Call for Session Proposals

The deadline for proposals is March 31, 2006.

The Society of Early Americanists and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture are holding a joint conference, SEA's fifth biennial and the Institute's thirteenth annual, on June 7-10, 2007, in Williamsburg, Virginia. (See Conference.)This interdisciplinary conference will take place on the campus of the College of William and Mary. We are taking the opportunity of the four hundredth anniversary of Jamestown's settlement and the resulting intersections of cultures and peoples to create an ecumenical venue for cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration.

The program committee, co-chaired by Dennis Moore and Fredrika J. Teute, solicits session proposals broadly conceived to facilitate this goal. Meetings of both organizations are intended to reflect the broad interests and diverse membership of scholars engaged in the study of early America and are especially open to graduate students and faculty in the early stages of their careers.

Indeed, the two organizations share a number of members in common. The Society of Early Americanists was formed by a group of literary scholars in the first part of the 1990s as an organization for early Americanists from all fields. Its purpose is to further the exchange of ideas and information among scholars of various disciplines who study the literature and culture of America to approximately 1800. The Institute encourages the study of the early history and cultures of North America from ca. 1450 to 1820, including related developments in the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, and Africa -- in short, any subject encompassing the Atlantic world in that period. For more information, see http://societyofearlyamericanists.org and http://www.wm.edu/oieahc/

The program committee invites proposals for panels on any early American topic, and we look for innovative approaches and themes; multiple disciplinary participation; comparisons among different European, indigenous, and African cultures, literatures, and peoples; considerations of imperial, colonial, and transnational historical formations and cultural identities. Although the program committee will consider proposals for sessions fully formed, we especially encourage open session proposals that follow the SEA model: Individuals submit conceptual rationales (themes or theoretical problems) for panels for which presenters have not yet been selected.

In June 2006, the open panels selected by the committee will be posted on both the OIEAHC's and SEA's websites, along with a call for papers to fill those sessions, which will also be disseminated on the organizations' respective listservs. Potential paper presenters will submit their proposals to specific panel organizers, who will be responsible for filling their sessions. Individuals who wish to propose a paper but do not see an appropriate panel may submit a proposal directly to the program committee. The committee has the prerogative to organize sessions and make changes to the overall configuration of panels.

To enable widespread participation in the conference, we will allow only one substantive appearance by a scholar, either presenting a paper or giving a comment; however, a scholar may, in addition, chair a separate session.

Panel proposals must be submitted by the panel organizer. They should include a brief description of the rationale of no more than 250 words, along with a one-page c.v. for the organizer. If the proposal is for a completed session, please include a summary of each paper and a c.v. for each presenter. All c.v.'s should include mailing and e-mail addresses and telephone numbers.

The deadline for proposals is March 31, 2006.

They will be accepted by e-mail at mcglad@wm.edu. If mailed, they must be postmarked by the deadline and fourteen copies of all materials sent to Mendy Gladden, OIEAHC, P.O. Box 8781, Williamsburg, VA 23187.