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2014 Call for Papers

Call For Papers

The Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center of Norfolk State University (NSU), in partnership with Hampton University is hosting a two-day conference, 1619: Making of America that will be held in Hampton and Norfolk, VA on September 18-19, 2014.   This conference will offer scholars and participants from various disciplines a unique platform to engage in dialogue about important issues defining new interpretations of 1619 in American history.

This conference seeks to place the events stemming from 1619 within the context of Atlantic migration, culture, and race, and will emphasize the wide-ranging, familiar, and mobile character of the African Diaspora.  The overarching point is that Chesapeake society was part of a hybrid and global culture predicated on intimate and overlapping encounters among Africans, Native Americans, Western Europeans, and other cultures from around the globe.

Featured speakers for the conference will include Michael Gomez (Professor of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University) who will discuss “The Transformation of African Identities in the Atlantic World in Colonial America,” Donna Gabaccia (Professor of History at University of Minnesota) who will examine “Impact of Global Migrations on Foodways,” Kariamu Welsh (Professor in the Boyer School of Music and Dance at Temple University) who will examine the role of dance in her presentation “Techniques of the Enslaved Africans,” Paul Finkelman (President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy and Senior Fellow, Government Law Center, Albany Law School), who will discuss “Framing the Meaning of 1619 and the Evolution of Civil Liberties,” Lisa Brooks (Associate Professor of English and American Studies at Amherst College) who will discuss her work on “Early American Texts and Native Space,” and Gregg Deal (Native American artist/activist) who will discuss his project, “The Last American Indian on Earth.”

The conference is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Abstracts/Panel proposals

Prospective presenters should submit an abstract of 500 words or less to pumbajekwe@nsu.edu  by June 15, 2014. Abstracts should include the presenter’s name, title of paper, institutional affiliation, and contact information (mailing address, phone number, and email address) and should be submitted as Microsoft Word files. Please note that acceptance of an abstract for the conference automatically grants the conference organizers the right to publish it in the conference program and website. Upon acceptance, presenters are required to register for at least one day of the conference.

Conference presenters may be asked to submit their paper for publication in an edited book.

Conference Registration Fees

Mandatory registration fees for the two-day conference are: Regular: $40 (per day; $75 for 2 days); Students: $25 (per day), by September 15, 2013 (lunch included). Online conference registration will be available by July 1st.

For additional conference details, including accommodations, go to our website at www.1619makingofamerica.com.

Please email abstracts to:
Dr. Patrick Mbajekwe
(pumbajekwe@nsu.edu)

We are soliciting papers that will reflect one or more of the following conference themes:

  • Class, Ethnicity, and the Origins of America’s Social System
  • Diaspora Communities in the Americas
  • Establishing Racial Hierarchies in Early America
  • Foodies, Food Culture, and the Origins of American Cuisine
  • Intersections of Race and Culture in Colonial America
  • Land Rights, Legal Ownership, and the Evolution of American Wealth
  • Liberian Expatriates:  The American-Liberian Exchange
  • Literary Traditions and Transformations in American Society
  • Migration Networks in the Early Atlantic
  • Musical Legacies in American Society
  • Remembering America’s Cultural Foundations –Cultural Memory Crafted through National and State Parks, Memorials, and Museums
  • Native Peoples in Colonial America
  • Reassessing America’s Legal and Representative System and Rule of Law
  • American Aesthetics
  • Slavery and Native Peoples in America
  • The Transatlantic Trade: Foodways, Disease, Goods, Wealth, Parasites, and Vegetation