Investigative Narratives and the (Re)Generation of Nuclear Memory (NeMLA)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Organization: NeMLA
Event: NeMLA
The 57th Annual Northeast Modern Language Association Convention will be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Conference Dates: March 5-8, 2026
Topic: Investigative Narratives and the (Re)Generation of Nuclear Memory
"Reclaiming Nuclear Memory: Narrative, Testimony, and Justice in Francophone and Global Literatures"
Deadline for Abstract Submission: September 30th 2025.
Modality: hybrid (in-person but accepting remote presentations)
Overview:
As part of the 57th Annual NeMLA Convention (March 5–8, 2026, Pittsburgh, PA), and under the theme of “(Re)Generation”, this international seminar will be conducted in a hybrid format: U.S.-based participants may present either in person or online, while international scholars will participate remotely.
The session seeks to foster critical and interdisciplinary discussions on how literary, testimonial, and investigative texts address the legacies of nuclear testing, with particular emphasis on the Franco-Algerian context, while remaining open to comparative analyses of other nuclear histories, including those of Kazakhstan, Japan, and the Pacific Islands (notably French Polynesia and the Marshall Islands).
Panel Description:
Between 1960 and 1966, France carried out seventeen nuclear tests in the Algerian Sahara, specifically in Reggane and In Ekker, during the final years of colonial rule. These experiments left devastating environmental, social, and health consequences that continue to reverberate across generations. For decades, these impacts remained marginalized in official narratives, but writers, survivors, and investigators—both in Algeria and France have since produced a growing body of texts that challenge silence and denial. These works combine personal testimony, collective memory, documentary narrative, and creative resistance, thereby reshaping how nuclear trauma is remembered and transmitted.
This seminar invites contributions that explore how literature functions as an alternative archive of nuclear memory, as a medium of resistance to erasure, and as a call for ecological and historical justice. Beyond the Algerian case, we welcome comparative approaches that examine other global contexts of nuclear testing from Semipalatinsk (Kazakhstan) to the Pacific Islands highlighting how literary and cultural narratives engage with questions of colonial power, technological violence, transgenerational trauma, and environmental devastation.
Presentations are welcome in Arabic, French, English, or Spanish.
Suggested Topics:
- The French nuclear tests in Algeria: from Gerboise Bleue to Beryl
- Testimonies of victims and conscripts in Algerian and French narratives
- Representations of radiation, illness, and bodily trauma in literature
- The desert as a radioactive archive in literary and cultural memory
- Narrative justice and ecological memory in postcolonial literatures
- Gendered dimensions of nuclear violence: women’s voices and testimonies
- Translation as resistance: transmitting nuclear memory across languages
- Comparative perspectives: nuclear memory in Kazakhstan, Japan, and the Pacific Islands
- Indigenous and subaltern testimonies confronting nuclear colonialism
- Hybrid literary forms: fiction, investigative reportage, and testimonial writing
Format of Participation:
- For U.S.-based scholars: hybrid format (in person or online).
- For international scholars: online participation.
Submission Guidelines:
Abstracts should not exceed 300 words, accompanied by a brief biographical note (150 words).
Deadline for submissions: September 30, 2025.
Submissions should be made through the CFPList platform by pressing the green “Submit Abstract” icon on the right side of the screen.
N.B: Submit your abstract at this link: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21850
Important Dates:
- Abstract submission deadline: September 30, 2025
- Notification of acceptance: October 30, 2025
- Conference date: March 5–8, 2026 (Pittsburgh, PA)
For any queries, please feel free to reach out to Choueib Madoui at : cmadoui@ucm.es
https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21850
CHOUEIB MADOUI