CFP: New Directions in Critical Theory: Revolution, Regression, Revision

New Directions in Critical Theory: Revolution, Regression, Revision

2012 Conference Call for Proposals

The University of Arizona

Tucson, Arizona

April 13-14, 2012

From southwest U.S. to Midan Tahrir, there has been a renewed public attention to how perceptions of space and place impact how knowledge is created, presumed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. In localized contexts, systems of knowledge – sustained, broken, and at work – move within various discourse communities. Our goal for this conference is to begin to connect discussions across the disciplines about revolution, regression, and revision. We define these concepts broadly so as to span across the possibilities and restrictions of interactions among, between, and across several contexts and spaces. And central to our inquiry is the question of how we interact with this vivid dynamic within and across disciplines, communities, and institutions.

In keeping with the spirit of the New Directions conference, we encourage multimodal, multigenre, and multidisciplinary presentations and papers - from creative performances to scholarly modes. New Directions 2012 will connect scholars, teachers, researchers, students, artists, activists, and community organizers. The conference is open to many participants, audiences, and subjects, as a way to facilitate collaboration and movement in our understandings of our work andpursuits.

Possible topics might include but are not limited to:

• Zones of conflict and contact
• Discourse analyses
• Digital spaces
• Health
• Youth, education, environment
• Legislation implementation & policy passage
• Creative meditations
• Methodological critiques
• Pedagogical approaches

Please direct inquiries to Alan Chu at ndconf@gmail.com.

Proposals are due by March 15, 2012.

To register for the 2012 New Directions conference, please visit: http://english.arizona.edu/index_site.php?id=780 (As of January 31, this website has not been updated. Check back later for more information.)

Statement by ASU President Michael M. Crow on Guns on Campus Bill

Statement by ASU President Michael M. Crow on Guns on Campus Bill

January 31, 2012Arizona State University, like any major research university, is a very special and very complex learning environment. In addition to more than 70,000 of our own college students, we have day care centers, elementary school programs and thousands of elementary school age visitors in a given week as well as thousands of out-of-state teen agers and their parents visiting.

The bill (SB1474) to permit guns on campus is a misguided attempt to increase school safety without a shred of evidence to support the assumption that schools are safer if students are armed. In fact, a study by the World Health Organization found that the very opposite is true.

I don't oppose gun ownership. Own all the guns you want, I would say to anyone. But please leave them in your car if you bring them to school, which is our present policy.

Our ASU police, the Phoenix SWAT and all the other professional law enforcement chiefs we have talked to are opposed to this bill and say that it will reduce safety.

Can you imagine a crowded college lecture hall in which one student pulls a handgun and fires a shot, then a dozen more students untrained in the use of firearms and how to handle potentially deadly situations all pull out their guns? Innocent people would be caught in a deadly crossfire of panicked students firing in every direction. And what does the SWAT team do when it arrives? How do they know which of a dozen or more armed and possibly firing shooters is the bad guy? Or do they take out everyone with a gun?

There are places where guns are not conducive to public safety. Schools surely must be on that list.

CFP Transnational Rhetorics & Literacies Conference

Announcing the CFP for Transnational Rhetorics and Literacies at the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. October 19-20, 2012
Please forward this announcement on to other interested colleagues, lists, discussion boards, and programs

WESTERN STATES RHETORIC AND LITERACY CONFERENCE
Call for Papers

Transnational Rhetorics and Literacies
October 19-20, 2012
University of Winnipeg
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Keynote Speaker: Diana Brydon, Canada Research Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies

Transnational rhetorics, broadly defined, are those concerned with broadening knowledge bases beyond the "West," examining discourses, literacies, and Englishes that move beyond our current educational, political, and social systems of the "Global North."
The Western States Rhetoric and Literacy Conference was created to allow scholars in the Western region to come together and exchange current research in rhetoric and literacy studies. In keeping with the spirit of a small gathering, the conference will be held in a professional but relaxed atmosphere. Its goal is to address theoretical and pedagogical issues through a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. Each year, the conference will focus on a particular theme. While we especially welcome proposals that address the theme for each particular year, we may also consider proposals that deal with other relevant topics and issues. Of particular interest are presentations that encourage audience participation and discussion, and contribute closely to the conference theme and to questions concerning aspects of the following:

* Transnational literacies and cross-cultural learning
* Transnational and diasporic identities
* Resistance, protest, and silence in transnational spaces/movements
* Visual or multimodal rhetorics of transnationalism
* Transnational agency and empowerment
* Transnational institutions, programs, and/or disciplines
* Transnational media and technologies
* Transnational pedagogies
* Practices of representation and transnational circulation
* The politics of translation and/or multilingual writing in and across national borders
* Rhetorics of reconciliation, human rights, and peacemaking in transnational contexts
Please submit your proposals to wsrlc2012@gmail.com<mailto:wsrlc2012@gmail.com> (Subject line: WSRL TRANSNATIONALISM PROPOSAL) by May 10, 2012. We ask that you attach

* A proposal (maximum 500 words) in MS Word format or PDF prepared for blind review.
* A 50-word (maximum) abstract that summarizes your conference paper also in MS Word or PDF, accompanied by the title of your paper, author name(s), and affiliation(s).
* An indication of whether you will be giving a 20-minute paper, which will be combined with others of a similar topic, to form a 90-minute panel OR a 90-minute panel, limited to 3 speakers.
Please note that the Western States Rhetoric and Literacy Conference has a NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS policy. Only 1 submission per person.
For more information about the conference, contact, Jennifer Clary-Lemon j.clary-lemon@uwinnipeg.ca<mailto:j.clary-lemon@uwinnipeg.ca>

As is our tradition, there is no registration fee for this year's conference.
Link to CFP flyer: http://www.public.asu.edu/~petergo/wsrl/WSRL%202012%20CFP.pdf<https://exchange.asu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.public.asu.edu/~petergo/wsrl/WSRL%25202012%2520CFP.pdf>
Visit our website: http://www.public.asu.edu/~petergo/wsrl/wsrl.html<https://exchange.asu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://exchange.asu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.public.asu.edu/~petergo/wsrl/wsrl.html>

Peter N. Goggin
Associate Professor
Director of MA Rhetoric and Composition
Department of English
Arizona State University
Box 870302, Tempe, AZ 85287-0302
Phone: (480)965-7748 Fax: (480)965-3451

Western States Rhetoric & Literacy Conference
http://www.public.asu.edu/~petergo/wsrl/wsrl.html<https://exchange.asu.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.public.asu.edu/~petergo/wsrl/wsrl.html>

Choosing Reputable Outlets for Academic Work

In academia, it matters where your present or publish your work. Presenting at conferences and publishing with presses that have established strong reputation in the particular field is important when it comes to hiring, tenure and promotion. Publishing with presses that are less then reputable does not make your academic credentials stronger; in some cases, it can hurt your reputation as a researcher.

Being able to distinguish reputable venues from questionable outlets is part of disciplinary knowledge, and sometimes it is difficult for novice scholars--or experienced scholars outside your field--to tell the difference. (That's why tenure and promotion cases often involve external reviewers who are experts in the field.) But there are some signs to help identify which venues are reputable or at least acceptable. Below are some questions to consider. (The greater the number of affirmative answers, the better; even the most reputable of outlets do not necessarily meet all of these criteria.) 

For conferences: 

• Is the conference affiliated with a major professional organization in the field? 
• Is the conference affiliated with universities or research institutes that have good reputations in the field?
• Is the conference being organized by well-established members of the field?
• Does the conference feature keynote, plenary and invited speakers who are well-established in the field?
• Does the conference have many sessions that are interesting to members of the field who are studying similar topics?
• Is the conference attended by active members of the field who publish on topics that are reputable?
• Does the conference either have a peer review process for proposals or invite only well-established or cutting-edge researchers?

For journals:

• Is the journal edited by well-established members of the field?
• Does the journal have editorial board members who are well established in the field? 
• Does the journal have an editorial review process that involves reviewers who are experts on the topic?
• Does the journal include articles by authors who are well-established members of the field? 
• Are articles in the journal cited frequently and widely in other reputable journals?

For publishers:

• Does the publisher have a booth at major professional organizations in the field?
• Does the publisher have a book series or a journal dedicated to the field or its subfields?
• Does the publisher regularly publish books written or edited by well-established members of the field? 
• Does the publisher solicit contributions primarily from established members of the field or people who are doing cutting-edge work that is being recognized by established members of the field?
• Does the publisher require an editorial review process coordinated by well established members of the field?
• Does the publisher involve well established members of the field in reviewing submissions?
• Does the publisher have an acquisition editor who specializes in your field and is somewhat knowledgeable about the field?
• Are publications from the publisher being cited in other reputable publications or mentioned in conference presentations? 

Here are some red flags to watch out for:

• The publisher emails you out of the blue to invite you to publish your conference papers, theses and dissertations as a book.
• The publisher emails you out of the blue to invite you to edit a book.
• The publisher offers contracts without an editorial review process. 
• The publisher actively solicits contributions from novice researchers and graduate students without a strong track record.
• The publisher does not involve well established members of the field in the editorial review process.
• The publisher has not published at least a few books or journals in the field. 
• The publisher (or journal) has not published at least a few works by well established members of the field. 
• The publisher may mention something along the line of "I can tell you are an expert" without mentioning anything specific or establishing their own credentials. 

These guidelines are only suggestive; there are some new publishers who are beginning to establish themselves in a new field, and doing so by building a system for rigorous editorial review involving experts in the field. Even the publishers that have a few of these red flags may be legitimate publishers and businesses—although being a legitimate business is not the same as being a legitimate or high quality venue for academic publishing. 

"Use your judgment" is probably not a good piece of advice because the judgment requires expert knowledge of the field that novice researchers often don't have. But if you are surprised to have received a solicitation email, that should tell you something. When in doubt, check with your thesis/dissertation advisor or other people who are well established in the field. 

If you don't know who they are, start reading everything. 

Choosing Reputable Outlets for Academic Work

In academia, it matters where your present or publish your work. Presenting at conferences and publishing with presses that have established strong reputation in the particular field is important when it comes to hiring, tenure and promotion. Publishing with presses that are less then reputable does not make your academic credential stronger; in some cases, it can hurt your reputation as a researcher.

Being able to distinguish reputable venues from questionable outlets is part of disciplinary knowledge, and sometimes it is difficult for novice scholars—or experienced scholars outside your field—to tell the difference. (That's why tenure and promotion cases often involve external reviewers who are experts in the field.) But there are some signs to help identify which venues are reputable or at least acceptable. Below are some questions to consider. (The greater the number of affirmative answers, the better, but keep in mind that even the most reputable of outlets do not necessarily meet all of these criteria.) 

For conferences: 

• Is the conference affiliated with a major professional organization in the field? 
• Is the conference affiliated with universities or research institutes that have good reputations in the field?
• Is the conference being organized by well-established members of the field?
• Does the conference feature keynote, plenary and invited speakers who are well-established in the field?
• Does the conference have many sessions that are interesting to members of the field who are studying similar topics?
• Is the conference attended by active members of the field who publish on topics that are relevant?
• Does the conference either have a peer review process for proposals or invite only well-established or cutting-edge researchers?

For journals:

• Is the journal edited by well-established members of the field?
• Does the journal have editorial board members who are well established in the field? 
• Does the journal have an editorial review process that involves reviewers who are experts on the topic?
• Does the journal include articles by authors who are well-established members of the field? 
• Are articles in the journal cited frequently and widely in other reputable journals?

For publishers:

• Does the publisher have a booth at major professional organizations in the field?
• Does the publisher have a book series or a journal dedicated to the field or its subfields?
• Does the publisher regularly publish books written or edited by well-established members of the field? 
• Does the publisher solicit contributions primarily from established members of the field or people who are doing cutting-edge work that is being recognized by established members of the field?
• Does the publisher require an editorial review process coordinated by well established members of the field?
• Does the publisher involve well established members of the field in reviewing submissions?
• Does the publisher have an acquisition editor who specializes in your field and is somewhat knowledgeable about the field?
• Are publications from the publisher being cited in other reputable publications or mentioned in conference presentations? 

Here are some red flags to watch out for:

• The publisher emails you out of the blue to invite you to publish your conference papers, theses and dissertations as a book.
• The publisher emails you out of the blue to invite you to edit a book.
• The publisher offers final contracts without an editorial review process. 
• The publisher actively solicits contributions from novice researchers and graduate students without a strong track record.
• The publisher does not involve well established members of the field in the editorial review process.
• The publisher has not published at least a few books or journals in the field. 
• The publisher (or journal) has not published at least a few works by well established members of the field. 
• The publisher may mention something along the line of "I can tell you are an expert" without mentioning anything specific or establishing their own credentials. 

These guidelines are only suggestive; there are some new publishers who are beginning to establish themselves in a new field, and doing so by building a system for rigorous editorial review involving experts in the field. Even the publishers that have a few of these red flags may be legitimate publishers and businesses—although being a legitimate business is not the same as being a legitimate or high quality venue for academic publishing. 

"Use your judgment" is probably not a good piece of advice because the judgment requires expert knowledge of the field that novice researchers often don't have. But if you are surprised to have received a solicitation email, that should tell you something. When in doubt, check with your thesis/dissertation advisor or other people who are well established in the field. 

If you don't know who they are, start reading everything. 

The 2012 Writing the World Symposium

The University of New Mexico Writing Across Communities Initiative Presents…

The 2012 Writing the World Symposium

A regional, interdisciplinary conversation on literacy, ecology & social justice

Theme: “Ecotones: Productive Spaces, Converging Communities”

Dates: April 18-20, 2012

Call for Papers (Graduate Students): Click here

CFP Deadline: February 24, 2012

Event Description:

An ecotone is a space wherein distinct ecological communities converge, resulting in rich diversity and unpredictable creative potential. In a broad sense, an ecotone might be a neighborhood, border town, cultural practice, artistic production, historical moment, or scientific observation. Ecotones emerge when one academic discipline informs another, academy meets community, civilization dialogues with nature, and theory enters into practice. Ecotones challenge us to deconstruct, consolidate and recreate our identities as neighbors, citizens, scholars, and environmental stewards. By serving as its own kind of ecotone—a productive space where communities converge—the Writing the World Symposium hopes to foster meaningful conversations that point the way to direct and influential action.

Keynote Speakers: 

Allen D. Kanner, PhD, ecopsychologist and practicing child, family, and adult psychologist

Paul Kei Matsuda, PhD, Arizona State University second language writing scholar

Featured Speakers: 

Michelle Eodice, PhD, University of Oklahoma, Executive Director of the Learning, Teaching, and Writing Program

Judith Hendry, PhD, University of New Mexico, environmental rhetoric and communication scholar

Guidebooks on Academic Writing and Professionalization for Graduate Students

Here are some guidebooks on academic writing and professional development for graduate students and novice scholars:

Becker, H. S. (1986). Writing for social scientists: How to start and finish your thesis, book, or article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Belcher, W. L. (2009). Writing your journal articles in 12 weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  

Bolker, J. (1998). Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day: A guide to starting, revising, and finishing your doctoral thesis. New York: Owl Books. [Don't be fooled by the title. The publisher asked the author to add "in fifteen minutes a day" in order to make the book more marketable, which is a silly idea given the academic audience.] 

Cargill, M., & O'Connor, P. (2009). Writing scientific research articles: Strategy and steps. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Casanave, C. P., & Li, X. (Eds.). (2008). Learning the literacy practices of graduate school: Insiders' reflections on academic enculturation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Casanave, C. P., & Vandrick, S. (Eds.). (2003). Writing for publication: Behind the scenes in language education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Clark, I. L. (2007). Writing the successful thesis and dissertation: Entering the conversation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

DeNeef, A. L., & Goodwin, C. D. (Eds.). (2006). The academic's handbook (3rd ed.). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Dunleavy, P. (2003). Authoring a PhD: How to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. New York: Palgrave.

Feak, C., & Swales, J. M. (2009). Telling a research story: Writing a literature review. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 

Feak, C., & Swales, J. M. (2011). Creating contexts: Writing introductions across genres. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Hume, K. (2005). Surviving your academic job hunt: Advice for humanities PhDs. New York: Palgrave.

Moore, C., & Miller, H. (2006). A guide to professional development for graduate students in English. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Penrose, A. M., & Katz, S. B. (2004). Writing in the sciences: Exploring conventions of scientific discourse (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon Longman.

Semenza, G. C. (2005). Graduate study for the 21st century: How to build an academic career in the humanities. New York: Palgrave.

Showalter, E., Figler, H., Kletzer, L. G., & Schuster, J. H. (1996). The MLA guide to the job search: A handbook for departments and for PhDs and PhD candidates in English and foreign languages. New York: MLA, 1996. [This is a useful book, but it makes a discriminatory remark about the desirability of hiring nonnative English speakers in the English department.]

Sternberg, D. (1981). How to complete and survive a doctoral dissertation. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Swales, J. M. (2004). Research genres: Explorations and applications. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. (2004). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills (2nd ed.). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. (2000). English in today's research world: A writing guide. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. (2009). Abstracts and the writing of abstracts. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Swales, J. M., & Feak, C. (2011). Navigating academica: Writing supporting genres. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

This list is not comprehensive, and it is being presented as is without warranty. The views expressed in this book are of the authors and do not necessarily reflect my views. Being listed here does not automatically imply my endorsement, either. I will be updating the list occasionally--whenever I feel like.

Tanita Saenkhum's Dissertation Fellowship!

Tanita Saenkhum is a recipient of the Graduate College Dissertation Completion Scholarship for Spring 2012. Congratulations, Tanita!

Congratulations, Joseph Ernest Mambu!

One of my doctoral students, Joseph Ernest Mambu, just told me about his new publication, "English for Advocacy Purposes: Critical Pedagogy’s Contribution to Indonesia," which appeared in the most recent issue of Asia TEFL Journal. Congrats, Joseph. Way to go!

TESOL Doctoral Forum in Philadelphia

Two of my doctoral advisees, Kacie Marie Kiser and Joseph Ernest Mambu, will be presenting at this year's TESOL Doctoral Forum in Philadelphia. Way to go, Kacie and Joseph!