Third Annual Scholars in Critical Race Studies Conference 2008 Theme: “Global Civil Rights”

Dates: March 27-28, 2008
Proposal Deadline: December 20, 2007
Location: University of Memphis, Tennessee

The Scholars in Critical Race Studies (SCRS) at University of Memphis seek submissions for their third annual colloquium. In commemoration of the fortieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s murder in Memphis, the topic this year is on “Global Civil Rights.” The keynote speaker this year is internationally renowned critical race theorist David Theo Goldberg. Please send all inquiries or proposals to: jgorman@memphis.edu. The deadline for 250-500 word abstracts of 30-minute papers is December 20, 2007. Selected papers will be published in the journal Patterns of Prejudice.

Scholars affiliated with the SCRS examine the historical evolution and contemporary expression of race as a social category for discriminating, organizing, regulating and maintaining social differences. By revealing that racial categories emerge in specific contexts that are connected to power, politics, economics and culture, these scholars destabilize those categories as natural or transhistorical. The point is to disclose how race operates in differing situations and texts, in order to undermine the force of racism. The SCRS is an interdisciplinary forum that seeks to facilitate a conversation by scholars across the humanities and social sciences, including Philosophy, Literature, History, Foreign Languages, Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, and Jewish Studies.

This colloquium was made possible by the generosity of the Marcus Orr Center for the Humanities, the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, Bornblum Judaic Studies, and the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Memphis.

Submissions are welcome in the following categories, however the suggested topics below are by no means exclusive. We particularly welcome contributors from the Mid-South region (Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas).

• The global community and the beloved community
• Jewish responses to apartheid and to civil rights
• Expressions of and responses to racism within material and intangible heritage
• Politics and ideation of a post-racial state
• What are the influences of national struggles for civil rights on global claims to civil rights?
• The influence southern U.S. Civil Rights Movement on activist groups in other locales
• The influence of other activist movements on the southern U.S. Civil Rights Movement, the role of race in contemporary civil rights struggles globally
• Defining or narrating "civil rights" in other national contexts
• Transnational dialogue or collaboration among activist movements