Romanticism’s Commons
North American Society for the Study of Romanticism (NASSR)
Athabasca University
Online Conference
August 14-16, 2025
Proposal Deadline: March 15, 2025
Keynote speakers
- Dr Shelby Johnson, Assistant Professor of English at Oklahoma State U. Dr Johnson is the author of The Rich Earth Between Us: The Intimate Grounds of Race and Sexuality in the Atlantic World, 1770-1830 (U of North Carolina P, 2024); and
- Dr Joseph Albernaz, Assistant Professor of English & Comparative Literature at Columbia U, author of Common Measures: Romanticism and the Groundlessness of Community (Stanford UP, 2024).
Call for papers
NASSR hopes to solicit contributions to current studies in Romanticism from a transdisciplinary array of scholarly approaches and perspectives. The theme of Romanticism's Commons also resonates with and builds on those of previous NASSR conferences, like those focusing on mediations, openness, and technology, among others.
Understood in the broadest terms possible, research on "Romanticism's commons" can encompass topics like (but not limited to) the following:
- Romanticism's digital commons(es)
- speaking in common tongues
- "commonties" (Hogg): etymologies, discourses, genealogies
- gendering, classing, and/or sexing what's "common"
- common Romanticism in pop culture
- law, property, intellectual property: from enclosures to new enclosures
- Romantic literature(s) and public domain(s)
- common grounds: discourses and praxis of solidarity discourses
- common knowledge(s), (un)common sense
Conference organizers are open to various forms of proposal:
Traditional proposals for 15-20-minute papers (250-word abstracts) submitted by individual NASSR members to the conference organizers.
Proposals for complete panels, special sessions, caucus sessions (with the roster of committed speakers and affiliations) for three 20-minute or four 15-minute papers (250-word abstracts for each paper accompanied by a cover letter describing the aims of the panel as a whole). All papers are subject to vetting by the organizing committee.
If you are interested in proposing a panel but are looking for participants, we encourage you to advertise your topic by sending an email to NASSR2025@proton.me (or nassr.news@gmail.com).
Proposals for roundtables: please provide a description of the roundtable topic, including a title, with a list of committed panelists (with affiliations). Please note that the maximum number of roundtable members, including the chair, is six (6).
The deadline for all submissions (paper proposals, complete panels/special sessions/caucus sessions, and roundtables) is extended to 15 March 2025.
Please send all submissions, together with a one-page CV -- and/or direct questions -- to the NASSR 2025 conference committee, chaired by Mark A. McCutcheon, at NASSR2025@proton.me
All submissions must include your name, academic affiliation, and preferred email address.
For more information, please visit the conference website.