[New-Poetry] Call for Papers

[Anny Ballardini]

From: Michael McDonnell [mailto:michael.mcdonnell at usyd.edu.au
<michael.mcdonnell at usyd.edu.au>]
>Sent: Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:58 AM


The Revolution in American Life: Memory, History, and Nation-Making in the
United States from 1776 to Today

Call for Papers for an Edited Collection

Edited by:
Robert Aldrich, University of Sydney
W. Fitzhugh Brundage, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Clare Corbould, University of Sydney
Michael A. McDonnell, University of Sydney

In his much-anticipated inaugural address in January 2009, President Barack
H. Obama invoked the country¹s founding moment ­ the American Revolution -
no fewer than four separate times in charting a proposed path through the
difficult years to come. Significantly, in conjuring a memory of the
Revolution to legitimate his agenda, Obama followed in the footsteps of his
predecessor. In January 2005, George W. Bush invoked the American Revolution
in an effort to shore up support for the so-called War on Terror. Bush
referred several times to the ideals of the ³founding moment,² and spoke of
the founders¹ hope for Œfreedom¹ that it was now America¹s duty to spread
back around the globe. Like Obama, he ended with a history lesson. When the
Liberty Bell rang at the reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776,
Bush said a witness noted that ³it rang as if it meant something.² He
paused. ³In our time,² Bush intoned, ³it means something still.²

Obama and Bush knew what buttons to push. Presidents, of course, try to
manipulate the emotions of their listeners by appealing to what they imagine
those in their audience find compelling. And surveys consistently reveal
that if most Americans remember anything about their past, it is ³something²
about the American Revolution. Defined roughly as the period between 1763
and 1800, the era of the American Revolution has come to provide a rich seam
of memorable events that can be mined to invoke, impart, and inspire.
Whether it be iconic images of the Boston Tea Party or the signing of the
Declaration of Independence, or inspiring stories such as Paul Revere¹s
Ride, the American victory at Yorktown, or Washington¹s tearful Farewell
Address, or knowledge of the ³sacred² texts that lie enshrined under
bomb-proof glass in a vault at the National Archives ­ the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights - most Americans
today do indeed seem to remember something about their Revolution.

The American Revolution, then, is today arguably the central event in
American history and is ineradicably tied to the nation¹s sense of identity
and purpose. It is, in effect, at the heart of the nation. But has it always
been this way? Though the current deluge and huge popularity of biographies
of the Founding Fathers would suggest a timeless fascination with the
American Revolution, we would like to historicise this apparent obsession
with the founding moment and think about the multiple ways in
which the American Revolution has been remembered, forgotten, and contested
from the Founding Era through to today.

To do this, we¹d like to begin to identify just how, why, and when Americans
- and others - have remembered, invoked, used, and abused the American
Revolution and the Founding era. In doing so, we want to move beyond Michael
Kammen¹s pioneering work on the subject and map out a social, cultural, and
political history of the ways in which diverse groups of Americans have
thought about their Revolutionary past and how this has shaped their nation
and the world in which we now live.

Accordingly, we are looking for expressions of interest from scholars
working in this field for an edited collection (or indeed, a series of
edited collections) on the Revolution in American life from the 1770s
to today. We are also keen to develop links with interested scholars for the
purpose of future collaborations in the form of funded workshops and
Conference panels over the next year or two. As the possible topics below
suggest, we envision this project as an international, interdisciplinary
collaborative endeavour.

If you are interested in contributing, please send a 250-500 word abstract
of your current research topic and an indication of the kind of paper you
might offer to an edited collection, along with a brief vita, to:

Michael.mcdonnell at usyd.edu.au; clare.corbould at usyd.edu.au

The deadline for abstracts is July 4, 2009.

Possible topics might include, but are not limited to, papers that
speak to the following main concerns:

-      the historicisation of memory itself - how have Americans remembered
their past? How have different Americans remembered their past? Do race,
gender, class, religion or regional differences matter? How has this changed
over time? How have these changes affected the way that Americans remember
their founding moment?

-      Individual versus collective memory ­ what is the relationship
between individual and collective memories? At what point do individual
memories become co-opted or replaced by a collective memory? How do
different memories and remembrances of the past combine or conflict to
create a collective memory?

-      The multiplicity of memory ­ what place did/does the American
Revolution have in the minds of Americans at any given moment? What memories
have competed with the Revolution? Does/did the Revolution have a primary
place in the remembering of the past?

-      Representations of the past versus the reception of those
representations ­ how and why have different groups represented the
Revolution? How have they tried to communicate those representations? What
roles have monuments, art, film, the stage or museums played in these
representations? How successful have these different kinds of
representations been? Why do some representations come to dominate?

-      Remembering and forgetting ­ what are the visible signs of
remembrance? What do silences, omissions and gaps in memories tell us about
the place of the Revolution in American memories? How have different groups
remembered an alternative, dissenting past? Have these replaced a memory of
the Revolution?

-      Myth and history and the ³founding moment² ­ to what extent is the
memory of the Revolution dominated by the idea of it being a ³founding
moment²? To what extent is the memory of the Revolution wedded to the
creation of a nation? Has this obscured or enriched our view of the
Revolutionary period as an historical event? Have historians been complicit
in this mythmaking?

-      The American Revolution Abroad - in what ways have other nations or
peoples remembered the Revolution? What role have other nations' founding
memories played in their history? What role have the memories of other
nations played in American memories of the past?



-- 
Anny Ballardini
http://annyballardini.blogspot.com/
http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=poetshome
http://www.lulu.com/content/5806078
http://www.moriapoetry.com/ebooks.html
I Tell You: One must still have chaos in one to give birth to a dancing
star!
Friedrich Nietzsche
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