Navigating Networks: Relationships and Belonging in a Connecting World

Fifth Annual American Cultures Conference, March 23-25, 2006
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia

Extended Deadline for Paper/Panel Proposals: December 9, 2005

Today, the term “networks” commonly encompasses connections through location, language, social groups, ethnicity, symbols, and economy – just to name a few. Benedict Anderson conceives of networks as “imagined communities,” while New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman sees the world as “flattened” by contemporary networks such as fiber optics and outsourcing. The American Cultures Conference at The College of William and Mary invites submissions from graduate students on any aspect related to “networks”: from times pre-colonial to cyberpunk, from topics literary and political to economic and social, and from identities individual to collective. We welcome contributions from all disciplines within humanities and social sciences.

Please send both curriculum vita and 100-150 word abstract, including title, in an email to acconf@wm.edu with the subject heading “abstract.”

Conference Fee: $15

The American Cultures Conference is presented by the American Studies, History, and Anthropology programs at The College of William and Mary. Please visit the conference website at www.wm.edu/amst/acconf for further information.

For the past four years the American Cultures Conference has fulfilled a purpose echoed in this year’s conference theme: Navigating Networks: Relationships and Belonging in a Connecting World. Organized by and for graduate students, the Conference has successfully brought together new scholars and new ideas in a forum that transcends traditional boundaries. For two days on the nation’s second oldest college campus, graduate students share their research that is to become the future of interdisciplinary projects in the humanities. And for the first time, the American Cultures Conference is welcoming graduate students from other universities to participate, too. The conference’s organizers aim not only to extend the horizon of research done on the above theme, but also to build lasting relationships among scholars here and elsewhere.