X CONGRESO SAAS / 10th International SAAS Conference
Alcalá de Henares (Madrid), 14-16 April 2011

THE BACKYARD OF THE U.S.A. MANSION: Critical readings of poverty and wealth in the United States
 
In the subtitle of one of his well-known books, David S. Landes asks Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor, a matter that can apply to whole nations, territories and peoples, whether collectively, individually or by class. Historians, philosophers, creative writers, politicians, anthropologists, and sociologists have been debating on the issue for ages and the assumption is that the debate will continue till poverty is eradicated from earth, if such a blessing ever happens. In the United States, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the gulf between the haves and have-nots has steadily widened since the 1970s, and has dramatically peaked in the current economic crisis. The 10th International SAAS Conference, to be held at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, will offer a space of reflection on the cultural, social, historical, and ideological dimensions of the binary poverty and wealth in the past and present of the United States of America. Some issues to be addressed at this international meeting will be:

- Cultural constructions of poverty and wealth. From material factors to the ways poverty/wealth is lived, negotiated and represented.
- The pervasiveness of poverty in cultural works: the force and social impact of the creative ideologue.
- Material and ideological contradictions. The poor/wealthy binary in the discourse of American individualism.  Still awaiting an American union strike.
- The denial of class as a defining feature of American life. What’s un-American about the discourse of class? Why is class less of an issue than race, ethnicity and gender? How is class inflected by race and gender?
- Poverty and Wealth across the border. How does poverty travel across the USA national borders?
- Migration, immigration, and the pursuit of (material) happiness.
- Technological expectations for an unknown future. From the Industrial Revolution to the posthuman condition: Utopias and dystopias in American culture, literature, and the arts.
- From the American Dream to consumerism or the commodification of happiness. Old dreams of Exceptionalism and the ever-present invisibility of poverty in American history and the arts.
- Ecological poverty versus industrial wealth? Ethical readings of the wealth/poverty divide in the post-Katrina USA.
- Human rights and political denial: Post-9/11 USA, War on Terror and the reinstallation of American Exceptionalism.

More information about the Conference will appear soon at http://www.saasweb.org/
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PLAZOS
Hasta el 1 de abril de 2010. Envío de propuestas de paneles por parte de los socios de SAAS con su correspondiente descripción en inglés a Cristina Alsina (alsina@ub.edu) o Víctor Junco (vjunco@dfm.ulpgc.es) y según el siguiente formato:

Finales de Abril de 2010: Se comunicará a los coordinadores la aceptación o no de sus propuestas de panel en función de su interés y de la pertinencia académica del resumen enviado y se harán públicos los paneles temáticos e instrucciones pertinentes a través de circular y de la página web de la asociación. 

Hasta el 15 de octubre de 2010: Los socios de SAAS, miembros de ASA o personas no afiliadas a ninguna de estas dos asociaciones enviarán el resumen de sus propuestas de participación directamente a los coordinadores de cada panel.
En este sentido, se recuerda que, tal como se acordó en el Congreso de Jaén en 2005, el Congreso de SAAS estará abierto a personas (españolas o extranjeras) que no sean socias de SAAS a condición de que paguen a la Asociación la cuota de un año de afiliación además de la cuota de inscripción en el congreso. Esto no incluye a los socios de la American Studies Association (ASA), asociación afiliada de SAAS.

 GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPANTS: PAPER PROPOSALS (from May 1 to October 15 2010)
Non-members of SAAS (of all nationalities) are welcome to participate in the Alcalá Conference and submit their paper proposals to any of the discussion panels. Please, notice that non-members presenting a paper will be required to pay SAAS membership dues for one year as well as the conference registration fee. Members of the American Studies Association only need to pay the conference registration fee.