{"id":1019,"date":"2017-09-09T16:49:13","date_gmt":"2017-09-09T14:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.tu-dresden.de\/american-studies\/?p=1019"},"modified":"2017-09-09T16:52:12","modified_gmt":"2017-09-09T14:52:12","slug":"aspeers-calls-for-papers-by-m-a-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.tu-dresden.de\/american-studies\/2017\/09\/09\/aspeers-calls-for-papers-by-m-a-students\/","title":{"rendered":"aspeers calls for Papers by M.A. Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"aspeers\"<\/a>aspeers,\u00a0\u00a0the\u00a0<\/span>first and currently only MA-level peer-reviewed journal for American\u00a0<\/span>studies in Europe, calls for papers by M.A. students of American studies or related fields<\/strong>.\u00a0The submission deadline is October 15, 2017.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In its 11th edition, the journal\u00a0will again feature a general section and a\u00a0<\/span>topical focus. <\/span><\/p>\n

More details on each sections’<\/span>\u00a0respective call for papers\u00a0are listed in the following:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

=== General Call for Papers ===<\/span><\/strong>

For the general section of its eleventh issue, aspeers seeks outstanding\u00a0<\/span>academic writing demonstrating the excellence of graduate scholarship,<\/span>
the range of concerns scrutinized in the field of American studies, and\u00a0<\/span>the diversity of perspectives employed. We thus explicitly invite<\/span>
revised versions of term papers or chapters from theses written by\u00a0<\/span>students of European Master (and equivalent) programs. For this section,<\/span>
there are no topical limitations. Contributions should be up to 7,500\u00a0<\/span>words (including abstract and list of works cited).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

=== Topical Call for Papers on “Alternative Americas” ===<\/span><\/strong>

From ‘flyover country’ to ‘coastal liberals,’ from the ‘American\u00a0<\/span>heartland’ to ‘urban elites’–the 2016 presidential election engendered\u00a0<\/span>numerous debates about where the allegedly ‘real’ America lies. Beyond\u00a0<\/span>displaying political divisiveness, each invocation stylizes a vision of\u00a0<\/span>the United States that stands as an alternative to the presumed\u00a0<\/span>political and cultural mainstream, each locates ‘real’ America in a\u00a0<\/span>different place, and each constitutes an attempt at making alternative\u00a0<\/span>voices heard–from Americans who feel un- or misrepresented by\u00a0<\/span>politicians or neglected by the media, thus trying to reassert\u00a0<\/span>themselves into the public sphere.<\/span>

‘Alternative’ visions of America and of what it means to be American,\u00a0<\/span>often cast as competing with or as polar opposites to a perceived\u00a0<\/span>mainstream, loom large throughout US culture and history. Whether their\u00a0<\/span>fault lines are drawn between rural and urban, conservative and\u00a0<\/span>progressive, or young and old, at their core, they form interventions\u00a0<\/span>into the status quo: voicing dissent, spotlighting difference and\u00a0<\/span>otherness, making the invisible seen and representing the previously\u00a0<\/span>unrepresented, criticizing assumed norms, or unearthing forgotten points\u00a0<\/span>of view. Implicitly or explicitly, such alternative configurations also\u00a0<\/span>highlight the constructedness of the ‘mainstream’ they position\u00a0<\/span>themselves against.<\/span>

For its eleventh issue, aspeers thus dedicates its topical section to\u00a0<\/span>“Alternative Americas” and invites European graduate students to\u00a0<\/span>critically and analytically explore American literature, (popular)\u00a0<\/span>culture, society, history, and politics through the lens of alternative\u00a0<\/span>visions of the US. We welcome papers from all fields, methodologies, and\u00a0<\/span>approaches comprising American studies as well as inter- and\u00a0<\/span>transdisciplinary submissions, ranging from economy and political\u00a0<\/span>science to history, media studies, literary and cultural studies, and\u00a0<\/span>beyond. Potential paper topics could cover (but are not limited to):<\/span>

<\/p>\n