Thank you to everyone who submitted a proposal - the call for papers is now CLOSED. 

We invite submissions for the 66th annual British Association for American Studies conference at the University of Hull, which will be held between the 21st and 23rd of April 2022. We look forward to welcoming the international American Studies community to our beautiful Yorkshire campus. Building on the successes of the 2021 Digital Conference, the Hull conference is currently planned as a hybrid event. 

Proposals are welcomed on any subject in American Studies, broadly conceived; that is, we hope to attract a range of papers across eras, geographies, and disciplines. We encourage scholars who were due to speak at the regrettably cancelled Liverpool 2020 conference to submit proposals. Beyond research, we are interested in receiving session proposals that address American Studies pedagogy, “impact” and “knowledge exchange”, and the shape and future of the discipline. Along these lines, we welcome panels that include activists, teachers, artists, and other community practitioners alongside, and in dialogue with, academic colleagues. 

This website will be updated regularly with further information, including travel and accommodation, conference rates (including subsidised rates for PGRs, ECAs, and those on temporary contracts), details of keynote speakers, networking opportunities, and social events.

Submission Guidelines

We encourage fully formed panel proposals or roundtable discussions, but will also accept individual paper proposals where suitable. All sessions at the conference will be a maximum of 1 hour 30 minutes. For logistical reasons, each session should be conceived as either fully online or fully in person. We outline our current plans for delivery of the conference here. 

We welcome creative and experimental session formats that reconfigure the traditional three-paper panel and encourage audience interaction, including (but not limited to): flash papers, keyword/image sessions, work-in-progress discussion of pre-circulated papers, reading groups, and workshops. Please contact the conference organisers ([email protected]) informally to discuss your ideas or if you anticipate a session duration in excess of 1h 30m. 

BAAS is dedicated to fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion. We will give preference to panels that reflect the diversity of our field in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and institutional affiliation. We will also give preference to panels that include a mix of participants from across the career spectrum (i.e., from postgraduate to professor). All-male panel proposals will not be accepted. 

Instructions for Panellists

All proposals should be sent to [email protected] by Monday November 22nd 2021. Please indicate clearly alongside your submission whether the panel / presentation is conceived as an in-person or online session. Unfortunately we are unable to facilitate hybrid panels. 

Panel proposals should be submitted by the panel chair and should include a proposed title, a 250-word abstract for each constituent paper, and an abstract of no more than 250 words describing the panel session as a whole. Proposals should also include a 200 word biography (including institutional affiliation, where appropriate, and preferred pronouns, if desired) and an email address for each participant. 

Roundtable proposals should be submitted by the roundtable chair and should be no longer than 1000 words total (including, where appropriate, short summaries of each participant’s contribution, an overall rationale for the session, and a session title). In addition, proposals should include a 200 word biography (including institutional affiliation, where appropriate, and preferred pronouns, if desired) and an email address for each participant. 

Individual paper proposals for 20 minute presentations should consist of an abstract of no more than 250 words, along with a 200 word biography (including institutional affiliation, where appropriate, and preferred pronouns, if desired) and an email address. Looking for co-presenters? Click here to register your availability and connect yourself with other interested scholars. 

Special Funding for Targeted Research Panels

BAAS has available funding for convenors to organise two successive annual conference panels that will support, promote, and feature the production of research by and about people of colour, LGBTQ+ communities and disability communities. Through Targeted Research Panels, BAAS seeks to provide opportunities to foster and forward research that attends to and includes historically marginalised communities, and supports scholars without regularised institutional support.

Convenors who apply for funding to organise a Targeted Research Panel must commit to coordinating a thematically cohesive panel for the 2022 and 2023 BAAS Annual Conferences at the University of Hull and Keele University. Each selected Targeted Research Panel will be awarded £5,000 for a two-year cycle of BAAS annual conference panels. The panel convenor might, for example, use funds to subsidise the travel and accommodation of the panellists. Whilst proposals from international scholars are welcome, because BAAS seeks to foster research networks and support scholars in the UK, we would ask that at least 50% of panelists are UK-based.

The deadline for Targeted Research Panel applications is Monday, November 22nd 2021. The convenor will submit a proposal for a fully formed panel as outlined in the 2022 BAAS Annual Conference Call for Papers in addition to a short statement of no more than 500 words explaining how the proposed panel addresses the production of research by and about people of colour, LGBTQ+ communities, disability communities and scholars without regularised institutional support.

Email submissions should include ‘Targeted Research Panels’ in the subject line. Convenors should also specify whether they want their panel proposal to be considered for the 2022 Annual Conference if it is not selected as a Targeted Research Panel.

To discuss ideas informally, please contact the conference organisers ([email protected]) and/or the BAAS EDI lead Dr Christine Okoth ([email protected]).