CFP: Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life 11th Annual Nat'l Conf

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

         Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life
                   Eleventh Annual National Conference

       Convergence Zones: Public Cultures and Translocal Practices
                           Seattle, Washington
                          23-25 September 2010

Conference Theme

Imagining America invites university affiliates (faculty, students, staff,
and administrators) and community partners (individuals and organizations)
to participate in our eleventh annual national conference, 23-25 September
2010, hosted by the University of Washington.  The theme of this year's
conference, Convergence Zones: Public Cultures and Translocal Practices,
signals an exploration of how public scholarship creates new connections
among disciplines, communities, and sectors.  As our work shuttles across
institutional, geographical, and professional boundaries, our projects
become zones of convergence where social interests, cultural practices, and
new and old media intersect.  Animated by hybrid modes of participation and
circulation, these convergence zones reshape our research, teaching, and
engagement activities as they foster new projects, knowledge, and publics.

Conference Keynote

Diana Taylor is Professor of Performance Studies and Spanish at New York
University and the founder of the Hemispheric Institute.  Her work on
performance and politics across the Americas highlights the mediations
involved in cross-cultural transmission and exchange.  She is author of The
Archive and the Repertoire: Performing Cultural Memory in the Americas;
Disappearing Acts: Spectacles of Gender and Nationalism in Argentina’s
“Dirty War;” and Theater of Crisis: Drama and Politics in Latin America.
The Hemispheric Institute is a multilingual and multinational consortium of
artists, scholars, and activists that facilitates collaboration among
researchers and practitioners through conference-festivals and web-mediated
courses, archives, and public forums.

Conference Location

Seattle is a unique city in many ways, with strong neighborhoods separated
by hills and waterways, a history of labor migration that has produced
hybrid and layered ethnic identities, and an economy made up of emerging
and declining industries.  Founded as a center for international trade and
the exploitation of natural resources, Seattle is currently a hub of
technological and media innovation, social justice activism, and radical
environmentalism.  Situated on the Pacific Rim, the city officially
welcomes globalization, even as its residents have catalyzed fervent
anti-globalization actions and demonstrations.  As in other global cities
of the twenty-first century, these tensions play out across digital
divides, patterns of migration and settlement, and uneven processes of
community development and gentrification.

Conference Structure

Embedded in Seattle’s regional history and geography, the 2010 conference
will include both on-campus sessions and visits to off-campus sites where
teaching and research-based collaborations are forged.  The site visits
will draw on the expertise of local, national, and international
practitioners, and feature partnerships that engage through various
modalities of practice: community arts and media; digital archives and
pedagogies; participatory mapping and oral histories; environmental
restorations and built environments; music and sound.  Site visits will
encourage dialogue among conference participants involved in similar
initiatives outside the region, with one central goal of the conference
being the creation of local and translocal communities of practice.

Conference Proposals

Imagining America welcomes proposals that engage the broad conference
theme.  We are particularly interested in innovations that span the virtual
and embodied networks, built and natural environments, and local and global
processes that shape existing and emerging forms of public scholarship.
Individuals submitting session proposals may consider engaging or extending
the following questions:

     How can academic and community practitioners collaborate in
     generative, authentic, and mutually-beneficial ways?
     What interdisciplinary practices and cross-sectoral alliances are
     emerging in the projects you are developing?
     How are issues of social justice engaged as you identify and address
     social, political, and environmental problems?
     How do your projects situate themselves within institutions of higher
     education and across local or translocal geographies of intellectual
     and activist practice?
·         How does Imagining America’s core commitment to cultural
diversity and social equity play out in the design and implementation of
your projects?
     How do you document and assess the impact of public and engaged
     scholarship in ways that balance community impact and student
     learning goals?

Participant-led sessions will advance the conference theme by investigating
the purposes, methods, and theories of public scholarship and practice;
building capacity among individual and institutional conference
participants; linking practice to reflection; and developing participants’
individual and collective ability to work across diverse geographical
scales and social locations of institutional practice, ranging from course
syllabi and college-wide curricula to sustained social, economic, and
cultural development initiatives.

Conference Formats: Panels, Posters, Roundtables, Seminars, and Workshops

Conference formats are intended to encourage the presentation of projects
at different stages of development, to foster hands-on learning, and to
address the always challenging question: “What next?” Please feel free to
adapt the suggested formats or propose others in order to suit your
session’s goals.

All of the conference session formats listed below will be 90 minutes in
length.

Space and technology requests: The conference has a finite set of resources
available in terms of space and technology.  Imagining America encourages
an emphasis on participant engagement and interaction. In your application,
you can request specific space and technical accommodations, including
audio-visual equipment such as video/data projectors and DVD/VCR combo
players. You will be asked to provide a short justification for your
request in terms of the goals and format of your session. Requests will be
evaluated in terms of these justifications and available resources.

1)                  Panels: A team of individuals may present their
research, work, and/or experiences, leaving 30-45 minutes of the session
for questions and discussion designed to foster cross-institutional
learning.

Panel proposals should include: the title of the panel; the name, title,
affiliation, and contact information of the panel organizer; the names,
titles, affiliations, and email addresses of all panelists; and a
description of the panel's topic (<500 words). Panels are limited to no
more than five participants, including the organizer.
2)                  Posters: Conference attendees may present and solicit
feedback on their existing and emerging projects by displaying a poster (or
other table-top media) at a conference session dedicated to that format.
Posters typically mix a brief narrative description with photographs,
organizational or historical charts, maps, and other modes of presentation.
Brochures or hand-outs may be available, or the presenter might display a
presentation or DVD on her laptop.

Poster proposals should include: the name, title, affiliation, and contact
information of the presenter; and a description of the project and how it
will be displayed (<500 words).

3)                  Roundtables: A group of participants may convene with
the goal of generating discussion around a shared concern. In contrast to
panels, roundtables typically involve shorter position or dialogue
statements (5-10 minutes) in response to questions distributed in advance
by the organizer.  The majority of roundtable sessions should be devoted to
discussion. Roundtables are limited to no more than five participants,
including the organizer. We encourage roundtables involving participants
from different institutions, centers, and organizations.

Proposals for roundtables should include: the title of the roundtable; the
name, title, affiliation, and contact information of the organizer; the
names, titles, affiliations, and email addresses of the proposed roundtable
participants; and a description of the position statements, questions, or
debates that will be under discussion (<500 words).

4)                  Seminars: A seminar leader or team may propose a
small-group (8-15 person) session limited to participants who have prepared
in advance. Preparation may involve shared readings, pre-circulated draft
papers or other materials, and/or other forms of pre-conference
collaboration. We particularly invite seminars designed to generate future
collaborations among participants. A limited number of seminars will be
selected by the program committee, and a call for participation announced
on Imagining America’s webpage and listserv no later than May 1, 2010.
Interested parties will apply directly to the seminar leader(s) for
admission to the session.  Seminar leader(s) will be responsible for
providing the program committee with a confirmed list of participants
(names, titles, affiliations, and email addresses required) for inclusion
in the conference program no later than June 1, 2010. Please note: To run
at the conference, seminars must garner a minimum of 8 participants, in
addition to the seminar leader(s).

Proposals for seminars should include: the title of the seminar; the name,
title, affiliation, and contact information of the seminar leader/team
members; a description of the work to be completed by participants in
advance of the seminar; and a description of the issues and questions that
will be raised in discussion (<500 words).

5)                  Workshops: A facilitator or facilitating team may set
the agenda, pose opening questions, and/or organize hands-on participant
activities. The facilitator or team is responsible for gathering responses
and results from participants and helping everyone digest them.

Proposals for workshops should include: the title of the workshop; the
name, title, affiliation, and contact information of the (lead) facilitator
and for any co-facilitators; a description of the activities to be
undertaken (<500 words); and a description of space requirements, if
appropriate.

Submission Deadline and Process
Imagining America is now managing proposal submissions electronically.
Please prepare all the materials required to propose your session according
to the given directions before you begin electronic submission. We
recommend saving a copy of this information in a Word document. Then go to:
https://catalysttools.washington.edu/webq/survey/schadmin/94295
You will be asked to enter the information into the fields provided (you
may choose to cut and paste).

Deadline for submissions is Friday, April 2, 2010.  The Program Committee
will send final notifications regarding proposed sessions no later than
June 11, 2010.