Narratives of Citizenship

University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
March 23-25, 2007

In celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Canadian Citizenship Act, the Graduate Students of English Association at the University of Alberta is hosting the interdisciplinary conference Narratives of Citizenship. This conference addresses key issues concerning the interrelation of the arts, the academy, and narrative constructions of “the citizen” and his or her duties, rights, and privileges—both locally and globally. We are pleased to welcome as our keynote speaker Daniel Coleman (McMaster University), author of White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada (2006) and Masculine Migrations: Reading the Postcolonial Male in “New Canadian” Narratives (1998).

The conference aims to destabilize traditional community boundaries by providing a venue for scholars and students to workshop ideas with artists, community leaders and social activists from both inside and outside the University environment. An Artists’ Gala featuring local Alberta performing artists and writers, including Myrna Kostash and Shirley Serviss, will be held on Saturday night.

We invite papers concerned with the construction of citizenship as a textual, narrative phenomenon, where “text” is understood to refer to a spectrum of media, including film, theatre, historical or legal documents, and literature, to name but a few possibilities. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Dominant and counter-narratives of citizenship in literary, philosophical, legal or other texts;
• The relationship between academic practices and citizenship;
• The translation or dissemination of discipline-specific knowledge to communities outside the University environment, or vice-versa;
• The use of pedagogy to engage, support, and trouble the notion of citizenship within and beyond the classroom;
• The effect of marginalization upon discourses of civic obligation;
• The impact of multiculturalism on contemporary articulations of citizenship.

To submit a paper, please send a brief bio and an abstract of no more than 400 words to the conference organizers. The deadline for abstract submission is December 8, 2006. E-mail or online submissions are preferred:

Aloys Fleischmann: aloys@ualberta.ca
Nancy Van Styvendale: nancyv@ualberta.ca
Submit Online at: www.arts.ualberta.ca/~gsea/conf/

Mailing Address:
Narratives of Citizenship
Department of English and Film Studies
Humanities Centre 3-5
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
T6G 2E5