Call for papers for a panel at C 19 2024:

Black Writing Networks

The organizers (Faith Barrett, Duquesne University; April Logan, Salisbury University; and Elissa Zellinger, Texas Tech University) seek proposals of 250-300 words as well as a 250-300 word biographical note, describing the scholarly work of potential panelists. Proposals from graduate students are especially welcome. 

This proposed panel will examine how Black writers across the United States relied on writing and reading networks to shape their rhetorical and/or aesthetic strategies and to build a range of audiences for their work. Papers will discuss the ways Black writers across the nineteenth century used communities to facilitate their entrance into print culture and to increase the visibility and influence of Black print culture. Proposals should address this topic and possibly some of the following questions: In what ways are these writing and reading communities shaped by the work of Black church and educational networks as well as Black benevolent societies and political organizations? When and how do Black writers use their networks to respond to the rhetoric of Protestant millenialism, with its focus on the US as God’s chosen nation? How do Black writers respond to writing and/or reading networks situated outside the US? And how do Black writers use their networks not only to call for abolition, but also to critique the limits of US citizenship and to call for greater civil or other rights for African Americans? Proposals are due to aclogan@salisbury.edu by Friday, August 18.