Southern Studies Conference 2020
CFP: Southern Studies Conference, Auburn University at Montgomery, AL
January 31-February 1, 2020
Now in its twelfth year, the Southern Studies Conference, hosted by Auburn University at Montgomery,
explores themes related to the American South across a wide array of disciplines and methodologies.
Registrants to the two-day conference enjoy a variety of peer-reviewed panels, two distinguished keynote
speakers, and a lecture and exhibition by a visiting artist. This coming year, the Conference includes an
opening reception the evening of January 30th, a professional session oriented towards graduate student
attendees, a graduate student poster session competition, and a voluntary Montgomery-based cultural outing
on the afternoon of Saturday, February 1st.
The 2020 Southern Studies Conference keynote speakers and visiting artist are distinguished Southern
historian Dan T. Carter, who will reflect upon the future of Southern Studies as a discipline; Jodi Skipper,
Associate Professor of Anthropology & Southern Studies at University of Mississippi; and photographer
Johanna Warwick, whose exhibition “The Bottom” engages with issues of race, class, urban planning, and
the built environment in Baton Rouge, LA.
The 2020 Conference Committee invites proposals for pre-formed 90-minute panels or individual twentyminute
academic papers or creative presentations on any aspect of Southern Studies (broadly defined),
including those relating to the fields of anthropology, geography, art history, history, literature, theater,
music, communications, political science, economics, and sociology. Disciplinary and interdisciplinary
approaches to this theme are welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
--Southern Economies
--Southern food studies
--Pedagogy and the teaching of Southern topics
--Canonicity and the South
--Slavery and the American South
--Civil War narratives
--Southern archives, museums, and collections
--Civil Rights narratives
--Southern Geographies
--Explorations of race and conflict in the South
--Religion in the South
--Southern literature
--History of science or medicine in the South
--Southern arts (in any medium or genre)
--Southern architecture
--Explorations of the Southern worker
--Southern politics
--Anthropological studies of the South
--Sociological studies of the South
--Southern music
--Cross-cultural exchanges between the South and
other geographic areas
--Native American topics of the South
--Stories of immigration/migration and bordercrossings
--Contemporary re/mis-conceptions of "The South"
--Presentations by artists/performers/writers working
in the South/making work about the South
Proposals can be emailed to southernstudies@aum.edu. Please submit a 250-word abstract and a 2-page cv
for an individual twenty-minute academic paper or creative presentation proposal. Pre-formed 90-minute
panel applications should include a 250-word description of the panel, list of speakers and chair/respondent,
if applicable, and individual 2-page cvs for each participant.
The deadline for submission is Monday, October 21, 2019. Please note that submission of a proposal
constitutes a commitment to attend, if accepted. Presenters will be notified of acceptance by November 2019.
For more information, visit the conference website, or contact Naomi Slipp, Conference Director and
Assistant Professor of Art History, Auburn University at Montgomery: nslipp@aum.edu.
Conference Director Naomi Slipp, Assistant Professor of Art History, nslipp@aum.edu
or
Ben Severance, Professor of History, bseveran@aum.edu