Sharing on this Call for Papers that was just brought to my attention. I know several people who might be interested in this (I’d love to myself, but I don’t have time to write a paper).

 

Call for Papers: Authenticity, Artifacts, and Publishing Patterns in Multicultural Texts

The Diversity Committee of the Children’s Literature Association is seeking papers for its sponsored panel at the ChLA 2014 Conference to be held in Columbia, South Carolina, June 19-21.  (For more information on the conference, visit the ChLA conference website at www.chlaconference.org.)

We are looking for papers that address how “other” cultures are represented in translated, multi-cultural, and cross-cultural texts. Are texts considered “authentic” if they do not conform to common expectations regarding the representation of minority or foreign cultures? Do mainstream perceptions of “authenticity” realistically represent “other” cultural points of view? Does referencing quotidian cultural behaviors, which would not be noted by members of the culture itself, reflect a tendency to treat other cultures as anthropological subjects? Have certain artifacts, narrative structures and themes appeared repeatedly, and through repetition, come to signify authenticity? Have identifiable patterns come to be the publishing and literary equivalents of museum artifacts under glass?

Questions? Contact Claudia Pearson, pearsoncrz@earthlink.net. Email your 500-word abstract and 2-page CV by 30 November 2013, attaching it in .rtf, .doc, or .docx format, and including your email and phone number.