CFP 61st Annual Comparative Literature Conference

Activism, Art, and Artistry: The Making of a Better World

The 61st annual Comparative Literature Conference, to be held in Spring 2027, builds on the previous year’s theme of “Legacies” to consider the work of Dr. Harry Lawson “Peter” Carr (1925-1981), one of the founding members of the department (1959-1981). Dr. Carr was an artist, activist, poet, folklorist, and scholar of Indian literature. His visual and literary work abounds in the early issues of the Comparative World Literature and Classics journal Genre. Dr. Carr was also an early organizer of the departmental conference: it was under his aegis that renowned folklore scholar Joseph Campbell spoke on our campus three times. In addition to his work on campus, Peter Carr was a peace and anti-war activist in the 60s, and he co-founded the anti-nuclear grassroots collective, Alliance for Survival. At CSULB, the former Peace Studies Center was named in honor of him. After his death, our 1981 departmental conference honored his work with the theme of “Visions of Peace.” Allen Ginsburg and Gary Snyder were the keynote speakers. Dr. Carr’s outlook, research, and legacy are remarkable and long-lasting; his paintings continue to be shown in galleries to this day. 

Expanding on and continuing Dr. Carr’s artistic, pedagogical, and activist legacies, we organize our upcoming annual gathering with the goal of imagining a better world in mind, while honoring histories and centering community. Amidst ongoing local and global catastrophes and crises, these conversations are vital and necessary. 

We are thrilled to welcome as our keynote speaker Andrew Tonkovich, a student of Dr. Carr who has been inspired by him to a lifetime of activism, art, and literature, and who curates the Carr archives. 

We invite proposals addressing the transformative power of activism, especially activism that is enhanced by literature and the arts, that integrates anti- and post-colonial frameworks, that supports feminist and queer approaches, and that is attentive to environmental rights and disability justice. We welcome proposals that relate to any aspect of activism, including but not limited to: 

Art, music, film, etc. 

                  The power of the image

                  Music as activism and resistance: e.g., punk, hip-hop, blues, jazz, etc.

                  Comics as activist texts: e.g, memoirs, anthologies, political cartoons

                  Performance as activism

                  Material cultures: zines, DIY making, fashion, etc.

Poetry and literature

                  Literature as subversive texts

                  Activist genre fiction: e.g., anarchic, dystopian, young adult (YA) literature

                  Representations of activism: e.g., literary hero/ines, historical periods, etc.

Digital activism

                  Social media as resistance

                  Influencer culture

                  Alternatives to hyperscale developments of AI 

Activism through the ages

                  The making of an activist: from ideology to action

                  Collective / grassroots activism

                  Youth activism 

                  The cost or challenges of activism

Activist pedagogies

                  Teaching as activism (e.g., critical pedagogies and curricula, student-centered pedagogies, etc.) 

                  Beyond the university: teach-ins, community collaborations, collective action, etc.

Subverting activism: how groups have promoted counternarratives through image or text

                  Suppression of protestors

                  Surveillance

                  Government interventions

                  Moles

The future of activism

 

Submissions for individual presentations and 75-minute sessions are welcome from all disciplines. We welcome proposals from faculty, students, staff, independent scholars, librarians and archivists, and activists. In the spirit of celebrating human scholarly and artistic creativity, we have a zero-AI policy for this conference: no AI use for research, writing, or creating presentation slides. 

Proposals for 12-15 minute presentations should clearly explain the relationship of the paper to the conference theme, describe the evidence to be examined, and offer tentative conclusions. Abstracts of no more than 300 words (not including optional bibliography) should be submitted by March 1, 2027. Please submit abstracts as a Word document in an email attachment to comparativeworldliterature@gmail.com

NB: Please do not embed proposals in the text of the email. 

While the conference will be hybrid and available through Zoom, all presentations will be in-person.

The conference committee will review all proposals, with accepted papers receiving notification by March 15, 2027.