Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century British Women Writers Conference
*
*April 4-6, 2013 in Albuquerque, NM*

The English department at the University of New Mexico is pleased to host
the 2013 British Women Writers Conference. The conference will be April
4-6, 2013 at the Hyatt in downtown Albuquerque, NM. The conference theme is
“Customs,” and we look forward to a wide range of unique presentations on
the topic.

Customs are often thought of as the habits or social norms that dictate
behavior, sometimes so rigidly that they appear to be laws. Conversely,
though, “custom” can refer to a product or service tailored to the
“customer’s” individual specifications, or the taxes or duties on
imports/exports, the governmental department charged with implementing such
fees, or the place in which all items entering a country from foreign parts
are examined for contraband.  Regardless of its particular connotation,
“custom” denotes a sense of rigidity, restriction, or control; it is these
forms of social, economic, and/or personal limitations that we wish to
explore with this year’s conference. Prospective panelists are encouraged
to think of “customs” broadly as the term might apply to British and
Transatlantic women writers and their often-underrepresented contributions
to literary studies.

Potential topics related to this theme might include but are not limited to
the following themes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British women’s
writing:
Habits, practices, and routines
Fashions and manners
Rituals and ceremonies (religious, political, social, and cultural)
Trade issues in the local and/or global economy
Business and mercantile transactions and expansion
Trade and exchange (economic, cultural, philosophical, or trade in
knowledge and ideas)
Issues of circulation (monetary as well as other goods and services in the
social, political, global, or domestic spheres)
Debt and credit
Traditions and conventions (how they are established as well as how they
are upheld or subverted, modified, or re-imagined)
Customers and patronage
Taxation, duties, and tributes
Law and legal systems

Please send abstracts of 250 words for panel proposals by November 15, 2012
and for individual paper presentations by December 15, 2012 to
BWWC2013@gmail.com

*Check out our website at 2013BWWC.com