Tentative Date: Thursday, 11 April 2013

Abstracts Due: Friday, 15 February 2013

From its historical origins as a medical malady peculiar to women to its modern idiomatic connections to the comic, “hysteria” is an unquestionably loaded term. As such, it was with a desire to solicit submissions covering a diverse range of intellectual inquiry that California State University, Long Beach selected Hysteria as the theme for its Annual Graduate Student Conference, Re/Inventions 2013. Now in its second year, this forum is organized by students for students with the goal of increasing interest, exposure, and participation in post-baccalaureate academic pursuits by providing students with an opportunity to share their current work and unique research. Designed with graduate students and advanced undergraduates in mind, the CSULB Graduate Student English Conference promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement among fellow CSUs, the University of California, and neighboring private colleges while opening up the dialogue to include participants from outside the state.

This interdisciplinary conference encourages abstracts that explore the theme of Hysteria from a wide range of fields and disciplines. While this forum is intended for the presentation of scholarly articles, creative submissions including creative writing, spoken word, performance pieces, and art installations will also be considered. Topics may include but certainly are not limited to:

• The Rhetoric of Hysteria
• The Histrionics of Spatial Politics
• The Gravitas of Gallows Humor
• Hypocrisy & the Hippocratic Corpus
• Mass Hysteria & Mob Mentality
• The Evolution of the Comic Spirit
• Comedy as Cultural Critique
• Interrogating Mental Illness
• Laughter & the Neurotic
• Humor as Mediation
• Subversive Stand-Up
• Queer Bodies & the Wandering Womb
• (Ir)rationality
• Idiosyncratic Isolation
• Body Dysmorphia & the Unattainable
• Comedic Intersections of Class, Race, & Gender
• FTM/MTF Transitions: The Politics of “Passing”
• Female Desire & the Pathology of Patriarchy
• Pedagogical Practices & Emotional Excess