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EVENT Feb 12
ABSTRACT Jan 11
Abstract days left 63
Viewed 99 times

Their Eyes were Watching Words: Publishing, Editing, and Censorship

Online
Organization: Bethune-Cookman University
Categories: Digital Humanities, Graduate Conference, Comparative, Interdisciplinary, Popular Culture, Gender & Sexuality, Literary Theory, Rhetoric & Composition, Women's Studies, African-American, 20th & 21st Century, Adventure & Travel Writing, Aesthetics, Anthropology/Sociology, Classical Studies, Cultural Studies, Environmental Studies, Film, TV, & Media, Food Studies, History, Philosophy, African & African Diasporas, Caribbean & Caribbean Diasporas, Miscellaneous
Event Date: 2026-02-12 to 2026-02-13 Abstract Due: 2026-01-11

The College of Arts and Humanities at Bethune-Cookman University welcomes proposals for the annual Zora Neale Hurston Conference, which will be held virtually on February 12-13, 2026. “Their Eyes were Watching Words: Publishing, Editing, and Censorship” is a tribute to Hurston’s skilled navigation of the complex world of publishing and censorship. Our invited speakers this year are Roxane Gay and Dana Williams.

You are invited to submit scholarly, pedagogical, or creative proposals exploring any of the following:

  • Hurston Studies: New Perspectives on Hurston's Work, Interests, and Impact.
  • Publishing, Editing, and Censorship: Power and Voice in Literary Production

 

Suggested Topics on Zora Neale Hurston

  • Hurston and her work in a digital age
  • Language, identity, and cultural reclamation in Hurston's work
  • Hurston's influence on contemporary Black women writers
  • Teaching Hurston in the modern classroom
  • Hurston's anthropological methods and their relevance today

 

Suggested Topics on Publishing, Editing, and Censorship

  • Zora Neale Hurston and the politics of editing and censorship.
  • Hurston’s struggles with publishers.
  • Race, gender, and editorial power in twentieth-century publishing.
  • Censorship and suppression of African American and postcolonial texts.
  • Independent and radical publishing movements, past and present.
  • Digital publishing, self-publishing, and censorship in the social media age

 

Submission Guidelines

Please submit 250–300-word abstracts for individual or panel presentations here: https://tiny.cc/znh-at-bcu-submit

  • Individual presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.
  • Submissions are also encouraged from community scholars and students.

Deadline: January 11, 2026. Notification of Acceptance: January 19, 2026.

Follow us on https://www.facebook.com/HurstonConference/

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehJtYAADbpSWDS0_RQNrtaanM82fyvFy21y3c76w5hBr0uOA/viewform

hurstonconferencebcu@gmail.com

Dr. Atreyee Gohain