New Research and Perspectives on Pauline E. Hopkins: “In the West” and Elsewhere
Hopkins scholarship has flourished in recent years, with a number of essays appearing in prominent journals and the 2022 publication of Yours for Humanity: New Essays on Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins—the first collection of Hopkins scholarship to appear since The Unruly Voice: Rediscovering Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1996) over a quarter century ago. The Pauline E. Hopkins Society invites proposals that build from, or contribute to, this growing body of scholarship for presentation at the 35rd Annual American Literature Association Convention in Chicago, May 23-26, 2024. We welcome papers that examine any aspect of Hopkins’ work, especially in light of recent criticism or theoretical/critical approaches.
Given the location for this year’s conference, we are especially interested in proposals that examine Hopkins “in the West.” Topics might include, but are not limited to, the Western setting, scenes, and scenarios of Winona or her short story “‘As the Lord Lives’”; discussions of Peculiar Sam, a drama performed on the road in the Midwest and elsewhere; and Hopkins relation to Black intellectual, political, and literary figures and/or print cultures in Chicago and elsewhere in the (mid)West, such as Ida B. Wells, who resided in Chicago for more than a decade, and J. Max Barber, whose Voice of the Negro was based in Chicago after relocating from Atlanta.
The Pauline E. Hopkins Society is delighted to announce that Edlie Wong will be serving as our panel’s Respondent. Dr. Wong is Professor of English at the University of Maryland, College Park and the author of Racial Reconstruction: Black Inclusion, Chinese Exclusion, and the Fictions of Citizenship (2015) and Neither Fugitive nor Free: Atlantic Slavery, Freedom Suits, and the Legal Culture of Travel (2009) and the co-editor of George Lippard’s The Killers (2014). Her work also appears in PMLA, American Literary History, Social Text, American Literature, African American Review, and American Periodicals. Dr. Wong is the past President of C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.
Please submit abstracts of up to 300 words, with the subject line, “Hopkins ALA 2024,” to John Barton at bartonjc@umkc.edu by Jan 15, 2023.
For details about the ALA Convention, please consult the following website: https://americanliteratureassociation.org/ala-conferences/ala-annual-conference/general-call-for-papers/
