Delta Symposium XXVII: Commemoration and Reunion in the South
Call for Papers
The Department of English, Philosophy, and World Languages at Arkansas State University opens a call for papers and presentations for the twenty-seventh annual Delta Symposium April 13-16, 2022. The Delta Symposium features a wide variety of scholarship and creative work that focuses on the Delta’s history and culture. Individual and panel presentations on topics relevant to the history and culture of the Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas and surrounding regions are welcome. Although the event will be held in-person at the university, there will also be options for on-line presentations for those who cannot attend in person.
Special consideration will be given to proposals that specifically address this year’s theme of “Commemoration and Reunion in the South.” This theme will allow presenters to reflect on how history and culture is commemorated in literature, history, music, architecture, arts, and other forms of expression that are connected to the region. Presenters may wish to explore commemoration in direct relation to reunions, or they may wish to focus on other expressions of commemoration. They may also focus specifically on reunions, themselves. The committee is defining reunions broadly as these events may include commemorations of regional history as well as smaller scale family and community-based reunions. This year’s Delta Symposium will provide opportunities to reflect on ways that commemoration is expressed through intangible and symbolic expressions as well as in tangible expressions of culture, such as photographs, illustrations, murals, museums, and monuments.
The Delta Symposium presents work from multidisciplinary approaches including literary criticism, cultural studies, history, anthropology, folklore, ethnomusicology, sociology, speech communication, arts and art history, and heritage studies. Although proposals that have direct connections to Arkansas and the Delta are especially welcome, more general proposals that address the theme within Southern history, culture, and heritage will be considered. The 2022 event will conclude on Saturday with the Arkansas Roots Music Festival through continued support from KASU 91.9 FM.
The deadline for entries is December 17, 2021. Each entry should consist of the following: Presenter’s name and affiliation and a 150-word abstract of the presentation as well as a current Vita (2 pages max). Please include your address, phone number, e-mail address, and the technical needs for your presentation.
Delta Symposium Committee
c/o Dr. Gregory Hansen and Dr. Khem Aryal, Co-Chairs
Arkansas State University
Dept. of English, Philosophy, and World Languages
P.O. Box 1890
State University, AR 72467
ghansen@Astate.edu
Phone: 870-972-3043
Fax: 870-972-3045
Visit us on the web at AState.edu/delta-symposium