CFP - Florida: Past and Present State(s) of Empire in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Call for Papers
ChLA Diversity Committee’s Annual Sponsored Panel
Children's Literature Association Conference 2017
Tampa, Florida, June 22-24, 2017
http://www.childlitassn.org/2017
Florida: Past and Present State(s) of Empire in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
In many ways, Florida represents both past and present tensions over history, race, displacement, language, and citizenship central to national debates. Florida’s popular image as a vacation spot veils its place as a site of Spanish and American empire. The city of St. Augustine's claim as "the oldest city in the United States" masks its start as the first Spanish settlement (1565), which includes a history of colonization, displacement, war, violence, and cultural appropriation for Native Americans. Tensions remain today for Native Americans in the state (and throughout the U.S.) with the debate over complex issues such as cultural appropriation, revisionist histories, and undocumented violence against their community. In addition to Native Americans in Florida, generations of Latino/a and Caribbean immigrants call the Sunshine State home, including those from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, and Jamaica. Tampa’s Ibor City and St. Augustine were among the first places were AfroLatin@s settled in the U.S. (Juan Flores, The Afro-Latin@ Reader, 2012). The state’s legacy of Jim Crow segregation and racial violence has been documented by scholars studying local traumas such as Rosewood and the killing of Trayvon Martin in Sanford.
This panel seeks papers that explore topics inspired by Florida’s history, though works do not have to be set in Florida per se. We invite papers examining works by children’s and young adult authors depicting life in the“Old South” and Jim Crow segregation, Latin@ and/or Caribbean documented and undocumented migration, bilingual literature, Native Americans, AfroCaribbean, and AfroLatin@ representations, and travel and tourism.
Questions? Contact Marilisa Jimenez Garcia and Karen Chandler at marilisajg@gmail.com and orkmchan01@louisville.edu. Email your 500-word abstract and 2-page CV by 15 September 2016, attaching them in .rtf, .doc, or .docks format, and including your email and phone number.