Category Archives: Announcements

Now Published: “Critical Pedagogy and Global Literature: Worldly Teaching”

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Critical Pedagogy and Global Literature: Worldly Teaching (New Frontiers in Education, Culture, and Politics)

Edited by Masood Ashraf Rja, Zach VandeZande, Hillary Stringer

Series Editor: Kenneth Saltman

I just wanted to share the exciting news that our collection of essays focused on teaching CPof world literature has now been published and is available to order through Amazon.com.

The idea for this wonderful collection of essays evolved during an independent study that I conducted with two of my brilliant colleagues and graduate students: Zach VandeZande and Hillary Stringer. Both of them are working on their Ph.Ds in creative writing and had requested to work on a course focused on various narrative forms.

At the end of our course, instead of writing traditional research papers, we decided to put together an anthology of critical essays about teaching of world literature. This theme was exceptionally important to all of us given the emphasis on world literature classes on our own campus.

As a result, both Hillary and Zach drafted the Call for Contributions, which was sent out in April 2011. After that we also contacted major figures in the field of critical pedagogy and requested them to contribute. I was impressed by the generosity of the established scholars in the field as most of them agreed to contribute their latest work toward our volume. We also received a large number of essays through our general call and selected the ones best suited for our project.

The book is divided into two major parts: Part 1 focuses on theoretical engagements with world literature filtered through various aspects of critical pedagogy; pat two includes short chapters written by teachers of world literature. I feel that this book could be a great resource for all those interested in a more nuanced and informed approach to teaching world literature.

I would like to convey my thanks to all our contributors. My thanks also to both of my co-editors who took the time, during the busiest stage of their doctoral education, to help put this wonderful collection together.

Please view the details about the book on Amazon or on the publisher’s website and, if you like it, ask your library to order it.

CFP: “Language Speaks US”

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The College English Association—Caribbean Chapter welcomes proposals for presentations in English (20-minute papers) for our 2014 conference, which will be held at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, on March 14-15, 2014. The title is “Language Speaks Us” and the topic is Language(s) and Identity. This event will be an opportunity to discuss the ways in which texts are conceived, nurtured and produced, and received by the public, in both historical and contemporary contexts. “Text” is to be interpreted broadly and comprises literature, nonfiction, advertisements, maps, architecture, music, film, visual and performing arts, facebook posts, SMS and IMs, and many other tracts. For more information, please visit our website at http://blogs.uprm.edu/ceacc/.

The specific topics to be addressed by the conference include but will not be limited to:

– Mono/Multilingualism, Authenticity, and Identity
– Circulation of Minority-Language Texts
– Linguistic Anomalies in Multilingual Societies
– Language-Education in Multicultural Classrooms
– Institutional Hierarchies and Language Policies
– Literary Canon(s) and Community Identity
– Language and Community
– Constructing Community through Print-texts
– Language and Coding in Transnational Texts
– Contact Zone, Borderlands, and Languages
– Code-Switching, Language Transfer
– Cross-meaning Language in Literature/Film
– Accents, Dialogue, and Slang in Literature/Film
– Linguistic Shifts and Social Media
– Language and Facebook, Twitter, Youtube
– Language in Construction of Multiple Histories
– Circulation of Monolingual Texts in Multilingual Societies
– Multilingual Literatures
– Resistance and Domination through Language
– Comparative Representations of Language in Traditional and E-media
– Pedagogy and Digital Education in Multilingual Cultures
– Geographies of Multilingual Books
– History of Multilingual Publishing (censure, success, imitation)
– The Multilingual Book Trade (Historical and Contemporary)
– Circulation of Early Multilingual Print Texts
– Translation, Texts, and Identity
– Multi or Mono-Linguistic Policies in Public Spaces (signs, monuments, documents)
– (Post)colonialism and Language Hierarchy in Multilingual Spaces
– Multiculturalism and Language Policies

On a rolling basis, we welcome abstracts for individual papers or panels of 2-4 scholars. Submit abstracts of 100-200 words in the body of an e-mail message (not an attachment) by 30 September 2013 to cea.cc.conference@gmail.com.

Venue: The conference will be held in the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez (UPRM). Renowned for its colonial architecture and its pictures town square, Mayagüez is a major college town with many restaurants and pubs catering to the 14,000 students at the UPRM as well as the students from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, the Antillean Adventist University and the Eugenio María de Hostos School of Law. In addition, its location in the west coast of the island makes the town a convenient spot to stay when visiting the town of San German, founded in the sixteenth century, or the excellent beaches in the town of Cabo Rojo and the town of Rincón, the surfing capital of the Caribbean.

Transportation:

San Juan Airport (Code: SJU) 110 miles; 2-hour drive. Direct to/from: most major US cities and Madrid. Transportation to Mayaguez: Car rental (recommended) or via públicos.

Aguadilla Airport (Code: BQN) 20 miles; 45-minute drive. Direct to/from: JFK, Newark, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale. Transportation to Mayagüez: Car rental (recommended), taxi.

Hotels:

Howard Johnson’s (Downtown Mayaguez)
70 Calle Méndez Vigo, Mayagüez (Phone: 787-832-9191)

Holiday Inn Mayagüez
2701 Highway #2, Mayagüez (Phone: 787- 833-1100)

For more information on the venue, transportation and lodgings, you can visit our website (http://blogs.uprm.edu/ceacc/conference-venues/mayaguez-2014/) or visit Lonely Planer (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/puerto-rico/southern-and-western-puerto-rico/mayaguez).

Pakistaniaat: Faiz Ahmed Faiz Issue Published!

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This is to let you all know that the Faiz Ahmed Faiz Special issue of Pakistaniaat has now been published and is available on our website. Two Faizpicyears in the making, this wonderfully comprehensive issue on one of the greatest poets of Pakistan was edited by Dr. Amina Yaqin.

More about Dr. Amina Yaqin, Special Issue Editor

SOAS, University of London
United Kingdom

Amina Yaqin is Senior Lecturer in Postcolonial Studies and Urdu and Chair of the Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS. She has recently co-edited a book on Culture, Diaspora and Modernity in Muslim Writing (Routledge, 2012), and is the co-author (with Peter Morey) of Framing Muslims: stereotyping and representation after 9/11 (Harvard University Press, 2011). She has written numerous articles on themes of gender, sexuality, Urdu poetry, communal politics and South Asian literature in English. She is currently working on her next book Imagining Pakistan: narratives of nation, culture and gender and a collaborative research initiative on Muslims,Trust and Cultural Dialogue.

I would like to extend my thanks to Dr. Yaqin and the contributors in making this one of the best resources on Faiz.

Please visit our website and do take a look at the Table of Contents.

 

FaizTOC