CFP-NeMLA: When Lives Do Things: Lives as Archives (NeMLA Conference )
Newport, Rhode Island
Organization: Northeast Modern Language Association
Event: NeMLA Conference
As Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson argue, “autobiographical storytelling is a performative act through which narrators construct rather than simply describe selves.” In recent times, “life writing” has become a familiar term in literary and cultural studies, encompassing a range of written texts, including autobiographies, biographies, letters, memoirs, slave narratives, prison narratives, captivity narratives, travel narratives, confessionals, conversion narratives and even in recent times, personal diaries. However, rather than remain transparent records of lived experience, life writings actively shape identities, produce historical knowledge, preserve cultural memory, and intervene in social and political worlds. This panel invites scholars to reconsider what life writing does beyond just what it says. We invite contributions that challenge conventional approaches to reading life writings. We are particularly interested in scholarships that examine how life writings preserve marginalized histories, challenge dominant archives, and create alternative ways of knowing. We also welcome papers that investigate life writing across historical periods, geographical locations, and disciplinary approaches. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
Life writing as archive.
Counter-archive or alternative historical record.
Testimony, witnessing, and the ethics of narration.
Life writing and the production of race, gender, sexuality, or class.
Spiritual, religious, and ritual dimensions of autobiographical expression.
Collective, communal, and relational forms of selfhood.
Life writing and memory studies.
Digital, visual, and multimodal life narratives.
Abstracts of 250–300 words and a short bio (100 words) should be submitted via: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/22538
Session modality:Hybrid (in-person but accepting remote presentations).
Sam