Call for Submissions

Call for Submissions: 56^th Annual American Studies of Texas Conference

Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, is hosting this year’s American Studies of Texas’s annual conference, being held on November 15-17, 2012.

As a conference theme, ASAT looks to local writer Larry McMurtry--born in Wichita Falls and raised in rural Archer County--for inspiration. Early in his career, McMurtry (in)famously sported a t-shirt that read “Minor Regional Novelist.” In retrospect, what are we to make of McMurtry’s joke? Surely, McMurtry’s Academy Award and Pulitzer Prize, at the very least, invalidates his “minor”-ness. But what of his regionalist viewpoint, an idea that McMurtry’s shirt seemingly criticizes?

Have attitudes regarding how regionalism changed in the last few decades, particularly considering today’s “flatter” world and its incessant interconnectedness? In other words, is an author’s (or scholar’s or artist’s) keen sense of place a characteristic of provincialism, or, rather, is a regionalist’s perspective more often a source of insight, if not profundity?

While our conference welcomes proposals on or related to the topic above, we are also aware of the broad umbrella of American Studies. Therefore, in the spirit of inclusiveness, as we have in past conferences, ASAT not only expects, but also welcomes papers unrelated to our conference theme.

NOTICE: The proposal deadline has been extended.

Paper proposals should be emailed in a Word attachment to asat@mwsu.edu by November 5, 2012. These abstracts should be approximately 250 words and be accompanied by a CV or short biography.

ASAT prides itself on being a “grad student friendly” organization. And in keeping with a recent policy, we will provide a $50 expense stipend to those presenters who travel more than 75 miles. (If your proposal is accepted, you will receive a stipend form to fill out, and then you will get reimbursed following your presentation.)

Texas Singer-Songwriters: A Discussion

November 15, 2012, 7:00 pm.

Midwestern State University’s Museum of Art

The American Studies Association of Texas, along with MSU’s Speakers and Issues Series, presents a panel discussion of Texas singer-songwriters, focusing on their aesthetic and economic importance to our state’s culture.

Panel:

Jan Reid, author of The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock, a seminal work that chronicled the early days of the Austin music scene.

Abby Abernathy, founder of Yahoo Productions and originator of Archer City’s Late Week Lazy Boy Supper Club, a songwriter circle that featured many of today’s best Texas singer-songwriters.

Kathleen Hudson, professor of English at Schreiner University and author of Women in Texas Music: Stories and Songs and Telling Stories, Writing Songs: An Album of Texas Songwriters.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore, lead singer of The Flatlanders, the legendary Lubbock-based band. Gilmore also has recorded nearly a dozen solo albums including Heirloom Music (2011), Come On Back (2005), and Spinning Around the Sun (1993). On Friday evening at 7:00, Gilmore will perform a solo set of his songs, also at the museum.

Greg Giddings, assistant professor of English at MSU and current vice-president of ASAT will moderate the discussion.