Global Crises: Cultural Responses - Lucero, UC Berkeley

Global Crises: Cultural Responses
Lucero Volume 20, Spring 2010

Rupture and Representation
Reconfiguring the North-South Dialogue
Engaging with Otherness
Questioning and Constructing Identities
Local vs. Global, Particular vs. Universal
Historical Divisions
Challenging Theory
Transgressing Borders
Queer Responses
Texts and Contexts
Images and Sounds
Frontiers and Fronteras
Liminality and Marginality
Rethinking Gender and Sexuality
Scholarship, Academy, and Community

The forthcoming 20th issue of Lucero, the journal published by the graduate students of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Berkeley, seeks to explore the repercussions and implications of global crises. Over the past months, various events have shaken social, political, and economic spheres. Talk of "the crisis" in news reports and daily conversations usually refers to these current events, yet the notion of crisis can be understood in a broader sense. By crisis, we refer not only to global economic breakdown, but also to a variety of cultural, historical, social, and theoretical problems, ranging from the crisis of representation to the role of academia in society. Given the recent economic downturn, the role of the university and, in particular, of the humanities has entered a situation of crisis. Institutions, scholars, and students are questioning academic priorities and the role of the humanities in the world. With the rise of cultural studies and the questioning of the canon in recent years, Spanish and Portuguese as a discipline is in a particular moment of crisis and renovation.

These crises, whether economic, sociopolitical, academic, or disciplinary, impact the creation and analysis of culture. How does cultural production respond to "crisis" in the broad sense of the term? How do these various crises show up in cultural and critical realms? The editorial staff of the 20th edition of Lucero welcomes submissions using interdisciplinary approaches that explore the connection between crisis and culture. Topics could include, but are not limited to the above mentioned themes.

Lucero seeks original manuscripts of 15-25 pages in English, Spanish or Portuguese. Please submit an electronic copy of the manuscript as a Microsoft Word attachment to lucerosubmissions@gmail.com. The document should be in 12-point, Times New Roman font, and double spaced. For other formatting questions, please consult the MLA Style Manual. Submissions will undergo double-blind review. The manuscript should not contain identifying information. Please include a separate cover sheet with the title of the article and the author's name, email address, and institutional affiliation.

Mission Statement:
Lucero is an academic journal dedicated to interdisciplinary scholarship on the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking worlds, with special emphasis on literary and cultural studies. Through its published selections and thematic focus, this journal attempts to reconsider our notions of Hispanic, Peninsular, Latin American, and Lusophone studies, urging for increasingly interdisciplinary and comparative studies. Published annually by the graduate students of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley, each issues features scholarly articles, interviews, and book reviews.

Views and Visions: Perspectives in Iberian and Latin American Literatures - Tulane University

The Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Student Association
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana

October 9-10, 2009

Views and Visions: Perspectives in Iberian and Latin American Literatures

The Spanish and Portuguese Graduate Student Association at Tulane University welcomes papers or panels in English, Spanish, or Portuguese that explore concepts of views and visions, which include but are not limited to the following: unusual or unreliable perspectives and points of view; texts that accompany images; visual spectacles and dramatic performances; texts that deal with sight, blindness, or distorted vision; writings about mystic visions, ecstasies, or dreams. The organizing committee seeks papers from all theoretical approaches pertinent to the studies of Peninsular, Transatlantic, and Latin American Literatures.

Keynote Speaker:
Rolena Adorno, Yale University
"The Inca Speaks English: The Comentarios reales First Appearance Outside Spanish, 1625"

Please send abstracts of 250 words for papers and panels in Microsoft Word format to viewsandvisions09@gmail.com. Please include your name, phone number, title, and institutional affiliation in your email. Individual presentations may be up to 20 minutes in length (7-8 pages, typed, double-spaced).

The deadline for abstract submissions is September 22, 2009.