Grad Student Conference

ANNUAL CONNECTIONS CONFERENCE:

Multicultural Connections


CALL FOR PAPERS

When: April 13 and 14, 2023
Where: Zoom video conference
Submission Deadline: April 2, 2023
Notification: April 5, 2023

The Graduate Student Council of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta invites submissions for its annual Connections conference: Multicultural Connections. After the great success of the two previous online conferences, this year’s conference will also be held virtually on April 13 and 14, 2023. It will feature two days of academic panels and an evening showcase of art and creativity. Since the conference is organized by a Canadian university, we encourage submissions focusing on, but not limited to, multicultural connections within the Canadian context. We will be accepting academic and creative contributions that explore, from a critical perspective, multicultural connections found in communities, disciplines, cultures, languages and artistic works. The goal of the conference is to question, challenge, and interpret their significance. We await submissions from various disciplines across the Social Sciences and Humanities, including but not limited to fields such as Literary Studies, Applied Linguistics, Translation, and Cultural Studies. The Graduate Student Council welcomes everyone working in these fields and strongly encourages submissions from new graduate students.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

Academic Contributions:
  • Communication
  • Connection through translation
  • Literary connections
  • Creative nonfiction
  • Politicization of aesthetics
  • Visual culture
  • Digital worlds
Artistic Contributions:
  • Poetry reading
  • Performance art
  • Comics
  • Storytelling
  • Visual Arts
  • Multimedia
  • Singer/Songwriting

Academic presentations will be 15 minutes in length, followed by a 5-minute discussion period. Panels will run for 60 minutes. Artistic contributions can be submitted individually or in addition to academic papers, and will be showcased during our Creative Night.

Submissions:

Academic Contributions:
  • 250-word abstract
  • 150-word bio
Artistic Contributions:
  • example of creative work (e.g. a photo or excerpt)
  • 150-word bio

Please submit your proposal via this form by April 2, 2023. Notifications will be sent by April 5, 2022. Acceptance will be based on content quality, originality, and academic significance.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact modlang@ualberta.ca or the organizer Dominika Tabor at tabor@ualberta.ca. To learn more about our previous conferences visit this page.

The Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta aims to foster a community in which diversity is integral and people from all different backgrounds are acknowledged and respected. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment that welcomes diversity in as many aspects as possible, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, socioeconomic status, class, and religion. We also acknowledge that the land on which we gather is Treaty 6 territory and a traditional meeting ground and home for many Indigenous Peoples, including Cree, Saulteaux, Blackfoot, Métis, and Nakota Sioux.

We strive to ensure that current students, faculty members and staff from different backgrounds and with diverse perspectives are well-served in the department. We encourage, in our community, the free exchange of ideas that contribute to understanding diversity and raising multicultural awareness. We also welcome prospective students and staff members, other institutions and organizations to join us in our mission. Together, we are working to advance the course of equity and freedom, as well as multilingual and multicultural education within our department.

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