Resources for Conferences and Knowing Your Field

By: Natalie Boldt and Heidi Rennert, with Tiffany Chan

This post is part of a two-part series on applying to, preparing for, and presenting at conferences. You might also be interested in Natalie Boldt’s post, “Presenting in Ballroom C,” on her experience with her first conference.

The list of following resources are organized roughly by period/concentration. If you know of (particularly student-friendly) resources, email uvicegss[at]gmail[dot]com to add them to the list!

Note that many professional organizations hold yearly conferences and/or publish a journal. Resources and/or conferences that are particularly friendly to graduate students are marked with an asterisk (*).

GENERAL

Professional Organizations

• The Modern Language Association (aka MLA): a yearly subscription also includes an edition of the MLA handbook, MLA publications (the PMLA), and newsletters.
• Association of Departments of English (MLA affiliate)
• Association of Departments of Foreign Languages (MLA affiliate)
• Northeast Modern Language Association (MLA affiliate)
• The Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (aka ACCUTE): runs a yearly conference, usually in May/June called Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.* Congress typically runs panels on a variety of topics, including many, if not all, of the areas/concentrations below.

Calls for Papers

• UPenn English Department’s CFP Database (note the link to graduate conferences in particular)
• Twitter accounts such as ACCUTEnglish, Victorian CFPs, HASTAC (often DH, media studies, and related fields)

Early Modern

Professional Organizations

• Renaissance Society of America (RSA)
• Sixteenth Century Studies Society (SCSC)
• Pacific Northwest Renaissance Society (PNRS)
• Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies (CSRS)
• Shakespeare Association of America (SAA)

Research Centres and Archives (in North America)

• Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS, University of Toronto)
• Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (University of Toronto
• Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington DC)
• Harry Ransom Center (Austin, TX)
• Newberry Library (Chicago, IL)

Medieval Studies

Professional Organizations

• Canadian Society of Medievalists (CSM)
• Medieval Association of the Pacific (MAP)
• The Medieval Academy of America (MAA)
• Mardinalia (research group)

CANADIAN LITERATURE / LITERATURES OF THE WEST COAST

Professional Organizations

• Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures (ACQL)
• Western Literature Association (WLA)

Journals

• BC Studies | The British Columbia Quarterly
• Canadian Literature | A Quarterly of Criticism and Review
• Canadian Poetry | Studies, Documents, Reviews
• Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne (SCL/ÉLC)
• University of Toronto Quarterly (UTQ)

DIGITAL HUMANITIES OR Digital Studies

Professional Organizations

• Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO)
• Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH)
• Canadian Society for Digital Humanities / Société canadienne des humanités numériques (CSDH/SCHN)
• HASTAC* (Humanities, Arts, Sciences, and Technology Alliance Collaboratory): HASTAC is not limited to digital humanities scholars–or even to academia. Rather, it is explicitly interdisciplinary. Membership is free but requires you to register an account (it is something like an online forum, but often results in making contacts in-person as well).

Training Opportunities

• Digital Humanities Summer Institute* (held annually @ UVIC in the first and second weeks of June)

Mailing Lists

• The DHSI mailing list often circulates information about conferences, job postings, announcements, and more.
• News and Information from UCLA Digital Humanities by Miriam Posner

Journals

• For a detailed list of DH journals visit the University of Berkley’s Resource Guide at the following address: http://digitalhumanities.berkeley.edu/resources/digital-humanities-journals

(POST)COLONIAL STUDIES

Professional Organizations

• Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS)
• Another Subcontinent | South Asian Society & Culture
• Caribbean Studies Association
• MELUS | A Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States

Journals

• Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal
• Ariel: A Review of International English Literature (ARIEL)
• Atlantic Literary Review
• Borderlands eJournal
• Callaloo | A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters
• Commonwealth Essays and Studies
• Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa
• Island Studies Journal
• Journal of Caribbean Studies
• Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies
• Jouvert | A Journal of Postcolonial Studies
• La Habana Elegante: segunda época
• Moving Worlds | A Journal of Transcultural Writings
• Postcolonial Text
• Wadabagei | A Journal of the Caribbean and its Global Diasporas

Other Publications

• Interventions (Routledge Series)
• Postcolonial Studies (Routledge Series)
• Wasafiri: International Contemporary Writing (Literary Magazine)
• See also the SOAS (University of London) website for a list of the journals, books, and newsletters they publish in this area.

VICTORIAN STUDIES

Professional Organizations

• North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA)
• Research Society for Victorian Periodicals (RSVP)
• Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States (VISAWUS)
• Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada (VSAWC)

Journals

• Victorian Review | An Interdisciplinary Journal of Victorian Studies

Conferences

• Victorian Studies Association of Ontario (VSAO) and VSAWC typically run Victorian sessions at ACCUTE’s annual conference, Congress in the Social Sciences and Humanities.
• VSAWC also runs a yearly conference,* often jointly with VISAWUS in April

Acknowledgments

With thanks to Nick Bradley, Matt Huculak, Erin Kelly, Lincoln Shlensky, and Lisa Surridge for their help in compiling this list.

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Natalie Boldt is a first-year PhD student focusing on contemporary Canadian and Speculative Fiction. Heidi Rennert is a first-year MA student focusing on Victorian literature.