Conference Theme: PASSAGES
Special Topic: Teacher Education and Pedagogy
Deadline for Submissions: November 1, 2007
Special Topic Contact Person: Jeri Kraver, University of Northern Colorado (Jeraldine.Kraver@unco.edu)
Web Site: http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/conference2008.htm

NOTE: CEA prefers to receive all submissions (including those for special topic panels) electronically through our conference management database housed at the following web address: http://english.ttu.edu/cea/conftool

Please join the collegial community of the College English Association in St. Loo this Spring. Below, read more about our THEME for this year's conference as well as our GENERAL PROGRAM.

CONFERENCE THEME:

The clean, elegant lines of the St. Louis Gateway Arch rise high above the Mississippi River , a literal representation of the city's most famous epithet, “Gateway to the West.” Inspired by this image, CEA pays tribute to St. Louis and to the many pioneers who passed through its threshold, risking the world they knew for nothing more (or less) than the promise of a new beginning.

Our theme for the 2008 conference is Passages. We invite you to consider the following broad topics about PASSAGES from the perspective of TEACHER EDUCATION AND PEDAGOGY for our special topics panel of the same name. Or, if you prefer, you may submit a proposal for a more General Topic (see below).

1) Rites of Passage : Jung and Campbell point to the wide variety of myths and cultural practices that equate maturity with the successful completion of a rite of passage. Freud heralds the importance of the sexual threshold in the formation of any well-balanced personality. Winnicott identifies the transitional object as the infant's first movement towards independence and creativity. We welcome papers that analyze literary and cinematic works through the lens of mythology, psychology, and anthropology, in particular those that offer insight into our journey towards adulthood or the many transitional phases of maturation.

2) Spiritual Passage : Religious texts embrace the term as a means to connect the real world with the mystical world. Consider that the most common euphemism for death is “passing,” as if life and death are separated by a dividing line that one need only pass over. In many religious stories and folk tales, gods pass among their creatures unaware, or even pass as one of them: Christ as a man; Aphrodite as a shepherd girl; Zeus as a bull, a swan, a shower of gold. Faiths that embrace reincarnation see the spirit passing through different forms, different stages, before reaching her ultimate destination. Papers exploring passages of the spirit, be they heaven-bound or hell-bent, in print or celluloid, are welcome.

3) Passage as Journey : The term is still used widely in travel circles. We book passage on a train, plane, boat, or bus, and the impetus for such a journey is varied: vacation, rest, family, career, adventure, love. Travel literature is its own genre, complete with a long list of historical and imaginary travelogues, from Marco Polo's adventures in China to More's satiric journey to Utopia, from Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Tolkien's tomes devoted to Middle Earth. That doesn't even touch the boom in 20 th / 21 st century science fiction. Epic journeys often require a quest, with a celebratory song to go with it; from the Beowulf scop to the Beat poet, Arlo Guthrie to the Rolling Stones, lyricists remind us that “Life is a Highway.” We welcome papers invoking the call to travel, regardless of the destination.

4) Passage to America : As a nation, we trace our heritage to travelers, dissatisfied with their present lot and seeking passage to a new world. Regardless of your political stance, our Statue of Liberty continues to invite “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.” We join the current debate by inviting papers on immigration literature and film, from the idealized passengers on the Mayflower to today's no-less-political, but certainly more problematic would-be citizens, passing into America with or without a green card. One could also analyze America 's identity through the pioneers' attempt to “civilize” the West as well as the romantic ramblings of our literary icons: the hobo, the Huck Finn, and the runaway in American narrative.

5) Literary Passages : For the academic, passages are our stock in trade, the medium through which we journey through the text; for it's a rare class that dares to tackle Shakespeare's ­Tempest in one sitting. Instead, we are dwellers, preferring to spend quality time with an image, echo, leitmotif, pattern, or moment in the text. Papers that celebrate the “passage” with an extended close reading are welcome. We also invite papers that seek to analyze the process of close reading or any other literary theory that claims to illuminate the art form through an analysis of its parts.

GENERAL PROGRAM

In addition to our conference theme, we also invite scholars, teachers, and graduate students to submit papers that address any topic relevant to our profession, e.g., English, American, or World literature; film studies, women's studies, and multicultural studies; literary theory; linguistics; book history and textual criticism; interdisciplinary studies; pedagogical approaches: class discussion, online courses, computers and technology, teacher education, English as a second language; composition and rhetoric; creative writing; popular culture; as well as those topics that relate to our lives as academics: student advising; grade inflation; assessment techniques (for student and teacher); administrative posts and service positions; or anything relating to the changing identity of the English department: how it is perceived, appreciated, or utilized by the university.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

CEA prefers to receive all submissions (including those for special topic panels) electronically through our conference management database housed at the following web address: http://english.ttu.edu/cea/conftool

Any other form of electronic submission will not be accepted. Electronic submissions open on August 1st and close on November 1st. Abstracts for proposals should be between 200 and 500 words in length and should include a title. Submitting electronically is a two-step process: 1) setting up a user ID, then 2) using that ID to log in – this time to a welcome page which provides a link for submitting proposals to the conference. If submitting a panel, panel organizers should create user IDs for all proposed participants.

Though CEA prefers to receive proposals through the conference database (as it facilitates communication about the conference in a smooth and timely matter), we will accept hard copy proposals, postmarked no later than October 15th, via regular mail. Hard-copy proposals should include the following information:
• Name
• Institutional affiliation (if applicable)
• Mailing address (including zip code)
• Phone number
• E-mail address
• Title for the proposed presentation
• Abstract of 200-500 words
• AV equipment needs, if any
• Special needs, if any

Panel organizers should include the above information for all proposed participants.

If you are willing to serve as a session chair or respondent, please indicate this in your cover letter.

Audiovisual Requests : Please make all AV equipment requests when you submit your proposal by checking the appropriate box in the online proposal submission form. Any participants offering PowerPoint programs must bring their own laptops. CEA cannot provide Internet access.

Address hard copy submissions and any other conference correspondence to the Program Chair:

Marina Favila, English Department Office
Keezell Hall 215, MSC 1801
James Madison University
Harrisonburg , Virginia 22807
E-mail: cea.english@gmail.com (Put "Program Chair" in the subject line)

SPECIAL TOPIC PANELS
As with conference-theme proposals, special topic panel proposals should be submitted electronically through our conference management database housed at the following web address: http://english.ttu.edu/cea/conftool

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

• To preserve time for discussion, CEA limits all presentations to 15 minutes.
• Notifications of proposal status will be sent around December 5th.
• All presenters must join CEA by January 1, 2008 to appear on the program .
• Conference registration material will arrive in January and will indicate registration fee payment deadlines at that time.
• Presenters must read their own papers at the conference.
• No one may read more than one paper.
• CEA does not sponsor or fund travel or underwrite participant costs.

NOTE TO GRADUATE STUDENTS

Graduate students must identify themselves in their proposals, so we may later send information about CEA's Best Graduate Student Paper Award (which carries a small prize). Submission instructions will be sent to accepted panelists after the membership deadline.

Proposals should be submitted via the online database at
http://english.ttu.edu/cea/conftool by November 1st, 2007.

When you submit your proposal, you may use a pull-down menu to indicate your topic. Indicate at that pull-down menu that your submission should be directed to me, (Put your name here), chair of the (Put your topic area here) panels.

To preserve time for discussion, CEA limits presentations to 15 minutes.

All presenters must become members of the College English Association by January 1, 2008. For membership information, contact Joe Pestino at jpestin5@naz.edu

For more information about CEA, the general conference theme, or other special sessions, please consult the CEA web site – http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/