Call For Papers

The British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies Conference, inaugurated in 1992 — the oldest and longest-running annual meeting of its kind in the United States — calls for presentations situated in colonial and postcolonial histories, literatures, creative and performing arts, politics, economics, and all other aspects of the countries formerly colonized by Britain and other European powers.

We offer scholars and researchers, teachers and students, the opportunity to disseminate and discuss their knowledge and understanding of the dynamic field of postcolonial studies.

As we re-engage in person, we recognize that global events of the past few years are ripe for consideration concerning the imposition of power, neocolonialism, justice, injustice, and the mechanisms of control.

Particularly appropriate thematic issues:

• Imposing Power and Exploiting Its Differences
• Governance and the Postcolonial
• The Role of Postcolonial Studies in Addressing Systemic Injustice
• Historical Structures and the Postcolonial
• Recovering from Colonization, Reforming the Power Structures
• Postcolonial Intersectionality and Identity
• The Postcolonial in the Post-Pandemic
• The Demonizing of CRT
• Diversity Training and Other “divisive, anti-American propaganda”

We welcome a variety of approaches and viewpoints, and the generation of wide-ranging, productive debates. Thus we are particularly interested in interdisciplinary and/or cross-cultural panel proposals.

We also invite proposals situated in our more traditional areas, both thematic (migration, diaspora studies, etc.) and geographic (The Global South, South Asia, etc.):

• Postcolonial Studies: Where Were We? Where Are We? Where To Now?
• Perspectives and Current Practices in Postcolonial Pedagogy
• Bioethics, Ecology, Ecocriticism, Health and Wellness
• Migration, Diaspora, Hybridity, and Borders
• Region, Religion, Politics, and Culture
• History and Historiography
• War and Terrorism
• Race, Racism, Class, Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnicity
• Ethics, Economics, and Globalization
• Pedagogy and the Disciplines
• Intersections of Francophone and Anglophone Literatures
• Postcolonial, Liberation, and Transnational Literatures, Arts, and the Media
Or any other aspect of the British Commonwealth, or of countries formerly colonized by other European powers.

Information for potential presenters

• Presentations must be delivered in person.
• Abstracts of 300 words maximum are required via the online submission form.
• A biographical statement for each presenter is required, including the presenter's academic affiliation. Please include this with your abstract.
• Panels should be designed for 75 minutes; individual papers for 15-minute delivery — maximum.
• Proposals for panels should include an abstract for each paper with complete information on each presenter.