CFP: Examining Popular African-American Literature (1/10/07;
ALA, 5/24/07-5/27/07)  full name / name of organization:  Nash,
Will contact email:  The African-American Literature and Culture
Society invites proposals   Examining Popular African-American
Literature  The past decade has shown an efflorescence of
African American popular literature, especially genre fiction
(e.g., mysteries, romance/erotica, "gangsta" literature). Why
are black audiences clamoring for these sorts of novels? What
social messages do novels in each of these genres convey? Do
African-American popular novels generally affirm stereotypical
visions of black identity, or does one find strategies of
resistance to stereotypical views of blackness inscribed in
them? In what, if any, ways does African-American popular
literature differ from popular literature directed primarily at
white audiences?    Please send 1-2 page proposals by January
10th to    Prof. William R. Nash  Department of American Studies
Middlebury College  Middlebury, VT