for a conference on Re-mapping the American South, to take place at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, 8-10 September, 2006.
William Faulkner believed that he would not live long enough to “exhaust” the possibilities of his Yoknapatawpha County, his “own little postage stamp of native soil”. Whilst that “little postage stamp” may never be fully exhausted, recent studies of the American South explore the limitations of focusing too closely on the region as a unique space. Rather, the emergences of transatlantic and postcolonial theories have instigated discussions of the South in relation to other regions and cultures. Over two days the conference will explore the question of the American South in a global context, examining links with Europe as well as the cross-cultural references between the region and South America and Asia. The event will encompass historical, literary and cultural perspectives.
Re-mapping the American South notably takes in Bristol, one of the major British ports involved in the Slave Trade. The conference will include a walking tour of Bristol’s slavery sites, in addition to an opening reception and dinner in one of Bristol’s harbour-side restaurants.
Suggested topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:
• Caribbean influences
• The migration of musical forms between the south and the rest of the world
• The legacy of the Slave Trade
• Asian immigration into the American South
• Transatlantic dialogues
• Poverty across regions
• The Civil War in a global context
• Postcolonial studies of the South
• Border crossings between the region and South America
• The Civil Rights Movement
• Modernization and Agrarianism
Please send individual proposals or panel suggestions, together with any other enquiries, to Dr Sarah Robertson (Sarah.Robertson@uwe.ac.uk).
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