en es en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en es en en en en en en en en en en en en en pl fr en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en es en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en en
Theatre Survey invites submissions for a special issue on performing girlhoods. Taking a cue from girlhood studies, this issue aims to investigate theatre’s role in the lived experiences of those who identify as girls (including trans individuals), while also analyzing girls’ contributions to professional and nonprofessional theatre and performance around the world. As historical subjects marginalized by age and gender, girls exist on the fringes of theatre and performance history, rarely popping into historical narratives except in exceptional situations, as with the phenomenal success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the late nineteenth century or the popularity of the Broadway musical Wicked in the twenty-first century. Yet there is ample evidence to suggest that girls have always been active consumers of and participants in theatrical entertainment, even when parents, custom, or the law forbade them from attending the theatre or performing onstage. So too theatrical representations of girlhood, from Shakespeare’s Rosalind to Small Alison in Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori’s Fun Home, have long informed the lived experiences of children of all genders and subsequently shaped performances of girlhood in sites ranging from the playground and the parlor to the schoolroom and the mall. As such, this issue seeks to move girls from the margins to the center of theatre and performance history.
Possible questions for consideration include the following:
In what ways have social institutions (e.g., government, religion, education, family) sought to influence girls’ consumption of and participation in theatre?
To what theories and methodologies might theatre and performance studies scholars turn in order to address the “double marginalization” of girls?
Please submit a full paper (25–40 pages double-spaced) and a brief abstract (ca. 250 words) via Theatre Survey’s manuscript submission site at ScholarOne.
Questions may be addressed to Special Issue Editor Marlis Schweitzer at schweit@yorku.ca.
On Universal Children’s Day, the scholarly organization International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL) issues a Statement of Principles, because it is worried about the ways in which contemporary geopolitics curtail academic freedom. For this reason, IRSCL has issued a Statement of Principles, which explains why scholarship can flourish only in a world with open borders. Read and listen to the Statement in multiple languages on YouTube. Please join us in sharing this widely!
CFP – Moving Stories: Emotion in, through, and around Texts for Children and Young Adults
Moving Stories: Emotion in, through, and around Texts for Children and Young Adults
Co-editors, Karen Coats (Illinois State) and Gretchen Papazian (Central Michigan)
Humors. Passions. Sentiments. Sensibilities. Feelings. Emotions. Affect. Are they natural, learned, culturally scripted? Are they embodied, biochemical, contagious? Are they personal, interpersonal, social? Are they rational or impulsive? Are they good or dangerous? Can they be controlled? How are they framed similarly or differently in relation to identity categories (e.g. gender, age, race, class, nation)? How do textual forms function to generate them for readers?
These questions and topics have been circulating in English Studies for some time. However, they have recently gained more prominence, through Sarah Ahmed’s work on the cultural politics of emotion, Teresa Brennan’s study of the transmission of affect, and Patricia Ticineto Clough and Jean Halley’s historicizing of “the affective turn.” They have gained such academic purchase, in fact, that the FALL 2015 PMLA Special Topic issue was devoted to Emotions.
The collection proposed here aims to extend consideration more firmly into the field of children’s and young adult literature. While the PMLA issue included incidental discussion of some texts designed for children, and while there has been a smattering of attention to emotion in children’s and young adult literature already (articles and book chapters by Perry Nodelman, Maria Nikolajeva, Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, and Karen Coats; plus Jerry Griswold’s 2006 monograph Feeling Like a Kid), the time is ripe for a collection of essays that pulls together the range of ways that texts for children approach emotion, as well as the range of ways emotion can be approached in, through, and around texts for children. Ultimately, the collection aims to more clearly and sharply articulate what is at stake in the emotions and emotional-workings of literature, film, and other media designed for children and young adults.
Proposals are welcomed from all areas of literature study, as are all approaches to the topic. Possible areas of investigation might include the following:
How do emotions work within texts for children and young adults?
What emotions might CYAL be scripting? Does that vary over genre, format, or imagined audience?
How does CYAL value and evaluate affect?
Are emotions—or particular emotions—marked as “childish”? Or gendered? Or racialized?
How does CYAL create and/or transmit affect? What are the techniques used by various formats (picture book, novel, film, game, video game) to create feeling (i.e., a sad story)?
Are specific genres or formats more invested in or better at representing emotion—or certain kinds of emotion—than others?
Have the emotions of CYAL changed over time?
What are the politics and ideologies of emotions in and around children’s and young adult literatures?
300-word proposals (plus brief scholar bio that includes rank and institutional affiliation) due by December 31, 2017 to papaz1gd@cmich.edu. Full manuscripts due by December 31, 2018.
Posted in calls for papers
IRSCL Press Release: Current Global Politics Limit Academic Freedom
Posted on November 14, 2017 by admin
On Universal Children’s Day, November 20, 2017, the International Research Society for Children’s Literature, (IRSCL, www.irscl.com) issues a Statement of Principles, because it is worried about the ways in which contemporary geopolitics curtail academic freedom.
This summer, IRSCL convened its 23rd biennial congress in Canada. More than 20 percent of the scholars whose papers were accepted were unable to attend Congress 2017, not only because of radical economic disparities in the world but also because of current restrictive travel policies and the “chill” caused by them.
– IRSCL finds the current xenophobic situation worrying as it curtails academic freedom. The free flow of people and ideas across borders has to be defended anew, says Lies Wesseling, President of IRSCL.
For this reason, IRSCL has issued a Statement of Principles, which explains why scholarship can flourish only in a world with open borders. The statement will be released in the format of a collection of videos featuring IRSCL members reading the statement in their native language (IRSCL 2017 Statement).
– The statement is issued on November 20, Universal Children’s Day, to emphasize not only the importance of our research, but also of children’s literature’s potential to foster empathy, nurture creativity, and imagine a better world, says Lies Wesseling.
IRSCL is an international scholarly organization dedicated to children’s and young adult literature with 360 members from 47 different countries worldwide. Every second year the organization arranges IRSCL Congress, the world’s most international congress within the research field.
President IRSCL, professor Elisabeth Wesseling: Lies.Wesseling@Maastrichtuniversity.nl
Posted in IRSCL news
Clarke Library’s International Children’s Literature Research Grant
Posted on November 10, 2017 by admin
Applications are welcome for the Clarke Library’s International Children’s Literature Research grant. The grant will fund travel to Central Michigan University’s Clarke Historical Library to conduct research using the International resources found in the Clarke Library’s Lucile Clarke Memorial Children’s Library. Among these resources are an extensive collection of International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) nominee books and author dossiers, as well as other children’s books from around the world. For a detailed catalog of the international children’s books found in the Clarke Library that would be available for use, visit www.cmich.edu/library and search the library catalog.
Innovative proposals that exploit the riches of the collection are encouraged. The object of the research may be but is not limited to studies in children’s literature. Applicants may propose using the collection’s foreign language resources in any way that would promote scholarly endeavor.
Application forms may be obtained at https://www.cmich.edu/library/clarke/ResearchResources/Childrens_Material/Documents/International%20Children%E2%80%99s%20Literature%20Research%20Grant%20Application.pdf. Applicants must be received no later than March 15, 2018.
Please note that the winning applicant must hold either a master’s or doctoral degree, or be currently enrolled in a doctoral program and must reside in the U.S. or Canada or be currently enrolled in an American or Canadian university program. The winning applicant will receive $2,000 which will be expected to cover transportation and living expenses while visiting the library. For additional information please contact the Clarke Historical Library at clarke@cmich.edu. Please include the phrase “International Children’s Literature Research Grant” in the subject line.
Posted in grant opportunities
CFP – Comics and the Graphic Narrative: The Future of the Movement
Posted on November 10, 2017 by admin
Kent State University School of Information, Reinberger Children’s Library Center, and the Marantz Picturebook Collection for the Study of Picturebook Art present the 2nd Bi-Annual Marantz Picturebook Research Symposium
Comics and the Graphic Narrative: The Future of the Movement
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Keynotes: Carol Tilley, PhD; Graphic Artist, Rafael Rosado
This call for proposals seeks original, interdisciplinary research in areas related to comics and graphic novels.
The Committee especially encourages presentations and research in the following formats:
Twenty-minute presentations followed by 10 minutes of discussion
Panel submissions comprised of three 20-minute presentations followed by 20 minutes of discussion (or four 15-minute presentations followed by 15 minutes of discussion)
Prospective participants should submit abstracts that report on recent research and scholarship. Contributions to this call for papers may not have been previously published, and all research methodologies from all disciplines are welcomed.
January 15, 2018: Deadline to submit abstracts
March 1, 2018: Notification of acceptance
Once selected, presenters are responsible for their own expenses related to the conference, including but not limited to registration fees, lodging, transportation and meals. Students are encouraged to participate.
Possible topics, as related to the conference theme, include (but are not limited to):
Cultural constructions of comics and graphic novels
Reaching diverse readers via comics and graphic novels
Historical perspectives on comics and graphic novels
Visual history/storytelling in comic books and graphic novels
Comics and graphic novels as propaganda directed at youth
The future of comics and graphic novels Political issues in comics and graphic novels
Mary Anne Nichols, MLS
Director, Reinberger Children’s Library Center
Posted in calls for papers
Call for Applications: 2017 Frances E. Russell Grant
Posted on November 9, 2017 by admin
The Canadian National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY Canada) is now accepting proposals for the 2017 Frances E. Russell Grant. The $1,000 grant is intended to support IBBY Canada’s mission to initiate and encourage research in young people’s literature in all its forms and is given in support of research for a publishable work (a book or a paper) on Canadian children’s literature. The deadline for the Frances E. Russell Grant is 15 January 2018.
For more information on criteria, see http://www.ibby-canada.org/awards/frances-e-russell-grant/.
Posted in grant opportunities
IRSCL Book Award 2022- Applications open
Open Position: Assistant Professor in Global/Transnational Children’s Literature and Childhood Studies