Forty-Fifth Annual Conference, Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 2021, Indianapolis, IN - The Call for Applications for Seminar Proposals
The 45th German Studies Association Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, from September 30 to October 4, 2021 will continue to host a series of seminars in addition to conference sessions and roundtables (for general conference information see https://www.thegsa.org/conference). With 13 seminars postponed from the 2020 conference (click here for those seminar topics), we will have space for approximately 15 new seminars, for a total of about 28 seminars in Indianapolis.
eminars meet for all three days of the conference. They explore new avenues of academic exchange and foster extended discussion, rigorous intellectual debate, and intensified networking. Seminars are typically proposed and led by two to three conveners (in special cases, there may be four conveners) and must consist of a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 20 participants, including the conveners themselves. Conveners are expected to make every effort to aim for broad diversity and include scholars from different disciplines and at different career stages, including graduate students. Seminars may enable extended discussion of a recent academic publication; the exploration of a promising new research topic; engagement with pre-circulated papers; an opportunity to debate the work of scholars with different approaches; the coming together of scholars seeking to develop an anthology; or the in-depth discussion of a political or public policy issue, novel, film, poem, musical piece, painting, or other artwork. Conveners are strongly encouraged to structure their seminars around creative and engaging forms of intellectual exchange; lengthy individual presentations are discouraged as they imitate “traditional” panels and may hamper discussion, collaboration, and innovative thinking.
To apply to convene a seminar, GSA members should submit a proposal through the online portal (https://www.xcdsystem.com/gsa) by 11:59 pm EST on November 30, 2020. The proposal should include the following items:
- Title of Proposed Seminar;
- Convener Information: names, ranks, institutional affiliations, email addresses;
- Seminar Description: a 150-word description of the seminar’s subject, which will eventually be used in the call for participants and the final program;
- Format Description: a 50-word description of the seminar’s format, which will appear in the call for participants, etc.;
- Goals & Procedures: a 200-word statement of seminar goals and procedures.
- Audio/Visual: indicate whether your seminar will require a projector and/or sound (note that we might not be able to accommodate all requests, especially for sound, so please request it only if absolutely necessary); and
- Auditors: indicate whether you will open the seminar to auditors (6 maximum) should space allow.
The Committee will review seminar proposals and post a list of approved seminars and their topics on the GSA website by January 4, 2021. Conveners may then enlist participants to join the seminar. A call for auditors (who may observe but who are not considered formal participants) will be issued later in the year, once the final conference program has been published.
Please note the following guidelines and additional information regarding seminars: