Austria’s Young Americanists (AYA) cordially invites emerging scholars in the field of American Studies to participate in a colloquium immediately prior to the 48th annual AAAS conference Digital Americas. This event will take place online on October 20, 2021. The colloquium will provide an informal setting in which scholars in American Studies will introduce and discuss their research projects. The goal of this event is, on the one hand, to showcase the work by young Americanists working in different fields; and on the other, to provide emerging scholars the opportunity to share their work-in-progress, receive feedback, build valuable networks with other scholars in their field, and to provide mutual support during these pandemic times, which have exacerbated the challenges and precarity faced by emerging scholars.
In addition to the individual presentations, the colloquium will include a virtual round table discussion with established Americanists to reflect on the current challenges in the field. We particularly invite advanced master’s students and doctoral students to this colloquium; however, everybody is welcome. Please send abstracts of 150-200 words and a bio of no more than 100 words to dagmar.wallenstorfer(at)uni-graz.at by July 1, 2021. Since the colloquium will emphasize dialog and interaction, we will ask participants to submit their proposals/chapters by October 3, 2021. These texts will then be circulated among the participants. At the colloquium, participants will have around 10 minutes to frame their manuscripts to allow for plenty of discussion time.