“The Self in North American Culture: Comparative Perspectives”
November 30 - December 2, 2006
Department of American Literature and Culture
Faculty of Humanities and Letters
Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey

Scholars in American Studies and related fields are invited to submit paper proposals for a conference on “The Self in North American Culture: Comparative Perspectives,” which will focus on selfhood today and in the past. The conference will be interdisciplinary in scope, soliciting contributions from scholars working in the humanities and social sciences, in such fields as literary, historical, film, media, gender, race, and ethnic studies. We will focus on representations of the self in North American culture and the discourses of the social sciences in both the past and present. Moreover, in line with recent scholarship, the conference will attempt to get beyond rigid dichotomies of the private and the public, the personal and the political, and will aim to explore the manner in which the self is constructed within various social, cultural, and historical contexts.

We invite proposals for both individual papers and panels. Prospective presenters should send an abstract of approximately 400 words in length and a curriculum vitae. Proposals for panels should include the abstracts and c.v.s of the individual participants along with a brief statement of the overall theme of the panel.

The deadline for submitting proposals is September 15, 2006.

Send proposals to:

Dennis Bryson
Department of American Culture and Literature
Faculty of Humanities and Letters
Bilkent University
06800 Bilkent Ankara
TURKEY

E-mail submissions (and queries with regard to the conference) are welcome. Please send to: dennis@bilkent.edu.tr