Dear AACORNers,
I think the request for papers, below, on "Public Scholarship and the
Economic Crisis" fits especially well with AACORN's recent discussion
and the activism many of you have shown. Sorry that proposals are due
in 4 days; I just learned about this conference today. It's the annual
conference of the organization called "Imagining America," which is a
consortium of colleges, with most academic contacts being in the liberal
arts, not management or organization studies.
Ted
__________________________________________
Ted Buswick
Oral Historian and Archivist
THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP
One Beacon Street, 10th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
Phone: (617) 850-3965
Fax: (617) 850-3701
Cell: (617) 470-2270
[log in to unmask]
Executive-in-Residence for Leadership and the Arts
Graduate School of Management
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610
________________________________
From: Imagining America includes all non-Consortium and NAB member
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gregory A
Carrico
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2009 3:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Imagining America 2009 Call for Proposals - DEADLINE THIS
FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009
Importance: High
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life
Tenth Annual National Conference
Culture, Crisis, and Recovery
New Orleans, Louisiana
October 1-3, 2009
Conference Theme
Imagining America invites faculty, students, and community partners to
participate in our conference, October 1-3, 2009, in New Orleans, hosted
by Tulane and Xavier Universities. The theme for this year's conference,
Culture, Crisis, and Recovery, invokes the current economic crisis, the
city of New Orleans' ongoing experiences after Hurricane Katrina, and
the part that engaged scholarship and practice through the arts,
humanities, and design take in recovery efforts of all kinds across the
US.
Speaking of the economic collapse before a Joint Session of Congress,
President Obama said, "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United
States of America will emerge stronger than before." Recovery - and
advancement - were also the goals of the thousands of faculty, students,
and cultural workers from across the nation who came to help rebuild the
Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. Their vigorous response is
a seminal case study of public scholarship in action. The experiences of
these scholars and artists at work in the Gulf Coast offer us important
lessons and models - for better and sometimes, for worse - for how the
cultural disciplines, broadly defined, can respond to daunting
challenges in our own communities and further afield. New Orleans,
however, is much more than a city of crisis. Its unique history produced
a diverse and broad American culture that predates the United States,
making it a rewarding site for engaged research and practice. Join us
for discussions and explorations of the scholarly and artistic models it
inspires.
While we welcome all proposals that relate to this year's theme and that
expand our understanding of public scholarship, we are particularly
interested in proposals that speak to one of the three sub-themes
described below. We further encourage considerations of reciprocity, an
idea at the heart of engaged scholarship. After the many experiences in
post-Katrina New Orleans, there has been a resounding call to revisit
this core concept: what reciprocity means in practice, the role it plays
in sustaining our efforts, and how we reward and evaluate it.
Public Scholarship and the Economic Crisis
During this period of economic crisis, public scholars and artists must
effectively make the case that their work is a core function of higher
education. How can we expand the place for public scholarship within
institutions already scaling back? How does the economic crisis shape
the relevance of public scholarship to the public and its universities,
and how does it affect its components and desired outcomes? How might
the current economy be seen as an opportunity to rethink the
traditionally vertical structure of higher education, and to create more
reciprocal, horizontal relationships with its communities?
Culture and Partnership in Post-Katrina New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina brought thousands of students and faculty to work in
partnership with local communities, assisting with complex challenges of
recovery and rebuilding. Particularly within the first two years after
the storm, many models of community partnerships arose in response to
specific situations, some more successful than others. We welcome an
open dialogue on our experiences, collective and individual, in this
context. What have we learned? What dynamics particular to the Gulf
Coast have mattered to the role of culture in response to this crisis?
What knowledge did we take home with us?
Responding to Crisis in Our Own Backyards
Increasingly, higher education works in partnership with local
communities towards revitalization. Universities and colleges often rise
and fall with the fortunes of their hometowns. In rust-belt cities
working to create a post-industrial economy, in rural areas strategizing
to keep their new college graduates at work at home, and in the areas in
between, how do faculty and students use the arts, humanities, and
design to help revive their localities? What approaches have met with
success, towards economic revitalization or towards meeting different
challenges? What has not worked, and what lessons can we take away?
Session Formats: Seminars, Roundtables, Workshops, and Panels
All conference sessions are one and a half hours in length. Imagining
America looks favorably upon proposals that encourage dialogue and/or
participation, and that are aligned with some version of one of the
following formats:
Seminars: Participants submit an unpublished work or works such as a
brief "position paper" (5-7 pages) or an excerpt from a performance. The
works will be posted one month prior to the conference on the IA
website, and hard copies of papers or synopses of performances will be
made available at the conference itself. During the seminar, the leader
moderates a discussion about the piece. These seminars are intended to
generate immediate exchange of ideas and conversation, assist these
works towards publication, and produce networks of scholars who continue
to work together beyond the conference. While a single public scholar
may submit, we encourage submissions from collaborative and
cross-institutional groups. We request that attendees familiarize
themselves with the work under discussion before the seminar meets.
Seminar proposals include a title for the seminar; contact information
of the seminar leader; the work(s) or paper(s) to be discussed; and a
four-to-five sentence description of the issues and questions that will
be raised in discussion.
Roundtables: A group of participants gather around a shared concern in
order to generate discussion among themselves and with the audience. To
this end, instead of delivering standard conference-length
presentations, participants typically deliver short position statements
(5-10 minutes) in response to questions distributed in advance by the
organizer, or they take turns responding to prompts from the moderator.
The bulk of the session is devoted to discussion. Roundtables are
limited to no more than five participants, including the organizer. We
encourage roundtables involving participants from different
institutions, centers, and organizations.
Proposals for roundtables include a title for the roundtable; the
organizer's name, title, and contact information; the names and titles
of the proposed roundtable participants; and a 3-4 sentence description
of the position statements, questions, or debates that will be under
discussion.
Workshops: A facilitator sets the agenda, poses opening questions, and
organizes participant activities. The facilitator is responsible for
gathering responses and results from participants and/or small groups,
and helping everyone digest them. Proposals to conduct workshops include
not only the facilitator and topic, but also the activities that will be
conducted.
For example, in a workshop on "Public History of the Suburbs," the
facilitator would describe the topic and give some opening remarks (5
minutes). She might then break the audience into groups and ask each
group to brainstorm a list of five key principles for organizing a
community partnership in this setting. After 15 minutes, a reporter from
each group would then give the results, typically written by the
facilitator on a chalk board or easel. Then it's time for critique and
second stage, for example, moving on to typical obstacles, resource
challenges, and so forth. We intend that this process produce
substantive and useful conclusions to all participants.
Workshop proposals include a title for the workshop; the organizer's
name, title, and contact information; and a 4-5 sentence description of
the topic or issue that will be under discussion.
Panels: A team or individuals present their work and experiences,
leaving at least half the session for questions and inclusive
discussion.
Panel proposals include panel title; the organizer's name, title, and
contact information; the names, titles, and affiliations of all
panelists; and a 4-5 sentence description of the panel's topic.
Poster Presentations
Often, our conference attendees are part of wonderful partnerships or
are conducting research projects that don't fit well with the annual
theme or the issues driving the conference sessions. We offer the
opportunity to present these projects in a poster or table-top format.
Such a display usually mixes a brief narrative description with
photographs, organizational or historical charts, maps, and other
presentation formats. Brochures or hand-outs may be available, or the
presenter might display a presentation or DVD on her laptop. Poster
presentations ideally articulate a project and its significance without
its author being present. We will, however, designate a time in the
conference program for presenters to attend their display and meet
interested people, answer questions, and talk about their work. A
project may be at any stage of development.
Presentation space is limited: if you do not require an entire table, we
would appreciate you requesting only half. We will take the liberty of
consolidating smaller displays if need be. As always, there will be
table space available for participants who simply want to distribute
information or display publications.
Poster presentation proposals include the presenter's name and a brief
description of the project and how it will be displayed.
Audio-Visual Equipment
In general, audio-visual equipment will be extremely limited. Please
indicate if your session absolutely requires it. Presenters will be
informed by the end of June on which day their session will take place,
and if audio-visual equipment will be available. Please note: we are not
able to provide A/V equipment or electrical outlets for poster
presentations.
Deadline and Destination for Conference Proposals
Send all proposals in electronic format only to Kevin Bott at
[log in to unmask] by Friday, April 24, 2009. The Program Committee will
send out responses by May 15th for all proposal formats except poster
presentations. Notification regarding poster sessions will be made by
June 30, 2009.
The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.
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