CFP: Calibrating Culture: Historical (Re)Readings in Film, Print, and Other Media

7 January 2014

The graduate program in History and Culture at Drew University is pleased to announce that the Second Annual Dean Hopper New Scholars Conference is accepting submissions for paper presentations.  The theme of this year’s conference is “Calibrating Culture: Historical (Re)Readings in Film, Print, and Other Media.”  This multi-day conference, which will be held June 6-7, 2014, on the campus of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, will explore the intersections and interactions between media and culture throughout history.  The conference aims at fostering an interdisciplinary discussion of the influence of culture on society and welcomes works from various disciplinary backgrounds, though papers with an historical dimension are encouraged.  The conference will construe media broadly, and welcomes submissions which address the production, dissemination, and reception of various creative endeavors.  Paper themes may include, but are not limited to:

• Film, television, radio, print, books, newspapers, visual art, and photography
• Culture as an ideological apparatus
• Methodologies of book history, film history, visual culture, etc.
• Tracing changes in audience reception over time
• Issues of author and audience migration, transmigration, culture, and geography
• Popular culture versus high culture
• Mainstream culture versus marginalized/subculture
• Media as documentation versus media as a transformative force

The conference will be accepting submissions from current graduate students and early career scholars.  Both individual and panel submissions will be accepted.  Panels will be small to promote an intimate and engaging discourse on media and culture. Presentation proposals should include an abstract of no more than three hundred words explaining the topic, main argument, and methodology of the project.  In addition, proposals should include the presenter’s current curriculum vitae as well as any audio or visual requirements needed for the presentation.  Individual papers should not exceed 20 minutes in delivery.

Paper submissions and general inquiries should be directed to: conferencesubs@drew.edu

Deadline for Submissions: January 7, 2014

Notification By: February 1, 2014

The theme of the fourth volume of Trans-Scripts is "Constructing (Dis)Ability." We welcome a wide range of submissions from a variety of disciplines. Founded in 2010, Trans-Scripts is a student-run and edited interdisciplinary journal, and the editorial collective of graduate students come from diverse academic fields, including English, History, Culture & Theory, Psychology and Social Behavior, Anthropology, Philosophy, Women’s Studies, and African-American Studies. Faculty advisors represent an even more varied range of disciplines. All submissions will be reviewed by both students and faculty to ensure the highest quality of work. Though the journal is primarily a forum for student work, faculty are welcome to contribute as well. We also publish editorials by renowned experts on each theme covered.

For more information, theTrans-Scripts journal can be accessed at the following website: http://www.humanities.uci.edu/collective/hctr/trans-scripts/ . Please direct all general inquiries about the journal or any comments on published pieces to our 2013-2014 volume’s Editor-in-Chief, Andrea Milne, at milnea@uci.edu.

The deadline for submissions is January 10, 2014.

Check out fellow MCSer Marissa Piegols'  blog post about her summer internship experience with the Office of External Relations within the Office of the Inspector General at Social Security Administration. Here's a quote from the post:

"On the surface, an unpaid internship at the Social Security Administration might sound boring to someone with aspirations of working at a company like Google or Apple. You might be surprised at how much SSA can offer you in terms of valuable experience and learning opportunities! Regardless of the office you work for, I strongly believe that with an open mind and a good attitude, any internship with SSA will be an experience you will never regret."

Marissa has informed me that they are currently "looking for applicants with strong writing and/or graphic design or video editing skills." She has also kindly offered to pass along your resume to her contact there. Please email her at marissa5@umbc.edu if you are interested.