Update! The deadline for the joint CAAS / ACCUTE panel “Securing the Nation: The Discourse of American Security” has been extended. Proposals will be accepted until November 9.

“Securing the Nation: The Discourse of American Security”: jointly sponsored panel by the Canadian Association for American Studies (CAAS) and the Association for Canadian College and University Teachers of English (ACCUTE), to be held at the ACCUTE conference in Victoria, BC, 1-4 June 2013.

In the midst of the 2012 election cycle, debates concerning the economy and the state of the nation often get entangled with those surrounding security, where “security” includes everything from border control, to international terrorism and war, to the food supply, to personal safety, to the rights of individuals to control their own bodies.  This panel welcomes papers that explore the discourse of “security” in United States literary, artistic, cinematic, digital, or other cultural products, from any period.  Possible topics could include:

•  security and economics
• security and law
• securing one’s place
• policing
• cyber security
• citizenship and belonging
• cultural securing and identity
• gated or other communities
• personal security
• national security
• or any other related topic.

Please send 500-word proposals to Jason.Haslam@dal.ca by 1 November 2012