41: Politics, Literature and Film Section

Natalie Taylor, Skidmore College, ntaylor@skidmore.edu

The Politics, Literature, & Film Section welcomes paper and panel proposals for the 2010 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. September 2-5. The theme of the 2010 conference will be “The Politics of Hard Times: Citizens, Nations, and the International System under Economic Stress.” Economic stress often leaves polities vulnerable to significant change, often involving much greater centralization of authority in governments. The early twentieth century, for example, witnessed the rise of both fascism and communism in response to economic stress, suggesting that democracies may be particularly vulnerable during hard times. How do we reconcile our more noble human desires, such as the desire for freedom and autonomy, with our more basic desire for economic or material security? What is the role of the political leader or statesman?

Literature and film each have illuminated the challenges to political life posed by economic difficulties. They remind us of the political principles that transcend time and place, while bringing them to life under particular circumstances. The capacity to capture both the universal and the particular also allows literature and film to educate us during hard times. Proposals should reflect the contributions of our sub-discipline to examining “the Politics of Hard Times.”