We seek contributors for a book of 13-16 original essays of approx. 8,000 words that investigate the ways in which African American public intellectuals, artists, writers, musicians, painters, filmmakers and laypeople have framed, interpreted and articulated their ideas regarding the nonlinear, asymmetrical and liminal dimensions of freedom since the early 19th century. Specifically, the book will address the manner and degree to which groups living and working in the black Atlantic continuously refashioned their perspectives of freedom in response to modernity.

Each essay is envisioned as both a detailed and reflexive meditation on the changing shape and form of freedom. In addition, the ideal essay should point the way toward deeper understanding of how the unfixed and perplexing qualities of this concept have informed one's own pedagogy, research, and writing to date. We particularly look to include essays that will be broadly international in scope or/and comparative, as well as coauthored articles in which each contributor writes from a different national perspective.

Send MSWord attachments with one-page CVs to Robert F. Jefferson (Jefferson@xavier.edu) and Barbara Ryan (usprbt@nus.edu.sg). Proposals of 400-600 words, as well as queries, will be considered until 10 October 2006; completed manuscripts are due 15 January 2007. Excellent submissions will demonstrate historical scholarship at its freshest and most provocative; of particular interest will be projects that consider the extent to which conceptualizations of, as well as perspectives on, freedom have been shaped by engagements with modernity.