“American Carnage”
Canadian Association for American Studies
October 23-25, 2026
In person at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
In his 2017 inauguration speech, Donald Trump “coined the sinister phrase ‘American carnage’ to vividly conjure an image of inner cities he said were affected by crime, a political elite that had forgotten ordinary people, and a landscape of rusted factories like tombstones” (Pilkington, “American carnage,” The Guardian, 21 Jan 2017).
This conference takes its title from the multiple resonances of the term, “American carnage” and what it means literally and figuratively. Please note: CAAS is open to any and all papers on American Studies, not limited to the specific topic of each year’s conference, but we particularly invite papers that address this broad topic in the United States from different disciplinary approaches and over all time periods.
Please email 250-word proposals and brief bios by April 15, 2025 to caasconference26(at)gmail.com and please include the subject line: CAAS 2026 CFP Submission.