Disrupted Hospitality (SAMLA annual conference.)
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Organization: South Atlantic Modern Language Association
Event: SAMLA annual conference.
Abstracts are invited for a proposed special session to be held at the annual meeting of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association, scheduled for 5-7 November 2026 at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel and Conference Center, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Hospitality is associated with friendliness and a generous disposition toward guests or strangers. A host who is truly hospitable will take great efforts to ensure that guests are smoothly integrated into the existing social situation so that they feel welcome and comfortable. In so doing, the host, perhaps unwittingly, can establish a power imbalance with guests that may result in discomfiture and alienation, especially if the usual expectations for hospitality are somehow disrupted--intentionally or not. This panel invites proposals that explore disruptions of hospitality for good or ill. Papers might focus on failed, counterfeited, or begrudging hospitality; on unreasonable expectations (from the host's or the guest's viewpoint); on the barriers of miscommunication and ignorance; on the complexities of invited vs. uninvited guests; or on inversions of hospitality in which the guest appropriates the hosting role. Other topics that involve disrupted hospitality, broadly defined, are welcome. Please submit a 250-word abstract and one-paragraph bio by 1 September 2026. All abstract submissions must be processed through the SAMLA Ballast site by clicking the green "Submit Abstract" button on the top right of this page: https://samla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/19558. Questions may be addressed to Ben P. Robertson at bprobertson@troy.edu.
Ben P. Robertson