Call for Papers: Literature and the Healing Arts at CEA 2013


  

April 4-6, 2013 Savannah, Georgia

The College English Association, a gathering of scholar-teachers in English studies, welcomes proposals for presentations on Literature and the Healing Arts for our 43rd annual conference. Submit your proposal at http://www.cea-web.org

Medical Humanities, literary medicine, literature and the healing arts:
these fields have grown in recent years, validating the all-important intersection between medical science, technology, healing and the broad sweep of literary history. This year, the full conference theme is Nature, a concept that, itself, straddles the complex nexus of life, life science, culture, and cultural production. I welcome all scholars interested in exploring these connection-the nature of health, the nature of Man, the nature of technology and of medicine... But also more subtle explorations of literature and healing, the nature of medical humanities as a field (interpreted broadly). Some topics may include, but are not limited to, Gaming communities and social health, technology and reproduction, the nature of the "monster" or monstrosity, cyberfiction, cyborgs, historical medicine, literary permutations of medical theory, writing as healing, writing as life science. Join us this year for a warm and welcoming conference in which all this and more may be explored. Panels welcome-graduate papers welcome.

Conference Theme: Nature
The primary conference theme for 2013 is "Nature": In earlier centuries, "Nature" set the parameters, as Philip Round states, "of conversations about everything from church doctrine to village order." Often discussions of gender, character, authorship, and even civil discourse turned to questions of "customary precedent and natural law." By the twentieth century "nature" was used to delineate the new literary study of "nature writing," while also used in broader terms to question the changing nature of our society with the onset of digital age, postmodernism, new views of gender and race construction, and even changes within academia. What is the "nature" of the academia today? How has the "nature" of publishing and authorship changed with the digital age? How has the "nature" of our profession changed?  In what ways does "nature" define us? Or do we define "nature?" In addition, we welcome presentations by experienced academics and graduate students on all areas of literature, languages, film, composition, pedagogy, creative writing, and professional writing.
Proposals may interpret the CEA theme broadly

General Call for Papers
CEA also welcomes proposals for presentations in any of the areas English departments typically encompass, including literature criticism and scholarship, creative writing, composition, technical communication, linguistics, and film. We also welcome papers on areas that influence our work as academics, including student demographics, student/instructor accountability and assessment, student advising, academic leadership in departments and programs, and the place of the English department in the university.

Submission Dates: August 15-November 1, 2012

For more information on how to submit, please see the full CFP at http://www.cea-web.org Membership

All presenters at the 2013 CEA conference must become members of CEA by January 1, 2013. To join CEA, please go to http://www.cea-web.org

Other questions? Please email cea.english@gmail.com.

Brandy Schillace, PhD
Winona State University