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GEO Conference: Forward Moving/Moving Forward

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GEO Conference: Forward Moving/Moving Forward

Center for Literary and Comparative Studies | English Friday, March 7, 2025 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Tawes Hall, Various

The University of Maryland’s Graduate English Organization will host its 18th annual conference, to be held in-person on March 7th, 2025. This year's conference topic is "Forward Moving/Moving Forward." The conference website and schedule can be viewed here.

Call for Papers:

Forward Moving / Moving Forward is concerned with critical interrogations of progress. Traditional, linear narratives of history posit a teleological movement toward enlightenment and improvement, with things inevitably getting better over time. However, is this always true? Under what circumstances is action or intervention necessary? Does forward movement always entail moving forward? We approach our topic broadly, with “Forward Moving” addressing the physical movement of bodies through space, and “Moving Forward” evoking the evolution of ideas and ideologies. The confluence of these two ideas questions the relationship between the motions of bodies and that of ideas. When do they connect? Why do they diverge?

This interdisciplinary conference seeks papers and creative pieces engaging with and critiquing this notion of “progress.” We welcome projects working in and across the fields of English & World Literatures; Creative Writing; Pedagogy; Rhetoric; History & Art History; Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; and area studies disciplines. The myth of progress is particularly relevant for the humanities, as we grapple with developments in AI, use of digital tools and methods in our work, and questions about the relevance of our fields in the twenty-first century. Such concerns have not (and will not) resolve themselves, and we as humanists have a vital stake in interrogating “progress.”

Abstracts of 250-300 words should be submitted to englgeo@umd.edu by Friday, January 31, 2025. Talks should last for approximately 15 minutes. Potential presentation topics can focus on a wide range of issues including (but not limited to):

  • Migration (forced or voluntary)
  • Walking, running, physical movement of bodies and/or objects
  • Transitions and transitioning
  • History, historical methods, and historiography
  • Futurity and/or utopias
  • Current global events 
  • Political, ideological, and/or thought movements
  • Editing and translation
  • Communication and rhetoric across time and space
  • Stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, and long-form journalism engaging these themes.

Any and all questions, such as late abstract submissions, should be directed to the conference convenors: Dalton Greene (deg@umd.edu) and Declan Langton (dlangton@umd.edu).

Add to Calendar 03/07/25 09:00:00 03/07/25 17:00:00 America/New_York GEO Conference: Forward Moving/Moving Forward

The University of Maryland’s Graduate English Organization will host its 18th annual conference, to be held in-person on March 7th, 2025. This year's conference topic is "Forward Moving/Moving Forward." The conference website and schedule can be viewed here.

Call for Papers:

Forward Moving / Moving Forward is concerned with critical interrogations of progress. Traditional, linear narratives of history posit a teleological movement toward enlightenment and improvement, with things inevitably getting better over time. However, is this always true? Under what circumstances is action or intervention necessary? Does forward movement always entail moving forward? We approach our topic broadly, with “Forward Moving” addressing the physical movement of bodies through space, and “Moving Forward” evoking the evolution of ideas and ideologies. The confluence of these two ideas questions the relationship between the motions of bodies and that of ideas. When do they connect? Why do they diverge?

This interdisciplinary conference seeks papers and creative pieces engaging with and critiquing this notion of “progress.” We welcome projects working in and across the fields of English & World Literatures; Creative Writing; Pedagogy; Rhetoric; History & Art History; Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; and area studies disciplines. The myth of progress is particularly relevant for the humanities, as we grapple with developments in AI, use of digital tools and methods in our work, and questions about the relevance of our fields in the twenty-first century. Such concerns have not (and will not) resolve themselves, and we as humanists have a vital stake in interrogating “progress.”

Abstracts of 250-300 words should be submitted to englgeo@umd.edu by Friday, January 31, 2025. Talks should last for approximately 15 minutes. Potential presentation topics can focus on a wide range of issues including (but not limited to):

  • Migration (forced or voluntary)
  • Walking, running, physical movement of bodies and/or objects
  • Transitions and transitioning
  • History, historical methods, and historiography
  • Futurity and/or utopias
  • Current global events 
  • Political, ideological, and/or thought movements
  • Editing and translation
  • Communication and rhetoric across time and space
  • Stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, and long-form journalism engaging these themes.

Any and all questions, such as late abstract submissions, should be directed to the conference convenors: Dalton Greene (deg@umd.edu) and Declan Langton (dlangton@umd.edu).

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