Call For Papers Area: Car Culture and the Road Southwest/Texas Popular and AmericanCulture Association 33rd AnnualConference February 8-11, 2012 Albuquerque, New Mexico http://www.swtxpca.org Conference Hotel: Hyatt Regency Hotel & ConferenceCenter, downtown Albuquerque Conference Theme: “Celebrating“Foods & Culture(s) in a Global Context Callfor Papers Deadline: December 1, 2011 RegistrationDeadline for Presenters: December 31, 2011 Car Culture and the Road is a growing area ofcultural significance in our rapidly transforming global world. Both the car and the road conjure up ideasabout freedom, mobility, geography, consumption, and the triumph of technologyover nature. Images of car cultureand/or the road evoke a powerful and potentially tense inquiry into the role ofthe car and the road in terms of nostalgia for an idyllic, and perhaps lostpastime, as well as a renewed excitement about the future of motorizedtransport (cars, motorcycles, scooters, etc.). In either case, we find both the car and the road as prominent figures inthe 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, interdisciplinaryinvestigations of the increasingly popular narratives of autonomy (perhaps evenrebellion) and mobility. Our goal is toleave the conference with a broader understanding of the past, current, andfuture potentialities of car culture(s) and the road, emerging pedagogy in thisarea, new methodologies for studying car culture and the road, as well as theimpact of digital tools on both. SWTXwelcomes 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 by12/1/11, submitted to the SWTXPCA database (http://conference2012.swtxpca.org) Stacy Rusnak Area Chair, Car Culture and the Road [log in to unmask] http://www.swtxpca.org ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html