The next SLSA conference will be held at the Sheraton Dallas, North Olive Street, Dallas, Texas, from November 7 through November 10, 2024. Rajani Sudan is the organizer, and her institution Southern Methodist University will sponsor the meeting. Additional support will come from the Bass School for Arts, Humanities, and Technology and the University of Texas-Dallas. SLSA members may propose presentations, roundtables, and exhibits related to climate, including issues pertinent to diasporas, by June 15, 2024 (extended deadline), to this Easy Chair site: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=slsa2024
This conference seeks contributions that think through the co-constitution of climates and diasporas. Today more than ever, these are mutually informed concepts. They are also plural, with ‘climate’ describing everything from political moods to affective exchanges to habitats to global temperatures. Likewise, “diaspora” indicates not just migrations and movements of people but dispersions more broadly including those of other animals, plants, germs, ideas, ideologies, cultures, and concepts.
Perhaps our most pressing understanding of climate relates to issues of global temperature, the rise of which is no longer debated. Fires, floods, famines, drastic temperature changes, and rising seas, to name but a few natural “disasters,” all attest to the fact that the world as we have known it is no longer the case; however, that does not mean the narratives or knowledge of climate change have stabilized. The ways in which the Global North and the Global South experience temperature fluctuations and environmental shifts differ quite radically. This conference will consider issues of climate change, not as a universally experienced singularity, but, rather, as a global phenomenon that is ideologically structured. If we take diasporas to mean dispersions, the migrations and movements of people, other animals, plants, germs, ideas, ideologies, cultures, and concepts, then the varied responses to climate change also undermine and threaten hegemonic ideologies that have historically structured climate.
We welcome papers that address these differences as well as proposals (presentations, panels, roundtables) on other SLSA-related topics. Possible topics include but are not limited to:
Indigeneity Environmental Humanities Accommodations
Race Blue Humanities Confusions
Class Capitalism Breaks and Breakdowns
Gender “Natural Disasters” Chaos
Cultural Difference Collisions and Collusions Sustainability
Climate Conflicts
Panel rules: 3-5 panelists, 250-word panel abstract and 250-word presentation abstracts. Typically, a panelist is the moderator, and any respondents are considered panelists. SLSA asks all presenters and panels to reserve significant time for Q&A.
One submission: In general, SLSA prefers one submission per individual, but, if there will be more than one submission, provide a note to the conference organizers about the submissions and which, if you need to pick one, you would like to see in the program. If one is a panel and the other an individual presentation, the committee will keep the panel whole if it is accepted.
Roundtables are possible -Submit an overview of the roundtable including topic and names and emails of presenters. Workshops are less likely, but you can also provide a proposal and rationale. All sessions will be the same length (90 minutes).
All conference presenters and essay award recipients must be SLSA members; to join or renew membership: https://litsciarts.org/join-renew-membership/
Contact email for conference inquiries: slsa24@litsciarts.org
Conference Website: https://litsciarts.org/slsa24
Conference Registration: https://slsa.press.jhu.edu/membership/conference
Proposal Submission: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=slsa2024
Program Committee: Rajani Sudan (conference organizer), Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal, Elizabeth Donaldson, Raymond Malewitz, and Alan Rauch
Conference Location: The 2024 meeting of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts will be held at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, 400 N. Olive St., Dallas. Attendees are asked to reserve their stay at the Sheraton hotel and to use the link below or to book through the central reservation office. By staying at the Sheraton, you will help reduce the conference costs for the society. Attendee Block: Please use the reservations link, or book through the central reservation’s office at 1-888-627-8191 and reference SLSA 2024.
Reservations Link: https://book.passkey.com/go/SLSAAnnualMeeting
SLSA 2024 Travel Awards: SLSA provides a limited number of travel awards for underfunded individuals attending the annual conference. Members of SLSA who present at the annual conference may apply for travel subventions by emailing their name, title of their SLSA presentation, and an indication of how long one has been a member of SLSA to the executive director carol.colatrella@lmc.gatech.edu by August 1. Please provide estimated travel expenses and the amount of support anticipated from other sources. If you have received travel support from SLSA in the past, please include information about that support (when and how much). SLSA officers will review applications and approve funds for as many as our budget permits; preference will be given to students and those most in need. Each person awarded funds will be presented with a US check at the conference business meeting. SLSA funds may defray hotel, registration, transportation, or other travel expenses.
SLSA NSF Travel Grants: SLSA members who are US citizens or students enrolled in US institutions may also apply for NSF funds. See more details posted https://litsciarts.org/awards/These funds may be used to defray registration or certain transportation expenses.
The Bruns Essay Prize: The Bruns Graduate Essay Prize, in honor of Edward F. Bruns, is awarded annually to the best essay written by a graduate student member of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts. Graduate students wishing to have their essays considered for the $500 prize should submit them by August 1 to N. Katherine Hayles, Department of English, Duke University, via electronic mail to katherine.hayles@duke.edu. Please send a copy of your formatted essay as a PDF or Word file or send a pointer to a URL where the essay is posted.
The Schachterle Essay Prize: Lance Schachterle, founding president of the society, has established an annual prize of $250 in honor of his parents to recognize the best new essay on literature and science written in English by a nontenured scholar. Eligible authors wishing to submit essays (published or accepted for publication) should send them prior to August 1 to SLSA’s Executive Director, Carol Colatrella, LMC, Georgia Institute of Technology via electronic mail to carol.colatrella@lmc.gatech.edu. Please send a copy of your formatted essay as a PDF or Word file or send a pointer to a URL where the essay is posted.
SLSA Michelle Kendrick Memorial Book Prize: SLSA holds an annual competition for the Michelle Kendrick Memorial Book Prize awarded each year to the best academic book on literature, science, and the arts published by an SLSA member. The prize will be announced at the annual SLSA conference. Established in the fall of 2006 in memory of Michelle Kendrick of Washington State University-Vancouver, an energetic, well-loved scholar of literature and science and longtime member of SLSA, the Kendrick Prize is open to any book of original scholarship on literature, science, and the arts published between July 1 and June 30 for awarding in the following fall. The winner will receive $250.00. To be considered for this year’s Kendrick Prize, please send three copies of your book by June 30 to: Prof. Robert Markley, English Department, 608 South Wright Street, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801
Send donations for the Kendrick Prize (checks made out to SLSA, Kendrick Prize in memo) to:
Carol Colatrella, SLSA Executive Director, LMC, Georgia Tech, 686 Cherry Street, Atlanta, GA 30332-0165
Note: All awards described above are presented during the Business Meeting of the annual fall conference. One may submit only one entry to one of the two essay prize competitions.
SLSA Lifetime Achievement Award: The Lifetime Achievement Awards Committee calls for nominations for the 2024 recipient of the SLSA Lifetime Achievement Award. Consider nominating those whose significant, interdisciplinary scholarship or artwork is exemplary of SLSA. If you would like to nominate a scholar or artist for this award, please write a one-page (about 250-word) nomination statement outlining the person’s contributions to our field studying the resonances of literature, science, and art. Nominations of scholars or artists from diverse,underrepresented, or nontraditional groups are strongly encouraged. Nominations of individuals to be considered for the Lifetime Achievement Award should be sent to committee chair Dennis Summers (dennis@quantumdanceworks.com) and to members Laura Otis (lotis@emory.edu) and Elizabeth Donaldson (elizabeth.donaldson@asu.edu).
