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Please find below an invitation from Dr. Cornelia Vlaicu, who teaches Native-American literature and culture in the American Studies Program. The invitation is for everybody (not only American Studies majors). Professional practice terms apply.

"I am pleased to let you know that the next meeting of the Indigenous Voices and Expressions Reading and Conversation Club will take place on Tuesday, May 26, from 6pm in Puskin Room. We'll discuss another horror story - "Wingless" by Marcie Rendon, from the volume Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. Marcie R. Rendon (https://www.marcierendon.com/) is Anishinaabe, and an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. A 2020 McKnight Distinguished Artist awardee, Rendon is a playwright, director, community arts activist, and founder of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Indigenous theater company Raving Native Productions. She is the author of the acclaimed Cash Blackbear mystery series, in which the protagonist, a young Ojibwe woman, helps the tribal police chief solve brutal murder cases in the Red River Valley.

Any and all interested students are welcome, regardless of whether or not you attended the previous reading club meetings. I encourage people who plan on coming to send me a brief note at [email protected] - e-mailing is not required, though, just come in if you feel like spending a little time talking about award-winning contemporary Indigenous writers."

You are kindly invited to a lecture by doctoral candidate André Filipe Amaral Francisco (ULICES/ULisboa, Portugal), titled "HBO and the Persistence of Neo-noir on American Television” on Monday, May 18, from 6:30pm, in Room 4 (first floor, 7-13 Pitar Mos St.).

THE ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION FOR AMERICAN STUDIES

THE ROMANIAN-U.S. FULBRIGHT COMMISSION

ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA UNIVERSITY OF IAȘI

CALL FOR PAPERS

Journeys and Frontiers in American Literature and Culture

A RAAS-Fulbright Conference, October 8-10, 2026, organized by the Romanian Association for American Studies and the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission, at the Faculty of Letters at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

At a time when we celebrate 250 years of American independence, the RAAS-Fulbright conference on American studies seeks to strengthen the relationships among academics and doctoral students and continue to promote research in this field in Romania. This year’s conference invites scholars from a wide range of disciplines to re-examine the multiple forms, meanings, and representations of journeys and frontiers in American culture. We invite various explorations of the ways in which physical, spiritual, psychological, or imaginative journeys intersect with the American culture and how the frontiers, borders or challenges encountered during those journeys continue to shape the symbolic geography of the United States. Thus, our conference welcomes papers and panels that engage with these themes, inviting participants to rethink American journeys and frontier spaces not only as stories of movement, but also as processes of encounter, exploration, adaptation, or transformation.

The journey motif has been part of the American imagination from the beginning, as stories of adventure, war, exploration and self-development have always stood at the core of American culture. America was born out of the imaginary journeys of those who thought that there were better places to settle outside the Old World and the real journey of those who actually took on the challenge and set for the New World. Since those beginnings, the American imagination relied on journeys towards real or imaginary frontiers. From the Puritan pilgrimages and the westward expansion to various types of narratives of captivity and escape, from sea journeys, explorations of the vast plains or the Wild West, to modern narratives of departure and return, from optimistic to nightmarish stories of transformation, the journey has shaped the myths, literary works and cultural forms of the United States. The frontier, meanwhile, has evolved from a geographical and ideological boundary to a more fluid metaphor for the limits of the self, of knowledge, of technology, and of art. In the twenty-first century, both terms, journey and frontier, demand renewed critical attention, as global mobility, technological change and digital transformation continue to redefine the meanings of movement, borders, belonging and connection.

By rethinking journeys and frontiers as both physical and metaphorical spaces, the conference aims to illuminate how movement and boundaries have defined American imagination and how they continue to be reimagined in response to contemporary pressures, challenges and transformations.

Proposals for papers can relate, but are not limited to the following topics:

The American journey as cultural narrative;
Voyages and quests in American literature, journeys into the wilderness, sea journeys and the American imagination, road narratives, frontier stories, domestic frontiers, and travel writing;
Journeys through time: memory, history, and the return to the past;
Journeys of (self-)discovery, exploration, trail or renewal, from colonial exploration narratives, captivity stories, religious or conversion narratives to contemporary narratives of departure and resettlement;
Urban crossings and journeys through the modern American city;
Migration, memory, and belonging, an exploration of the emotional and cultural geographies of displacement, homecoming, and exile;
Narratives and counter-narratives of space; environment, movement, and place in American imagination;
Transnational journeys, America and the world beyond its borders;
Imaginary journeys and speculative frontiers: utopias, dystopias, and the reinvention of space in science fiction and fantasy;
Gothic terrains, haunted landscapes and nightmarish inner voyages;
Posthuman and digital journeys, technological frontiers and digital mobilities in contemporary culture.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Please submit an abstract of 250 – 300 words for individual papers and a short (150-word) biographical note by accessing the following registration form.

Submissions should be sent by JUNE 15th, 2026. Notifications of acceptance and a provisional program will be sent by JULY 15th, 2026.

Contact email: [email protected]

More details about the conference will be posted and updated on the RAAS site – https://raas.ro/

Selected papers may be considered for inclusion in an edited collection or a special journal issue following the conference.2026-raas-fulbright-conference-call-for-papers/

The Romanian Association for American Studies, Romania – We promote the academic study of American culture and society in Romania. Our mission is to encourage and support Romanian academics and students to create, and be part of, a network dedicated to the promotion of American Studies in Romania.

It's that time of the year, again! We are looking forward to welcoming you to our annual American Studies student conference, The United States of America at 250, on Saturday May 16, 2026, 9.30 to 18.30, in MLK Hall and Room 4 (1st floor, 7-13 Pitar Mos street, Bucharest). A huge thank you to Laura Rusu for the graphic concept. All welcome!

You are kindly invited to welcome Fulbright ETA Paris Mercurio, who will be giving a lecture on “Not Just Cornfields: Exploring University Life & Regional Culture in the Midwest” on Friday, May 15, from 11am to 1pm in MLK lecture hall. Professional practice terms apply. You don't have to be an American Studies major to apply, everybody's welcome! :)

This presentation will discuss American university culture broadly and dive more specifically into student life at a small liberal arts college in the midwestern United States (as well as the differences between larger public universities and private liberal arts schools). We will dive into the unique history of Oberlin College in Ohio—informed by Paris’s experience as a student there—as well as the intertwined history and culture of the greater Cleveland area.

With Paris’s post-grad experience teaching English in Indonesia through Oberlin Shansi as a starting point, there will also be a brief discussion of our own University of Bucharest Fulbright ETA Isaura Bozu and Paris’s respective experiences teaching in Asia, and potential pathways for students who may be interested in opportunities to teach English abroad.

Bio: Paris Mercurio is a writer and educator from New Jersey, USA, and the current Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at Ovidius University. She studied Creative Writing at Oberlin College in Ohio, then moved to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where she spent two years as a Shansi Fellow at Gadjah Mada University. Within her writing and teaching, she enjoys digging into questions and conversations related to literature, music, and the internet.

Please find below a message from Dr. Cornelia Vlaicu, who teaches Native-American literature in the American Studies Program:

"I am pleased to let you know that the next meeting of the Indigenous Voices and Expressions Reading and Conversation Club will take place on Tuesday, May 12, from 6pm in Puskin Room. We'll talk about the booming genre of Indigenous horror. To illustrate the unsettling way in which it engages with contemporary Indigenous experiences, we'll discuss the short story "Quantum" by Nick Medina, from the bestselling volume Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. Medina is a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana; an "Indigenous horror master" (People Magazine), he has published three highly praised novels, and his fourth is upcoming. Any and all interested students are welcome, regardless of whether or not you attended the previous reading club meetings. I encourage people who plan on coming to send me a brief note at [email protected] - e-mailing is not required, though, just come in if you feel like spending a little time talking about award-winning contemporary Indigenous writers."

This is an invitation for all students (you don't have to be an American Studies major). Professional practice terms apply.

We are happy to invite you to our 7th Work-in-progress series meeting on 8 May 2026, 6.30 to 8.30 pm (online on google meet). Professional practice terms apply. If you want to attend the event please contact Dana Mihailescu at [email protected]

Alexandra Zosim (2nd year American studies MA student), The Madwoman in the Family: Portrayals of Female “Madness” in Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman, The Bird’s Nest, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Abstract: This research aims to highlight the ways in which Shirley Jackson’s fiction, particularly her novels Hangsaman (1951), The Bird’s Nest (1954), and We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962), manage to portray female madness not as a liability or a weakness, but as a tool consciously employed for personal protection. While mostly known for her numerous short stories, Shirley Jackson remains one of the most prolific authors of the Gothic genre in American literature, often using macabre instances of strange houses, distorted bodies, and freakish young women to subtly challenge patriarchal conventions specific of the post-war period in the United States of America. The research begins from previous studies on hysteria, traditionally understood as the “woman’s madness”, and feminist studies on the condition of women in the 1950s and 1960s, when they were typically viewed as “objects” of the home, tasked with tending to their husbands and children, completely detached from public life. By employing the theoretical views of critics such as Phyllis Chesler, Elaine Showalter, and Betty Friedan, among others, this paper aims to show how Shirley Jackson’s novels use Gothic elements to portray female madness as a form of transgression. Hangsaman (1951) tells the story of a young girl stuck between the desire to accept her social condition or reject it through education, conflict which ultimately drives her to madness, intentionally used by the protagonist as a means of protection. The Bird’s Nest (1954), the only novel of the three dealing with an actual psychiatric diagnosis, depicts personality disorder as a weapon wielded against external oppressors. Finally, We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962) portrays domestic abuse as murderous, highlighting the powers of repressed womanhood and the intricacies of interfamilial relations used toward the absolute goal of personal security. This research ultimately seeks to show that Shirley Jackson sits among the most notable authors of the twentieth century as the creator of a body of work which portrays the strange and the grotesque as tools of individual empowerment.

Andreea Astratinei (2nd year American studies MA student), On Narratives and Their Creators: Exploring the Debate about Sensitivity Readers and Their Implications for the American Literary World

Abstract: Cultural ambassadors. Authenticity readers. Censors. These are just a few labels that have been associated with sensitivity readers since they first came to public attention in the second half of the 2010s. Emerging in a context when the American literary world was facing the longstanding lack of diversity in the publishing industry, this apparently new group of consultants has explicitly sought to ameliorate the situation by helping authors who want to write about members of marginalized communities avoid offensive and culturally inaccurate representations. What gives them the special expertise to identify potentially harmful ideas, their supporters argue, is their lived experience, as sensitivity readers are hired chiefly for their membership in such groups. However, this type of editorial intervention has been criticized by some commentators, who contend that it might stifle writers’ creative freedom. Focusing on this debate, my thesis starts with a rather broad question: What are the cultural and epistemological implications of sensitivity reading? Primarily, I intend to examine how arguments for and against this practice have (subtly) problematized the purpose of literature and the notion of authorship. To achieve this end, drawing on fields such as authorship studies, philosophy (of literature), and sociology, this cultural studies paper will critically analyze the discourse of an extensive corpus of online written texts to explore how this topic has been framed by each side of the debate.

Mihaela Costache (2nd year American studies MA student), Immigration and the Modern Metropolis in H.G. Wells’s The Future in America and Henry James’s The American Scene

Abstract: This paper aims to examine the discourse of mass immigration and metropolitan transformation in early 20th-century America through the comparative lens of two transatlantic travel narratives: H.G. Wells's The Future in America (1906) and Henry James's The American Scene (1907). Situated at the intersection of urban studies, immigration history, and imagology, the study asks how these two European observers – one a reform-minded English futurist known as the father of science fiction, the other an expatriate American novelist with an infamously intricate style of writing – constructed radically different images of a nation defined by intense global migration and urban acceleration. By juxtaposing these two authors’ responses to the United States, the study argues that the early 20th-century American metropolis was not merely a backdrop for immigration but an active force that reshaped national imagination. Wells and James represent two enduring, oppositional models of transatlantic response: the pragmatic reformer who embraces heterogeneity as progress, and the aesthetic mourner who experiences it as loss.

Alexia Mladin (2nd year American studies MA student), Echoes of Empire: Robert D. Kaplan in the World of Eastern Europe

Abstract: My paper aims to analyze the way Western journalists, professors, media have functioned throughout the years as tools of discursive power, shaping ultimately how Eastern Europe and the Balkans are perceived, not only by the West, but also by Eastern Europe in itself. Drawing on Maria Todorova’s theoretical framework of Balkanism and postcolonial theories, the paper explains how Western writers contribute to the perpetuation of stereotypes regarding Eastern Europe and the Balkans, reiterating reductive and ideologically charged narratives. Although there are many Western writers that have had an impactful discourse around the two regions, this paper will focus on Robert D. Kaplan as a relevant case study. Robert D. Kaplan is a prominent American geopolitical analyst, writer that serves as the central figure for this analysis which takes a closer look at three books that tackle the Romanian space and the Balkans around the time of communism and after the fall of it, following closely the changes, the evolution and in some cases the regression. The author was so well received by the Romanian audience that he became a relevant voice in the way history was delivered to the Romanian public. What makes Kaplan’s work even more fascinating is its reception not only by the Western audience, but also by the Romanian public, where one can understand the extent to which the stereotypes and colonial tropes are internalized. By positioning the way the Romanian press writes about the author alongside the broader Anglophone press, this paper aims to analyze the circulation of imperial and reductive discourses across different cultures that enhance the stereotypical image of Eastern Europe.

Please find below a message from Dr. Cornelia Vlaicu, who teaches a class on Native-American literature in the American Studies Program:

The next meeting of the Indigenous Voices and Expressions Reading and Conversation Club will be on Tuesday, April 28, from 6pm - Puskin Room. We'll discuss an interesting critical concept Patty Krawec (Anishinaabe/Ukrainian) proposed in her latest book, Bad Indians Book Club (2025), then a very short story by Cherokee writer A.J. Eversole, in connection with installation/performance pieces by Payómkawichum/Luiseño/Mexican artist James Luna. We'll also view a short video by The 1491s and (if there is time) read and discuss a poem from Dena'ina (Alaska Native) poet Annie Wenstrup's volume The Museum of Unnatural Histories (2025). Any and all interested students are welcome, regardless of whether or not you attended the first reading club meeting. I encourage people who plan on coming to send me a brief note at [email protected] - e-mailing is not required, though, just come in if you feel like spending a little time talking about award-winning contemporary Indigenous writers and artists. Looking forward!
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This is an invitation for all students (you don't have to be an American Studies major). Professional practice terms apply.

This is just a reminder that the deadline for our annual student conference is coming up on April 26!

The United States of America at 250 (Student Conference)

The American Studies Program at the University of Bucharest

invites proposals for its annual student conference on the topic

The United States of America at 250

to be held in person and online

on Saturday, May 16, 2026.

In-person panels will be held in Martin Luther King Hall

1st floor, 7-13 Pitar Moș St., Sector 1, Bucharest.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Erika Baldt (Rowan College at Burlington County)

Fulbright scholar, American Studies Program, University of Bucharest

We invite proposals for 15-minute presentations from undergraduate and MA students whose research is relevant to the topic of the conference. PhD students are also welcome to submit proposals. Papers may come from the fields of literature, film, theater and performance arts, popular culture, visual culture and the media, history, politics, intercultural and interdisciplinary communication, transatlantic relations, as well as other academic areas that are relevant to the subject. You may consider papers on topics such as (but not limited to) literature/ media/ popular culture, identity, and representation; literature/ media/ popular culture and American politics; literature/ media/ popular culture and public discourse; U.S. literature/ media /popular culture from the early republic era to the digital age; from the emergence to the globalization of American literature /media /popular culture; media activism (media and social movements); past and present representations of gender and sexuality in American literature /media /popular culture; war, conflict, and media narratives over time; media and consumer culture over time; mainstream and independent media over time; media and cultural memory from the emergence of the United States of America to the present; media, law, and ethics in the United States.

Submission Guidelines. Please submit the following:

1) a 250-word abstract attached as an MS Word file. Your abstract must include the title of your paper and the name of the academic coordinator who has agreed to supervise your paper. Please note that, considering that each presentation will be 15 minutes long, final papers should be approximately 5-6 pages long (Times New Roman, font 12, double-spaced). However, we strongly encourage participants to present and not simply read their papers.

2) 3-5 keywords from your essay;

3) Contact information (name, affiliation, phone number, and email address).

Please email your submissions to [email protected].

Deadline for submissions: April 26, 2026.

Notifications of acceptance: April 30, 2026.