CFPs

(Re)cartographier les littératures autochtones : Au-delà des langues, des territoires, des pratiques et des genres

*Although the CFP for this conference is in French, papers in both French and English are accepted.

APPEL À COMMUNICATIONS

Colloque organisé par la Chaire de leadership en enseignement sur les littératures autochtones au Québec, dans le cadre de la 14e édition du Salon du livre des Premières Nations

Maison de la littérature, Québec, 27 novembre 2025

Dans son ouvrage Mark My Words, la chercheuse seneca Mishuana Goeman réfléchit aux possibilités des textes littéraires autochtones à produire des (re)cartographies, c’est-à-dire des discours qui remettent en question les géographies et visions du monde issues du colonialisme et de l’impérialisme européens. (Re)cartographier, écrit-elle, « is the labor Native authors and the communities they write within and about undertake, in the simultaneously metaphoric and material capacities of map making, to generate new possibilities » (2013 : 3). Partant de cette définition de Goeman et des possibilités créatives qu’elle engendre, nous souhaitons réfléchir à la manière dont l’acte de (re)cartographier peut se situer à différents niveaux : à la fois comme un outil conceptuel pour penser la construction et la représentation de l’espace et des spatialités dans les œuvres littéraires autochtones et plus largement comme un geste critique qui engage un (re)traçage des contours de ce que l’on nomme, aujourd’hui, les littératures autochtones. En fait, dans son livre, Goeman, à la suite de Doreen Massey, nous invite à penser l’espace non pas comme une simple surface, mais plutôt comme une rencontre d’histoires composant une toile de relations ouverte, en constante transformation (2013 : 5). Les frontières spatiales peuvent donc être repensées et reconfigurées, notamment à travers les créations littéraires permettant d’imaginer des manières de transgresser les démarcations produites par la géographie et l’épistémologie coloniales. En ce sens, l’acte de (re)cartographier propre au fait littéraire nous permet de poser deux questions centrales : comment les littératures autochtones (re)mettent-elles en cause les frontières géographiques, génériques, formelles et linguistiques? Voire les frontières entre les pratiques littéraires (livres, périodiques, textes manuscrits ou imprimés, arts littéraires, etc.)? Et de quelle manière ce bouleversement des espaces à la fois matériels et symboliques déclenche-t-il une réflexion critique sur la délimitation des objets qui sont ceux des études littéraires autochtones? 

SAIL Special Issue: Ethical Relations in Indigenous Literary Studies

This issue will ask contributors to engage the following questions: What does it mean to be a good relative?  What is our ethical obligation in responding to conflict within identity politics, academia, and the practice of literary criticism, especially regarding predatory and extractive behaviors? How do we conscientiously talk about Indigenous worldviews in ways that are not reductive and objectifying in our teaching of Indigenous literatures? What do we do with representations of trauma in Indigenous literature, and how do we teach about it while not reproducing it? 

Please submit an abstract (no more than 500 words) and list of keywords for consideration via email to: 
SAIL.editors@gmail.com

Contemporary Indigenous Horror

Deadline for submissions: Extended to June 30, 2025

Contact email: Dr. Naomi Simone Borwein (nborwein@uwo.ca) Dr. Krista Collier-Jarvis (Krista.Collier-Jarvis@msvu.ca)

Building on discussions in the edited volume, Global Indigenous Horror (University Press of Mississippi, 2025), this is a call for chapter proposal submissions focused on the topic of Contemporary Indigenous Horror. Beautiful, luminous and resonant moments of horror exist in the work of writers like Shane Hawk, Kim Scott, Tiffany Morris, Waubgeshig Rice, or Ambelin Kwaymullina. But Indigenous horror tales thrive in many narrative or storying forms—from fiction, plays, and music, to graphic novels, art installations, or experimental films fortified by sonic and oral manifestations.

Responding to the widening gap between Indigenous horror and academic responses to it, editors Naomi Simone Borwein and Krista Collier-Jarvis solicit contributions for Contemporary Indigenous Horror. Shane Hawk broadly defines horror as that which “prioritizes the fear factor, often using graphic depictions of violence, monstrous beings, or otherworldly threats to achieve its effect. The ultimate purpose of horror is to confront the reader with their deepest fears, creating an experience that is visceral and unsettling.” When taken up by Indigenous storytellers, horror often engages with a colonial past that has never really passed, and as such, it haunts contemporary Indigenous peoples and communities. Indigenous horror thus often blends traditional stories as well as Indigenous ways of knowing and being with contemporary issues. In many cases, Indigenous horror is about our lived experiences, not as the victim of ongoing coloniality, but as resistance. According to Elizabeth Edwards and Brenna Duperron, “Indigeneity is a resistance — in the usual sense of opposition, repudiation, and refusal to comply [...but also] resistant to assimilation. Indigeneity is the lived and embodied experience of peoples who have participated in that resistance” (94). In many other cases, Indigenous horror is about what Scott Gordon calls “colonial whiplash,” where “white people who haven't turned into zombies [or other monsters] are at the mercy of the oppressed”—their Indigenous saviours. And in other cases, what Indigenous horror is has yet to be revealed.

Chapters (6,000-8,000 words including bibliography) may examine modern, contemporary representations of Indigenous Horror from a variety of perspectives. See the full CFP for examples.

Please send a 250-word abstract and a 100-word bio to editors Naomi Simone Borwein (nborwein@uwo.ca) and Krista Collier-Jarvis (Krista.Collier-Jarvis@msvu.ca) by June 30, 2025 (extended deadline).

The Indigenous New Wave Movement: Gender and Sexuality in Cultural Production

Deadline for abstracts: July 31, 2025

Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture, and Social Justice invites submissions for a special issue dedicated to exploring the Indigenous New Wave Movement. The Indigenous New Wave is a global artistic movement in multiple fields, including film, music, art, and literature of the “Visions and Revisions” period. Jesse Wente (Anishnabe) coined the term “the Indigenous New Wave” to describe Indigenous art that responds to Western media by reclaiming Indigenous images. It tends to authentic stories that challenge historical stereotypes and colonial narratives. For example, the rise of Two-Spirit stories in Indigenous New Wave media disrupts Western binary conceptions of gender and identity. Indigenous New Wave artists decolonize Western works, champion Indigenous sovereignty, and drive reconciliation. These artists challenge traditional narratives, reclaim Indigenous voices, and forge new paths in artistic expression, ultimately reshaping the cultural landscape. Their creations often tackle contemporary themes, use innovative storytelling, and promote cultural resurgence(s).