Class Matters:
Working Class Studies Association Conference
Pittsburgh, PA
June 3 - 6, 2009
The Working Class Studies Association (WCSA) is pleased to announce that its
biennial Conference will be held at the University of Pittsburgh, June 3 -
6, 2009.
Proposals are invited for presentations, panels, workshops, and
performances, according to the guidelines below. Proposals must be received
by January 4, 2009.
The Working Class Studies Association
The WCSA promotes models of working-class studies, both inside and outside
of the academy, that serve the interests of working-class people. These
include critical discussions of relationships among class, race, gender,
sexuality, nationality, and other structures of inequality. WCSA is a
multidisciplinary and international association; its members and conference
participants include social workers, documentary filmmakers, writers, labor
educators and cultural workers, as well as scholars and teachers across a
range of academic fields. Web address: www.wcstudies.org.
WCSA Conference 2009
Featuring panels, plenaries, workshops, performances, screenings, site
visits, and social gatherings, the conference provides an opportunity for
academics, artists, activists, workers, independent scholars, teachers and
students to present their projects, make connections, and learn about
resources for the work we hold in common.
The conference theme, Class Matters, is intended to encompass the broad
range of fields of study and forms of work promoted by the WCSA, and
proposals may reflect this diversity. (See below for a listing of topics
addressed at previous conferences.) Planners of the 2009 conference also
have a particular interest in topics connected to "place" and location,
including the local and global sites and environments of working-class lives
and struggles.
Proposal guidelines
Proposals will be accepted in three categories:
a) Individual presentation, paper or talk. The program committee may group
these into panel sessions.
b) Panel session, featuring three or four presenters, proposing jointly.
Typically 1.5 hours long, sessions may take the form of a workshop,
round-table, or panel, and must provide time for response and interaction.
Workshops of longer duration will also be considered.
c) Performance, reading, or screening of creative work. Proposal must
include a request for necessary space and/or technology.
Proposal format:
1. Proposed title
2. Category of proposal (see above)
3. Description, in fewer than 250 words, of the session
4. Names and institutional affiliation (where appropriate) of all
presenters
5. Name, address, email, and phone numbers of the person making the
proposal
Submit proposals either as hard copy by mail to Class Matters Conference,
English Department, 526 Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA 15260, or as an email attachment to (wcsa09 /at/ pitt.edu).
Proposals must be received by January 4, 2009. Notifications of acceptance
will be made by February 1, 2009. Closer to the event a web-site will be
available for posting of changes and updates, travel and lodging details,
and the conference program.
Conference co-chairs:
Nick Coles, Department of English, University of Pittsburgh
(coles /at/ pitt.edu)
Charlie McCollester, Pennsylvania Labor Center, Indiana University of
Pennsylvania
(charles /at/ iup.edu)
Conference sponsors:
The 2009 conference will be hosted by Pitt's English Department, with
support from the School of Arts and Sciences. Co-sponsors include the
departments of Anthropology, History and Sociology, and the Women's Studies
Program at the University of Pittsburgh, the Pennsylvania Labor Center at
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the Battle of Homestead Foundation.
Topics addressed at the 2005 (Youngstown State University) and 2007
(Macalester College) conferences: (This not an exclusive list, but one
intended to suggest a range of interests represented.)
class in the classroom
working-class literature
labor and the body
class and the arts:
music, theater, visual art
labor rights / human rights
working-class history
transnational perspectives on class
class on campus:
students as workers
working-class academics
labor organizing
community activism
gender and class
working-class political theory
class and K-12 education
class and health care
media studies / criticism
war, class and the military
working-class / middle class
class and ethnicity
urban class issues
class and the environment
race / whiteness studies
the future of work
working-class economic theory
class and electoral politics
the anthropology of class
rural class issues
immigration / migrant workers
class and sexuality
working-class humor
class and religion
resistance and transformation
class in film
class in a global economy
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Cultural Studies Association (US) -- http://www.csaus.pitt.edu
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