The notion of bonds has always had particular significance in Charleston, South Carolina, a city that bears the scars of being the capital of the American slave trade: in fact, forty percent of the enslaved Africans brought into the United States passed through Charleston’s harbor. For this reason, the International African American museum will open here in 2022, allowing for people across the world to rediscover their own histories and family connections.
Of course, bonds were also severely tested in 2020 in the wake of COVID-19 and the cancellation of many events, including our own conference; this is a chance for us to reestablish bonds—connections—with one another. We also interrogate our connections to our historical past, connections made clear by the racial trauma brought to light by the murder of George Floyd and subsequent BLM marches all over the world. Bonds can bring us together but, just as easily, pull us apart, and we look forward to exploring what this might mean to the traditionally termed Romantic era. The conference theme is intended to accommodate a wide range of papers across such disciplines as art history, cultural history, literary studies, musicology, anthropology, and philosophy. ICR prizes interdisciplinarity and comparatist approaches, and we welcome work in American and global literatures.
For full CFP and other details, please visit https://icrchas2021.wordpress.com/