Department of English

Each year the English Graduate Student Association (EGSA) hosts a symposium to showcase the critical work being done by the University of Maine English community and peer institutions.

PREVIOUS YEARS’ SYMPOSIA:

Hill Auditorium (Barrows Hall) University of Maine

Symposium Description:

We are excited to solicit paper proposals for this year’s event. Lunch will be provided, and refreshments available throughout the day. This exciting event provides  an excellent opportunity to learn more about the current critical work being done in our field.

What does the English department do? What do graduate students in the humanities produce in response to their, at times, unwieldy reading load? What are they reading anyway? And what relations exist between the reading and thinking that occurs outside and inside the academy?

We are seeking abstracts for paper presentations and round table discussions. Participants usually generate papers for the symposium from work done earlier in their time at graduate school: this includes papers given at other conferences, versions of term papers, outside scholarship, etc. The theme of this year’s symposium is the critical, creative, and interdisciplinary work done by graduate students in our department.

Round Table Descriptions:

This year, in addition to hosting panel presentations, we are hoping to facilitate a few new round table panel. The first of which will be our “What Are You Reading” round table that will allow participants to present a brief statement on a text or texts they are reading (genre need not be an issue) that are generative in their work outside of the strictly academic space. Participants will then be asked to engage in an open conversation be- tween themselves and the audience.