Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 15:16:20 -0600 (CST)
From: Louis F Caton <catonlf-AT-mail.auburn.edu>
Subject: PLC: CFP: Group and Individual Identities in Contemporary American Novels (3/10; MLA '00) 



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GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL IDENTITIES: THE ETHNIC AND PERSONAL AUTHENTICITY
	OF THE HERO/HEROINE IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN NOVELS


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Abstracts (1-2 pages) and brief vitae sought for a Special Session of
Modern Language Association's (MLA) annual Convention:
		
		December 27-31 2000 in Washington D.C.

		Submission deadline: March 10, 2000

This panel analyzes what happens when a character's group-claims of ethnic
identity intersect with his/her individual claims of identity.  Group
claims of identity are social inventions that, nonetheless, feel
totally legitimate to many heros and heroines.  But in terms of a holistic
understanding of authenticity, membership in an ethnic category can only 
serve as an incomplete, cultural not essential, recognition of
self-authenticity. That limited understanding may be a healthy. The
constructed nature of group identity keeps it from becoming rigid and
essentialized.  

And yet, many heros/heroines authenticate their lives by
declaring a separation from their ethnic roots.  Lead characters in
American contemporary novels frequently define authenticity in opposition 
to any "herd" mentality.  Can personal notions of selfhood exist
harmoniously with group claims?  In what important ways do they resist
each other?      

The interplay between group acknowledgements of identity and personal
notions of authenticity continues to be an actively debated and
controversial issue in American universities.  Many current critics
disparage the traditional, consensus-based definition of the American
national identity.  Voices calling for diversity in how we understand
authenticity may not desire to dismantle wholesale the notion of a unified
cultural identity as much as redefine how such a common culture should be
articulated and for what purpose.  Some would argue that only membership
in a certain group can justify a particular form of authenticity.  Can a
character resist that identity and still be true to herself and her
heritage?

A few possibilities include (but are not limited to):

the role of American democracy in relation to group identity
gender/sexuality/ethnicity and existential authenticity
cultural relativism and authentic subject agency
social equity and the politics of group claims
individual claims of personal significance and group identity
Nietzche's notions of the "herd" and ethnic solidarity
group claims of truth and constructions of ethnicity
Sartre's "bad faith" and meta-narratives for ethnic groups


Send brief vitae and abstracts		Lou Caton
for 15 minute papers to:		English Department
					Auburn University
					9030 Haley Center
					Auburn, AL 36849-5203

					Deadline: March 10, 2000 
			
Hard Copy submissions only 		phone: (334) 844-9002
Conventional Mail or FAX		FAX: (334) 844-9027

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                      CFP-AT-english.upenn.edu
                       Full Information at
                http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
          or write Erika Lin: elin-AT-english.upenn.edu
         ==============================================


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