Literary Representations of Nation(s) in Canada and Québec

The Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures (ACQL)

Association des littératures canadienne et québécoise (ALCQ)
Call for Papers
Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
23, 24 and 25 May 2009

Literary Representations of Nation(s) in Canada and Québec
The Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures invites proposals on nations and their literary representations for our 2009 conference at Carleton University in Ottawa. At the foundation of the term nation is an affirmation of communal origin, whether that origin is considered a real historical event or a traditional myth or an ideological imaginary. This one word simplifies, complexifies, makes precise or completes the ideas it defines; for example, nation may refer to a group of men and women, a community, a collective, a society, or a nation state. The succession of terms that revolve around the idea of nation puts into relief a particular consciousness, either a protest against or an affirmation of the historical, social, cultural, linguistic, religious, geographic, or political unity that the word evokes. In the concept of nation as it concerns Canada or Québec, is there a will to live in common? What characterizes this will? What acts as support and reinforcement? If in theory Canada constitutes a sociopolitical unity with a well-defined territory that extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the 49th parallel to the North Pole, and that constitutes a democratic and sovereign nation state, how is the application of this theory complicated by an understanding of First Nations, Métis, and the province of Québec as themselves nations? In the framework of this problematic, how does the literature of Québec and Canada — in English, in French, and in First Nations languages — reflect, question, and extend the idea of nation?

In keeping with Congress’s 2009 theme, “Capital Connections,” we welcome papers that explore and question the construction of the idea of nation in terms of the geographical, sociopolitical, artistic, and cultural. Possible topics related to nation include:

1. Colonialism and postcolonialism as it relates to nation
2. Immigration and emigration
3. Nation and diaspora, or nation and migrant literatures
4. Nation and regionalism
5. First Nations and/or Métis nations
6. Québec and/or Acadia as nations
7. Nation and sexuality or nation and gender
8. Nation and religion
9. Comparative analysis of the representations of the nation in English and in French
10. Nation and literary genres
11. The concept of a national literature
12. Nation, ideology, and politics
13. Nation and space and/or time
14. Nation and citizenship
15. Sedentarism and nomadism
16. Nation and travel
17. Nationalism and/or transnationalism
18. Nation and globalisation
19. Nation, environment, and ecology
20. The nation state

We also welcome member-organized sessions on topics related to any aspect of the study of Canadian and Québec literatures. Calls for member-organized sessions should be no more than 200 words. They are due on or before 30 November 2008 and will be posted on the ACQL website.

All paper or session proposals can be written in French or English. Those who propose papers or sessions must be members of ACQL by 1 March 2009. See the ACQL website (www.alqc-acql.ca) for membership registration information.

Please send paper proposals (no more than 300 words) with a short biography and a 50-word abstract to one of the coordinators listed below by 15 January 2009.

COORDINATOR (English)
Dr. Wendy Roy
Department of English
University of Saskatchewan
9 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A5
Phone: (306) 966-2132
Fax: (306) 966-5951
Email: wendy.roy@usask.ca

COORDINATOR (French)
Dr. Jorge Calderón
Department of French
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby , BC V5A 1S6
Phone: 778-782-7638
Fax: 778-782-5932
Email: calderon@sfu.ca