We invite abstracts from literary, historical and cultural studies perspectives focusing on the literal and metaphorical networks created and navigated by women from the American Revolution to the onset of the Second World War. We are interested in papers on a wide range of transatlantic themes, including the history of ideas, the migration of texts, identity formation, literary production and reception, feminism and emancipation, immigration, and social reform. How and in what forms did ideas, bodies, and texts travel across oceans and continents? How did women’s lives adapt and change as a result of such networks? What were the consequences of such intellectual and social engagements on the literary and socio-political milieus of these women? Which cooperative strategies enabled and emanated from such relationships? We especially invite participants whose projects focus on relations between women in the Americas and Scandinavia, and in eastern and southern Europe. In addition to examining the historical networks of our nineteenth- and twentieth-century predecessors, we anticipate establishing a global web of contemporary researchers engaged in transatlantic studies. At the conference, we will discuss future events and other venues for continued collaboration.

Organized by Dr. Julia Nitz (MLU Halle-Wittenberg), Dr. Sandra H. Petrulionis (Penn State University, Altoona), and Theresa Schön (MLU Halle-Wittenberg) and hosted by the Center for US Studies at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, the conference will be held at the Leucorea in Wittenberg, a 1-hour train ride from central Berlin. Lodging will be available at the Leucorea Foundation building. Confirmed guest speakers include Dr. Thavolia Glymph, Associate Professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University (Durham, North Carolina USA), and Dr. Jutta Gsoels-Lorensen, Associate Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University (Altoona, Pennsylvania USA). We expect to publish selected conference proceedings; participants whose proposals are accepted will be eligible to apply for a travel grant.

Please send 300-word abstracts and a brief biographical sketch by June 15, 2013, to Dr. Julia Nitz at julia.nitz@zusas.uni-halle.de.