Category: Past Events

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CFPs NWIMS Past Events Postgraduate

New Work in Modernist Studies, 1 December 2018

The Eighth Annual BAMS Postgraduate Conference: New Work in Modernist Studies

1 December 2018

About the conference
The eighth one-day Graduate Conference on New Work in Modernist Studies will take place on Saturday 1 December at the University of Glasgow (English Literature, School of Critical Studies), in conjunction with the Modernist Network Cymru (MONC), the London Modernism Seminar, the Scottish Network of Modernist Studies (SNoMS), Modernism Studies Ireland (MSI), the Northern Modernism Seminar, the Midlands Modernist Network and the British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS).

As in previous years, the conference will take the form of an interdisciplinary programme reflecting the full diversity of current graduate work in modernist studies; it encourages contributions both from those already involved in the existing networks and from students new to modernist studies who are eager to share their research.

The day will close with a plenary lecture by Dr Anouk Lang. Dr Lang is Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh, where she teaches in the areas of modernism, postcolonialism and twentieth and twenty-first century literature. Her research centres around investigating modernism as a global and transnational cultural phenomenon, and finding ways to understand its global flows and developments using methods from digital humanities and data science. She is the editor of From Codex to Hypertext: Reading at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century (U Mass P, 2012) and co-editor of Patrick White: Beyond the Grave (Anthem, 2015), and has published articles in Canadian Literature, English Language Notes, Postcolonial Text and others. She has directed digital humanities projects funded by the AHRC, the British Academy and the Carnegie Trust. Her most recent project uses word embedding models to explore discourses of spatiality in a 33 million word corpus, and is forthcoming in a special forum on Modernism/Modernity‘s Print Plus platform in 2019.

Proposals
Proposals are invited, from PhD research students registered at British and Irish universities, for short (10 minutes maximum) research position papers. Your proposal should be no longer than 250 words, and please include with it a short (50 words) biography. If you wish to apply for a contribution to your travel expenses you should also include an estimation of travel costs with your proposal (see below for details). Proposals should be sent to nwims2018@gmail.com to which any other enquiries about the conference should also be addressed.

Deadline: 5pm Monday 29 October 2018. Acceptance decisions will be communicated within ten days.

Registration
Conference registration will open soon. Registration must be completed by 1 December at the latest. The conference fee is £25 (£15 for BAMS members) and includes lunch, coffee and a wine reception. The day will run 10am – 6pm.

Bursaries
Travel costs: It is anticipated that a subsidised contribution to all travel costs over £20 will be offered to all postgraduates who contribute to the conference. If your travel expenses are less than £20 we will not be able to contribute. Please note that funds are limited and our ability to contribute depends on your co-operation in finding the cheapest fares. To apply for a travel bursary please include a separate indication of your estimated travel costs with your proposal. This will not be taken into account when assessing your proposal.

Conference organizers
Maria-Daniella Dick, Matthew Creasy & Bryony Randall, University of Glasgow, and Alex Thomson (University of Edinburgh).

 

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BAMS Conference CFPs Past Events

CFP BAMS 2019: Troublesome Modernisms, 20–22 June, London

 

Troublesome_Modernisms_Title PINK

 

British Association for Modernist Studies International Conference 2019

Institute of English Studies, Senate House, University of London

20–22 June 2019

Confirmed keynote speaker: Douglas Mao (Johns Hopkins)

Second keynote speaker to be confirmed

 

‘What effects of synergy or friction result when the many, sometimes contradictory, criteria of high modernism are tested against less evidently experimental texts by principal figures; against principal works by less well known or non-European artists; against texts that seem neither to be art or about art?’
– Douglas Mao and Rebecca Walkowitz

In troubled times, the BAMS International Conference 2019 proposes the theme of ‘Troublesome Modernisms’. The conference aims to take a fresh look at modernism’s capacity to, and for, trouble, to examine anew the multiple modes of modernist argumentation, contestation and dissent. What can we draw for the present from modernism’s troubled relationship with its own pasts, presents and futures, and how might we address our troubles with those aspects of the modernist project that sit uncomfortably with us today?

Inevitably this will include the troubling or scrutiny of the field of modernism from within. In particular, the conference is eager to mark and reflect on the reverberations of Douglas Mao’s and Rebecca Walkowitz’s groundbreaking Bad Modernisms (2006), a volume that questioned the limits of modernist studies, illuminating new avenues of critique by pressuring us to consider what and when we believe modernity to be, and whose creative and critical disruption continues to energise our field.

‘Troublesome Modernisms’ is interested in the notion of disorder, so central to our conceptions of modernity, but also in art that troubles our idea of modernism itself. The conference seeks to spark debate about how modernisms might have troubled contemporary writers, political thinkers, philosophers, artists and consumers; about how modernisms might not fit with themes or ideals prescribed by modernist studies; and about how works not immediately identifiable as modernist might afford new analyses of the relationship between art, culture and modernity. In all, ‘Troublesome Modernisms’ invites discussion of the ways in which modernisms might embody negativity, disorder, commotion, interruption, intrusion, insurgency and difficulty. How does modernism, in and through the lens of modernist studies, continue both to address trouble and to behave badly?

How to submit

Proposals are invited for individual 20-minute papers, panels (3–4 speakers), roundtables, dialogues or other discussions on the broad theme of ‘Troublesome Modernisms’. These will be drawn from a range of disciplinary fields and may or may not include the following kinds of emphasis:

  • Misrepresentation, manipulation and unreliability
  • Noise, distortion and warping
  • Weak and strong modernisms
  • War and peace
  • Anachronism
  • Pedagogical difficulties
  • Perversion and deviance
  • Heretics and the unorthodox
  • Conflicting feelings, emotions and affects
  • Violence, abuse and power
  • The inhuman and the posthuman
  • Revolution, rebellion and revolt
  • Critique and deconstruction
  • Awkwardness, boredom, obsolescence and the inane
  • Illogical, unreasonable and irrational approaches
  • Disobedience, resistance and subversion
  • Outrage, prejudice and intolerance
  • Injustice and lawlessness
  • Modernism and the culture wars
  • Activist modernisms
  • Decorative modernisms
  • Markets and modernism
  • Modernism and fundamentalism
  • Temporal and spatial disruption

Abstracts for individual papers should be no more than 250 words. Abstracts for other proposed formats should be no more than 500 words, and should include abstracts of proposed contributions and brief details of their organisers and contributors. We aim to showcase the work not only of individuals but of groups, societies, institutions and research projects, so strongly encourage proposals from, for example, author societies, research projects and departmental research centres. All proposals should be sent to troublesomemodernisms@bams.ac.uk by:

Deadline for individual paper proposals: 31 January 2019

Deadline for other format proposals: 28 February 2019

Decisions on proposals will be communicated within 4 weeks of the later deadline (28 February).

Attendance and fees

The conference is open to anyone, in any discipline, working on modernism. Prices for the conference, and details of how to pay, will appear shortly.

There is a reduced registration rate for BAMS members.

Current annual membership rates, which include a subscription to Modernist Cultures, are £50 standard; £40 student and unwaged; online-only standard £35; online-only student and unwaged £30.

For more information about BAMS membership, see: https://bams.ac.uk/membership/

We will be offering some bursaries to enable postgraduate members of BAMS to attend the conference.

 

 

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Call for submissions Essay Prize Past Events Postgraduate

BAMS Essay Prize 2018

The British Association for Modernist Studies invites submissions for its annual essay prize for early career scholars. The winning essay will be published in Modernist Cultures, and the winner will also receive £250 of books.

The BAMS Essay Prize is open to any member of the British Association for Modernist Studies who is studying for a doctoral degree, or is within five years of receiving their doctoral award. You can join BAMS by following the link on our membership pages: https://bams.ac.uk/membership

Essays are to be 7–9,000 words, inclusive of footnotes and references.

The closing date for entries is 31 October 2018. The winner will be announced by 31 January 2019.

Essays can be on any subject in modernist studies (including anthropology, art history, cultural studies, ethnography, film studies, history, literature, musicology, philosophy, sociology, urban studies, and visual culture). Please see the editorial statement of Modernist Cultures for further information: http://www.euppublishing.com/journal/mod.

In the event that, in the judges’ opinion, the material submitted is not of a suitable standard for publication, no prize will be awarded.


Instructions to Entrants
Entries must be submitted electronically in Word or rtf format to modernistcultures@gmail.com and conform to the MHRA style guide.

Entrants should include a title page detailing their name, affiliation, e-mail address, and their doctoral status/ date of award; they should also make clear that the essay is a submission for the BAMS Essay Prize.

It is the responsibility of the entrant to secure permission for the reproduction of illustrations and quotation from copyrighted material.

Essays must not be under consideration elsewhere.

Enquiries about the prize may be directed to Suzanne Hobson, Chair of the British Association for Modernist Studies, at s.hobson@qmul.ac.uk

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Elections Past Events Postgraduate

New BAMS PG reps elected

We are delighted to announce the result of our recent election for two PGR representatives to sit on the BAMS Executive Committee. Our new members are Gareth Mills and Séan Richardson, who will join Ruth Clemens (Leeds Trinity) to make up a fantastic team of PG reps. We welcome both of them are very much looking forward to working with them over the next two years.

Gareth Mills is an AHRC-funded second-year PhD student at the University of Reading, studying Wyndham Lewis and the publishing industry. He is the founder and co-editor of the interdisciplinary academic outreach journal Question (www.questionjournal.com), now in its second issue and available in print in bookshops and libraries in the Southwest, Wales and London. He is a contributing reviewer for the Journal of Wyndham Lewis Studies, Journal of Beckett Studies and the Review of English Studies, and founder and co-organiser of the Modernist Periodicals Reading Group. He co-coordinates the Gender and Sexuality Research Network at Reading and manages its blog.

Séan Richardson is a doctoral researcher at Nottingham Trent University focusing on the queer geographies of modernism. He is the host of the Modernist Podcast, the curator of the Forster50 exhibition and the founder of the Midlands Modernist Network.

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Past Events PG Training Day Postgraduate

Registration open for PG and ECR training day

Registration is now open for the BAMS Postgraduate and Early Career Researcher Training Day: Career/Administration. Reserve your place at the RHUL online shop:
(£5 for BAMS members and £10 for non-members).

Wed. 28 March 2018, 10.00am (first session at 10.30am) – 5.10pm.
Location:  Room 104, Senate House, London WC1 7HU (central London)

The ninth annual BAMS training day this year will focus on career administration and university administration in the early career (especially as it impacts on the expectations of job applicants and ECRs). The focus will be on practical advice, but the day will also allow candidates to focus on the profession as it is currently developing, and to reflect on their own skills, and indeed on how they might be put to use outside academia. While the day is organized by BAMS, its general focus means that students working in other areas should find it equally valuable, students in the TECHNE consortium are especially encouraged to attend. You can find the full programme here.

The training day is hosted by the Department of English at Royal Holloway and the TECHNE consortium and will be led by members of the BAMS executive as well as TECHNE staff.

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Elections Past Events

BAMS PG Representative elections: vote now!

Dear BAMS members and friends

The election for up to two new Postgraduate Representatives to sit on the BAMS Executive Steering Committee opened on Saturday 10 February. If you have BAMS membership for 2018 you should have received an email from Electionbuddy with a unique link to the online election on Saturday morning. Please check your clutter and junkmail files if you have not seen this email. If you still don’t have an email from Electionbuddy contact Suzanne Hobson (s.hobson@qmul.ac.uk) with proof of membership (email receipt from EUP/Paypal) and we will arrange for you to be sent a ballot. The election will close on Wednesday 28 February 2018.

It’s not too late to join BAMS and vote in the election: https://bams.ac.uk/membership/
As above, please send proof of membership purchase to s.hobson@qmul.ac.uk in order to receive your ballot.

The four nominees are: Emily Mills, Gareth Mills, Sean Richardson and Imola Nagy-Seres. Please see below for their biographies and supporting statements.

 

Emily Mills, University of Nottingham
Nominated by Nathan Waddell

Emily is a third-year PhD student at the University of Nottingham. Her research, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the Midlands Three Cities (M3C) consortium, explores to what extent modern editorial theory can illuminate and resolve the challenges involved in reading and interpreting postmodern literature. Bringing postmodern fiction into dialogue with contemporary text-editing models, her research aims to shed new light on both and to investigate what is understood by the term ‘postmodernism’ in the contexts of both fiction and editorial theory. As part of her research, Emily has undertaken a fellowship at the Harry Ransom Center (2016-17), awarded through the AHRC International Placement Scheme, and she was the recipient of a Theodora Bosanquet Bursary in 2017.

Statement
My work on postmodern fiction has had two offshoots which demonstrate my suitability for the role: a concern with how practices of editing modernist fiction can help us reformulate traditional editorial theories; and a growing interest in Ford Madox Ford, which led me to present a paper considering his work in relation to Julian Barnes and the legacies of modernism at the 2017 BAMS conference.

My vision for the future of BAMS is, therefore, to expand the range of its literary-historical focus. In addition to promoting the work of BAMS at unaffiliated conferences, I propose to organise a symposium exploring how modernist scholarship influences research on the work of different chronological epochs, and especially in the post-1950 period. Such an event would bring new scholars into BAMS, particularly those who may not consider themselves modernists, and also present different opportunities for interdisciplinary research partnerships. In this respect, I would hope to work with the Midlands Modernist Network to nurture scholarly relationships between BAMS and PhD students based at the six institutions in the M3C network (Birmingham, BCU, De Montfort, Leicester, Nottingham, and NTU).

I have excellent organisational skills, having helped to organise the M3C Research Festival in 2017; I can help manage the BAMS website and contribute to its social media accounts, having contributed similarly to the New Modernist Editing project in 2017; and given my experience with matters of proofing and copy-transmission, I would be keen to contribute to the running of The Modernist Review.

 

Gareth Mills, University of Reading, University of Bath
Nominated by Nicola Wilson 

I am an AHRC funded second year PhD student at the University of Reading, studying Wyndham Lewis and the publishing industry. I am a contributing reviewer for the Journal of Wyndham Lewis studies and the Journal of Beckett studies, and founder and co-organiser of the Modernist Periodicals Reading Group based at Reading. Last year I founded the interdisciplinary academic outreach journal Question (www.questionjournal.com), of which I am co-editor, now available in print in bookshops and libraries in the Southwest, Wales and London. I also co-coordinate the Gender and Sexuality Research Network at Reading and manage its blog.

Statement
As the current editor of a journal and coordinator of two research groups I have developed relevant competencies in editorial processes, cross-institutional organisation, web design, administration, and social media promotion, and would be very keen to bring this experience to BAMS.

Having experience of the benefits of a setting up a lively postgraduate publishing forum with the new journal Question, one of my priorities would be the revival of The Modernist Review and its website. Where the senior quarterly publication, Modernist Cultures, offers regular insights into a current confluence of research on a specific theme (‘Global Modernism’), a postgraduate publication could not only offer a supportive, rigorous forum for new PhD work but become an exciting indicator of on-the-cusp new research in its own right.

The increasingly central place of archival work to modernist studies in general stands to benefit from BAMS’ national outreach. I would support the growth of information-sharing workshops to complement the wealth of existing skills-based support, which is mostly aimed at newer members.

Finally, I would encourage the current trend in AHRC backed doctoral training consortiums of linking publications in journals, such as The Modernist Review, to more popular online news and opinion sites. The Conversation and Aeon are emerging as influential news sources backed by academics which have had, as yet, a sporadic engagement with modernist research. Opportunities for engagement would have a good impact on early membership uptake too – thereby getting newer PGRs in the BAMs information loop earlier.

 

Imola Nagy-Seres, University of Exeter
Nominated by Suzanne Hobson

Imola is in the third year of her PhD studies in English Literature at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on the phenomenology of touch in the modernist novel. She holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Leeds and completed her BA studies at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca. Her reviews have been published in the Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, and she is currently working on an article for the inaugural issue of the Elizabeth Bowen Review. She has written shorter pieces for The Virginia Woolf Blog and The University of Exeter Doctoral College Blog.

Statement
I have attended events organised by BAMS for two years. In 2016 and 2017 I presented papers at the New Work in Modernist Studies Conference in London and Leeds, and in April 2017 I participated at the Postgraduate Training Day in Leicester. I have found these events not only intellectually challenging but also reassuring in the sense of making doctoral students feel part of a larger community of like-minded peers and academics.

As a postgraduate representative I will contribute to the maintaining and strengthening of community spirit within BAMS. Writing a doctoral dissertation represents a challenge, but there are many ways in which students’ academic skills and mental wellbeing can be improved. I would like to organise study days with a specific focus on research skills, such as writing and editing dissertations and journal articles, preparing for the viva, and revising the thesis into a monograph. While many universities offer general workshops on these topics, I think that students would benefit more from subject-specific training and the possibility to talk to journal editors. As the representative of Graduate Teaching Assistants at Exeter, I have gained experience in organising a series of workshops for PhD students teaching English literature.

Finally, as a postgraduate representative I will ensure that BAMS continues to offer support for students to share innovative ideas on online platforms such as The Modernist Review. As stated in my biography, I have experience in writing blog posts for non-academic audiences, and would be happy to relaunch The Modernist Review.

 

Sean Richardson, Nottingham Trent University
Nominated by Andrew Thacker

Sean Richardson is a second-year doctoral candidate at Nottingham Trent University. He is the host of the Modernist Podcast, the founder of the Midlands Modernist Network, the curator of the Forster50 museum exhibition and the organiser of Queer Modernism(s), Transitions: Bridging the Victorian-Modernist Divide and Orientations: A Conference of Narrative of Place, amongst other conferences. He likes biscuits.

Statement
I believe BAMS is currently doing excellent work to support its postgraduate community and, if elected, would seek to continue building on the achievements of the outgoing postgraduate representatives. To do this, I would focus on:

One: Collecting feedback from our existing members. Last year, BAMS ran its first postgraduate survey. I would like to follow this up yearly, adding to the existing questions and collecting case studies. This data will elucidate how to best support BAMS members, as well as illuminate pathways for progression once the PhD has finished.

Two: Continuing to foster academic achievement at postgraduate level. Our postgraduate community is doing fantastic work, and this deserves recognition. I would like to work to produce a ‘BAMS Certificate of Excellence’. BAMS members would be able to nominate PhD students for this award, providing a mark of recognition.

Three: Diversifying our postgraduate membership. Currently comprised of mostly literature scholars, I believe BAMS can do more to reach out to those in fields such as art history, modern languages and book history, allowing for further interesting, interdisciplinary discussions.

Having run the Modernist Podcast, set up the MMN and blogged extensively on higher education issues, I am heavily invested in platforming postgraduate voices in the modernist community on a local and national level. I would love to continue this structural work as BAMS postgraduate representative, as well as provide a friendly face for members old and new. If you have any questions, you can tweet me at: @southldntabby

 

Categories
Essay Prize Past Events

BAMS essay prize result

We are delighted to announce the results of the 2018 BAMS essay prize:

Winner: Ned Hercock (ECR, independent scholar), ‘Hard Objects in George Oppen’s Discrete Series’

Runner up: Eleanor Careless (Sussex), ‘Muriel Rukeyser and the Security of the Imagination: Poetry and Propaganda in 1940s America’

The winner will receive £250 of books and the winning and runner-up essay will both be published in a forthcoming issue of Modernist Cultures.

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Events Past Events PG Training Day Postgraduate

BAMS Postgraduate Training Day: Career Administration, 28 March

BAMS Postgraduate Training Day: Career Administration

Wednesday 28 March 2018

Venue: Senate House, London (hosted by RHUL)

Save the date! The 2018 Postgraduate Training Day on Career Administration will be held on 28 March 2018 at Senate House, London. There will be workshops on applications and interviews, publishing, institutional demands in the profession and marketing your skills and experience outside HE. Guest speakers will include Dr Shelley Trower (Roehampton) and Dr Kate McGettigan (RHUL). There will be a small charge for the day of £5 for BAMS members and £10 for non-members. Registration information and the programme for the day will be announced soon.

Join BAMS here: https://bams.ac.uk/membership/

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Elections Past Events Postgraduate

BAMS Postgrad Reps: call for nominations

Call for nominations for up to two Postgraduate Representatives to join the BAMS Executive Steering Committee

On 31st December 2017, the two-year terms of 2 of our 3 current Postgraduate Representatives came to an end. We now invite nominations for up to 2 new PG Representatives to join the BAMS Executive Steering Committee. Nominations will now be accepted up to 8 February 2018, and the online election will take place 10–28 February 2018.

Candidates are sought from registered doctoral students who have completed their first year of study. They require a nomination from an existing member of BAMS and must themselves be members of the association. Instructions for joining BAMS can be found here. The final selection will be made through an online election process open to all BAMS members. 

Candidates are asked to submit a brief biography as well as a 250-word proposal outlining their vision for the future of BAMS, their suitability for the role and their envisaged contribution to the association.  The name of the nominator should be included in the proposal.

Applications should be emailed to the Secretary of BAMS, Claire Warden (claire.warden@dmu.ac.uk) no later than 8 February 2017. Further information about the nominations process as well as information about the role from one of our outgoing BAMS PG Reps can be found on the attached document.

Further information
Enquiries about the Postgraduate Representative positions can be directed to Suzanne Hobson (BAMS Chair): s.hobson@qmul.ac.uk

Here is some information about being a BAMS PG Rep from one of our outgoing postholders:
“I would recommend that anyone with an interest in modernist studies applies for the PGR representative position. I’ve been in the role since Spring 2016, working with Stephanie Boland and Ruth Clemens. Day-to-day, the role involves administrative duties, such as sharing CFPs, managing the website and social media accounts, running our blog (themodernistreview.co.uk) and dealing with PGR issues. To this end, we recently ran our annual PGR conference, and work is underway on organising next year’s conference; you’ll also have the opportunity to run events and workshops, and speak on behalf of BAMS at conferences. (Occasional) travel is reimbursed on expenses and you can fit work in around your own schedule.”
Helen Saunders (helenkatesaunders@gmail.com)

Categories
NWIMS Past Events

New Work in Modernist Studies 2017

We are pleased to publish the programme for the seventh annual postgraduate conference in New Work in Modernist Studies, Friday 15th December 2017, hosted at the School of English, University of Leeds.
The conference is organised collaboratively between the University of Leeds and Leeds Trinity University and in conjunction with the Modernist Network Cymru (MONC), the London Modernism Seminar, the Scottish Network of Modernist Studies, the Northern Modernism Seminar, the Midlands Modernist Network and the British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS).

Continue reading “New Work in Modernist Studies 2017”