The Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada invites proposals for its 2016 conference, “Victorian Intimacies.” The conference will explore Victorian concepts, representations, and experiences of intimacy. We invite papers that examine Victorian studies’ enduring interest in the intimate relationships among bodies, things, environments, and practices. Conference dates are April 22–23, 2016, and the publication workshop runs April 21 and 24, 2016.
Possible topics for discussion might include autobiography and life writing; intimacy with objects and commodities; human-animal relationships; the care of the self; altruism and care for others; grooming and etiquette; dress and adornment; private and public secrets; homes and/or private spaces; rest and relaxation; introspection and seclusion; eroticism and sexual relations; proximity and closeness; the intimacy of media and technology; nerves and nervous systems; the intimate experiences of race, class, and/or gender; global/imperial expressions of intimacy; friendships; family relationships; letter-writing/correspondence; sexual health and the purity movement; pornography; spiritualism and ghostly encounters; neo-Victorian and intertextual intimacies; reading practices.
The conference organizing committee welcomes papers from scholars working in different disciplines and employing varied methodologies (history, art history, architecture, music, theatre, literary studies, popular culture, digital humanities, media history/archaeology, disability studies, affect theory, postcolonialism, critical race theory, phenomenology, gender studies, and queer theory). We also encourage would-be participants to propose panels of three papers on related themes.
This year’s conference will feature a Plenary Workshop on nineteenth-century albums led by expert Jason Camlot from the Department of English at Concordia University. In lieu of making a formal presentation, Dr. Camlot has kindly agreed to lead delegates in a unique hands-on experience with Victorian albums and scrapbooks from his own collection.
We are delighted to announce as well that portions of the conference, including the Plenary Workshop, will be held at the Dalnavert Museum and Visitors’ Centre, a jewel of Winnipeg’s museum landscape and a national historic site. Built in 1895, this carefully restored heritage home houses an impressive collection of late-nineteenth-century artifacts and explores the history of family life, the politics of home design, changing notions of privacy, and the relationships between servants and employers who lived in close proximity. Located 5 minutes’ walk from the conference hotel, it is an ideal location for our conference’s exploration of Victorian Intimacies.
As well, the conference will also once again feature at no additional cost VSAWC’s highly successful Publication Workshop for Emergent Scholars. This two-day intensive workshop, scheduled for April 21 and 24 and bracketing the main conference, will be led by Victorian Review co-editors Lisa Surridge and Mary Elizabeth Leighton. Graduate students and junior faculty are warmly invited to this two-day hands-on workshop designed to hone a scholarly paper to publication standard. The workshop will start on the morning of April 21 with a three-hour interactive presentation on “How to Get Published: Ten Tips from Two Editors.” Participants will meet individually during the afternoon of April 21 with workshop leaders to receive feedback on their paper and then will be free to attend the regular conference. The conference will be followed on April 24 by a three-hour writing workshop in which participants will apply the knowledge gained during the presentation and feedback sessions, revise their papers, and share results. Previous workshop participants have enjoyed considerable publication success coming out of the workshop.
Conference CFP: Please send 250-word abstracts with titles plus a separate 75-word biographical statement to Dr. Daniel Martin (vsawc16@gmail.com) by September 14, 2015. Please visit http://web.uvic.ca/vsawc/vsawc-conferences/2016-conference/ for more information.
Publication workshop CFP: Please send your paper title plus a separate 75-word biographical statement and CV to Lisa Surridge (lsurridg@uvic.ca) by September 14, 2015. Participants will submit 20–25-page essays one week before the first workshop day. Workshop participants need not present a conference paper.
The conference will take place at the Delta Winnipeg Hotel, which is centrally located in downtown Winnipeg and within walking distance from the Dalnavert Museum (5 min), the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (15 min), and the Manitoba Legislative Buildings (10 min). The Delta has set aside rooms for conference delegates at a rate of $129.00 CA per night.