Greetings all,

This is a forward from a colleague. Best,
Harper Cossar, PhD

 *Call For Papers*

*Area: Car Culture and the Road*

Southwest/Texas Popular and American Culture Association 33rd Annual* *
Conference**



February 8-11, 2012

Albuquerque, New Mexico

http://www.swtxpca.org



Conference Hotel:

Hyatt Regency Hotel & Conference Center, downtown Albuquerque



Conference Theme: “Celebrating “Foods & Culture(s) in a Global Context

 *Call for Papers Deadline:  December 1, 2011*

*Registration Deadline for Presenters: December 31, 2011*

* *

Car Culture and the Road is a growing area of cultural significance in our
rapidly transforming global world.  Both the car and the road conjure up
ideas about freedom, mobility, geography, consumption, and the triumph of
technology over nature.  Images of car culture and/or the road evoke a
powerful and potentially tense inquiry into the role of the car and the road
in terms of nostalgia for an idyllic, and perhaps lost pastime, as well as a
renewed excitement about the future of motorized transport (cars,
motorcycles, scooters, etc.).   In either case, we find both the car and the
road as prominent figures in the construction of identity formation in a
variety of media formats (film, TV, videogames, graphic novels, fiction).  Join
us just steps away from Route 66 for engaging, interdisciplinary
investigations of the increasingly popular narratives of autonomy (perhaps
even rebellion) and mobility.   Our goal is to leave the conference with a
broader understanding of the past, current, and future potentialities of car
culture(s) and the road, emerging pedagogy in this area, new methodologies
for studying car culture and the road, as well as the impact of digital
tools on both.  SWTX welcomes scholars at all levels.   Graduate students
are encouraged to submit proposals.  Topics might include, but are not
limited to:

·      road movies, videogames, graphic novels, fiction

·      lowriders, hot rods, custom cars and racial or ethnic identity

·      car or biker clubs

·      car shows

·      histories of roads, routes, highways, traffic

·      GPS, Google Maps, automobility

·      Route 66 and roadside architecture

·      Nation and/ or citizenship, region, locality

·      advertising, symbols, propaganda

·      borders, real and imagined

·      remapping the road in post-apocalyptic landscapes / “The road to
nowhere”

·      environment, “Going Green”

·      urbanization, globalization



Paper or panel proposals are due by 12/1/11, submitted to the SWTXPCA
database (http://conference2012.swtxpca.org)



Stacy Rusnak

Area Chair, Car Culture and the Road

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http://www.swtxpca.org

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