Modernist Studies Association Conference 2013

Conference overview
Modernism radically breaks from the ordinary and the received, staking its claims on making it new. But how might modernism also engage with the ordinary, the quotidian, the mundane or the banal? What kinds of events are precipitated by this conjunction? "Everydayness and the Event" encourages the exploration of philosophical subjects such as time, space and subjectivity; political questions about private versus public; psychoanalytic issues such as emotion and habit; and aesthetic questions of ordinariness (diary-writing, reportage, lists) and novelty (performance, intervention, the newsworthy).Topics of growing significance in modernist studies, the everyday and the event might be considered together or separately to include, for example, domesticity, objects, food, fashion, waste, public engagement, responses to events of local, national and international significance, the traumatic event and modernism as itself a happening.

The University of Sussex is home to the Mass Observation archive (www.massobs.org.uk/ index.htm), a record of the behaviours and habits of everyday British people from 1937 to the present, while London and the area around Sussex were the sites of iconic modernist happenings such as the performance of Futurist music at the London Coliseum in 1914, the Dreadnought Hoax perpetrated by members of the Bloomsbury Group in 1910, and the ongoing "event" of the personal and artistic entanglements at Charleston, the Sussex home of the Bloomsbury set. During the conference, delegates will have the opportunity to join organized tours to Charleston and Monk's House, the countryside home of the Woolfs, as well as Farley Farm House, home of the photographer Lee Miller and a centre of British surrealism. Delegates will also be able to attend a poetry "event" organized in collaboration with the Archive of the Now (www.archiveofthenow.org/). We hope the conference location will encourage reflection on the theme of "Everydayness and the Event" as well as self- reflection on the part of the participants on public readings and conferences such as the MSA as the spaces in which modernism happens.

The conference will include a keynote panel featuring Gillian Beer (Cambridge), Rachel Bowlby (UCL) Ben Highmore (Sussex), Esther Leslie (Birkbeck) Gabriel Josipovici (Sussex) and Michael Sheringham (Oxford). Further information about the keynote speakers will be announced soon.

The MSA welcomes proposals for seminars, panels, roundtables, and exhibitions, as described below.

MSA Statement on Conference Acce The MSA is committed to ensuring that all conference registrants will be able to participate in conference events. We ask that all conference attendees give thought to questions of access and work with the conference organizers to create an event that is welcoming to the entire community of participants. If you would benefit from individual accommodations including, but not limited to, ASL translation, paper copies of session presentations, or large type documents, please contact the Program Committee Chair, Victoria Rosner, at vpr4@columbia.edu or (212) 854-2720. We ask that all requests be made as soon as possible, and no later than July 1st, to ensure adequate lead time for arrangements to be made. Thank you for working with us to create an atmosphere that is inclusive and open for all registrants.

CALL FOR SEMINAR PROPOSALS
Deadline: February 15, 2013

Seminars are among the most significant features of the MSA conference. Participants write brief "position papers" (5-7 pages) that are circulated and read prior to the conference. Because their size is limited to 15 participants, seminars generate lively exchange and often facilitate future collaborations. The format also allows a larger number of conference attendees to seek financial support from their institutions as they educate themselves and their colleagues on subjects of mutual interest. Seminars are two hours in length. Because seminars led solely by graduate students are not likely to be accepted, we encourage interested graduate students to invite a faculty member to lead the seminar with them.

Please note that this is the call for seminar leader. Sign-up for seminar participants will take place on a first-come, first-served basis coinciding with registration for the conference.

Seminar Topics:
There are no limits on topics, but past experience has shown that the more clearly defined the topic and the more guidance provided by the leader, the more productive the discussion. "Clearly defined" should not be confused with "narrow," as extremely narrow seminar topics tend to exclude many potential applicants. To scan past seminar topics, go to the Conference Archives http://msa.press.jhu.edu/conferences.html on the MSA website, click the link to a prior conference, and then click on "Conference Schedule" or "Conference Program." You'll find seminars listed along with panels and other events. Topics related to the conference theme are especially welcome and might include, for example, modernism and food, modernism and aging, or modernism and boredom. Seminar leaders might also consider proposing a topic based around Mass Observation or any of the specific events of modernism.

Proposing a Seminar:
Seminar proposals must be submitted via email and must include the following information. Please assist us by sending this information in exactly the order given here:

• Use as a subject line: SEMINAR PROPOSAL / [LAST NAME OF SEMINAR LEADER] (e.g., SEMINAR PROPOSAL / GORMAN)
• List the seminar leader's name, institutional affiliation, discipline, position or title, mailing address, phone, fax, and e-mail address
• Provide a brief curriculum vitae (including teaching experience) for the seminar leader
• Give a brief description (up to 100 words) of the proposed topic

Note on AV provision: All rooms will contain a web-linked computer, a screen and a data projector. Participants are encouraged to bring presentations on memory sticks to avoid compatibility problems.

Submit proposals by February 15, 2013 to: msabrighton@gmail.com

Successful proposals will introduce topics that promise to expand research and debate on a topic, and will present a clear rationale for the papers' collective goal. Panel proposals which engage with a recent contentious or exciting new book or with a theoretical intervention into the field are encouraged. Topics are not limited to the theme "Everydayness and the Event."

Please bear in mind these guidelines:

• We encourage interdisciplinary panels and discourage panels on single authors.
• In order to encourage discussion, preference will be given to panels with three participants, though panels of four will be considered.
• Panels composed entirely of participants from a single department at a single institution are not likely to be accepted.
• Graduate students are welcome as panelists. However, panels composed entirely of graduate students are less likely to be accepted than panels that include postdoctoral presenters together with graduate students.

Proposals for panels must be submitted via email and must include the following information. Please assist us by sending this information in exactly the order given here:

• Use as a subject line: PANEL PROPOSAL / [LAST NAME OF PANEL ORGANIZER] (e.g., PANEL PROPOSAL / GORMAN)
• Session title
• Session organizer's name, institutional affiliation, discipline, position or title, mailing address, phone, fax, and e-mail address
• Chair's name, institutional affiliation, discipline, position or title, and contact information (if you do not identify a chair, we will locate one for you)
• Panelists' names, paper titles, institutional affiliations, disciplines, positions or titles, and contact information
• A maximum 500-word abstract of the panel as a whole
• Brief (2-3 sentence) scholarly biography of each panelist

Note on AV provision: All rooms will contain a web-linked computer, a screen and a data projector. Participants are asked to bring presentations on memory sticks to avoid compatibility problems.

Submit proposals by March 15, 2013 to: msabrighton@gmail.com

CALL FOR ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS
Deadline: March 15, 2013

All topics will be considered for round tables, but we are especially keen to encourage proposals which develop the theme of the conference. Unlike panels, which generally feature a sequence of 15-20 minute talks followed by discussion, round tables gather a group of participants around a shared concern in order to generate discussion among the roundtable participants and with the audience. To this end, instead of delivering full-length papers, participants are asked to deliver short position statements in response to questions distributed in advance by the organizer, or to take turns responding to prompts from the moderator. The bulk of the session should be devoted to discussion. No paper titles are listed in the program, only the names of participants.

Please bear in mind these guidelines:

• Roundtables may feature as many as 6 speakers. 
• We particularly welcome roundtables featuring participants from multiple disciplines, and we discourage roundtables on single authors. 
• Panels composed entirely of participants from a single department at a single institution are not likely to be accepted. 
• Graduate students are welcome as speakers. However, roundtables composed entirely of graduate students are less likely to be accepted than roundtables that include postdoctoral presenters together with graduate students.

Proposals for round tables must be submitted via email and must include the following information. Please assist us by sending this information in exactly the order given here:

• Use as a subject line: ROUNDTABLE PROPOSAL / [LAST NAME OF ROUNDTABLE ORGANIZER] (e.g., ROUNDTABLE PROPOSAL / GORMAN) 
• Session title 
• Session organizer's name, institutional affiliation, discipline, position or title, mailing address, phone, fax, and e-mail address 
• Moderator's name, institutional affiliation, discipline, position or title, and contact information (if you do not identify a moderator, we will locate one for you) 
• Speakers' names, institutional affiliations, disciplines, positions or titles, mailing addresses, phones, faxes, and e-mail addresses 
• A maximum 500-word rationale for the roundtable 
• Brief (2-3 sentence) scholarly biography of each speaker

Note on AV provision: All rooms will contain a web-linked computer, a screen and a data projector. Participants are asked to bring presentations on memory sticks to avoid compatibility problems.

Submit proposals by March 15, 2013 to: msabrighton@gmail.com

The MSA recognizes that some varieties of endeavour in modernist studies do not lend themselves to exposition in seminars, panels, or round tables. If you have work you would like to share at the conference that would be better conveyed through a poster, demonstration, or some other format, please contact the Program Committee Chair, Victoria Rosner, at vpr4@columbia.edu as soon as possible and no later than March 15, 2013.