CALL FOR PAPERS

Paper proposals are invited for a workshop on "Research Methods in American
Studies: Oral History Technique and Visual Culture Analysis" to be presented
at the European Association of American Studies Conference on "The United
States of / in Europe: Nationhood, Citizenship, Culture," to be held March
22-25, 2002, in Bordeaux, France.

The workshop's purpose is both practical and theoretical: to address how
teachers and scholars can use the spoken word and/or the visual image most
effectively as an "American Studies" method. We are especially interested
to solicit papers that conduct crosscultural comparisons of how oral and
pictorial sources are interpreted by American Studies scholars within the
United States and elsewhere.

SUGGESTED THEORETICAL CONCERNS:

How are oral history or iconographic materials used to negotiate cultural
authority (elite versus common, educated versus "common" knowledge)
What
role does the complex relationship between history and memory play in the
creation of oral-based primary sources or the recycling of nostalgic "old
time" images
What are the respective weaknesses and strengths of using
oral history or visual materials as evidence of the American experience

What parts of history, culture, society are these sources best suited to
illuminate
What do they tend to obscure or distort
How are oral
histories or graphic images currently deployed in cyberculture, propaganda,
or advertising
Why are oral interviews about the contemporary past so
frequently conducted by American Studies scholars and historians in the
United States but relatively neglected in by their counterparts in Western
Europe and elsewhere
How can the discipline of art history inform the
visual analysis of American popular culture

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS MIGHT INCLUDE:

For oral history: the mechanics of the interview process and tape
transcription; the negotiation of intellectual property rights;the creation
of online access to audio collections. For visual culture: pedagogical
approaches to analyzing graphic images; imputing cultural stratification
along the spectrum of "highbrow" and "lowbrow" artistic productions;
conducting archival research in iconographic collections. For both oral
history and visual materials: case study models of hermeneutical praxis.

Please send proposals not to exceed 250 words by October 15th, 2001 via
e-mail, fax, or postal mail to both:

Professor John Dean, Universite de Versailles,
13, rue Monge / 75005 / Paris / FRANCE
email: John.Deansudam.uvsq.fr
fax: 01.43.29.34.09

Professor Michael William Doyle, Ball State University
Department of History, Burkhardt Building 213 / Muncie, IN / 47306-0480 /
USA
e-mail: mwdoylebsu.edu
fax: 765.285.5612

Participation in this workshop is open to all EAAS members as well as
members of the French American Studies Association (Association Francaise
d'Etudes Americaines [AFEA]) and the Great Lakes American Studies
Association (GLASA). It continues the collaboration which began with the
jointly sponsored AFEA-GLASA conference on "Community, Family, and Youth"
held at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, March 16-18, 2001.