Representing Segregation. Is there an identifiable literary tradition responding to, representing, or protesting US racial segregation? Examination of individual works, authors, genres, or movements welcome for a special issue of African American Review slated for early 2008. Inquiries first to: Brian Norman (normbria@isu.edu) and Piper Kendrix Williams (williamp@tcnj.edu). Inquiries by December 15, 2006; completed papers are due by May 1, 2007. More information, including a link to the special issue website at http://aar.slu.edu/.

Medium Call For Papers

Representing Segregation: A special issue of African American Review

 African American Review is soliciting papers for a special issue on Representing Segregation slated for publication in early 2008. Is there an identifiable literary tradition responding to, representing, or protesting US racial segregation? Examination of individual works, authors, genres, or movements are welcome.

Segregation—as an historical condition, a political ideology, a municipal planning scheme, and a de facto social system—profoundly shaped the lives of African Americans and other groups in the first half of the twentieth century, at least. Whether protesting, rejecting, refusing, or reaffirming segregation, numerous writers have necessarily responded to the history and experience of racial division in their literary projects. The past two decades of African American literary studies have evidenced great interest in the tropes, narratives, and legacies of slavery, migration, and diaspora within the literary imagination. In addition, in recent years scholars have studied specific practices of segregation in literature, most notably lynching. A broad inquiry into literatures of segregation is necessary to account for the literary legacy associated with practices of US racial segregation.

Send inquiries or proposals to Brian Norman (normbria@isu.edu) and Piper Kendrix Williams (williamp@tcnj.edu). Inquiries by December 15, 2006; completed papers are due by May 1, 2007. More information, including a link to the special issue website at http://aar.slu.edu/.

Long Call For Papers

Representing Segregation: A special issue of African American Review

African American Review is soliciting papers for a special issue on Representing Segregation slated for publication in early 2008. Is there an identifiable literary tradition responding to, representing, or protesting US racial segregation? Examination of individual works, authors, genres, or movements are welcome.  

Segregation—as an historical condition, a political ideology, a municipal planning scheme, and a de facto social system—profoundly shaped the lives of African Americans and other groups in the first half of the twentieth century, at least. Whether protesting, rejecting, refusing, or reaffirming segregation, numerous writers have necessarily responded to the history and experience of racial division in their literary projects. The past two decades of African American literary studies have evidenced great interest in the tropes, narratives, and legacies of slavery, migration, and diaspora within the literary imagination. In addition, in recent years scholars have studied specific practices of segregation in literature, most notably lynching. A broad inquiry into literatures of segregation is necessary to account for the literary legacy associated with practices of US racial segregation.

Possible questions individual articles might ask include, but are not limited to: