[The call for papers for this exciting conference was posted recently on the website of Beyond Little House, an amazing resource for Ingalls-Wilder-Lane studies.]
The National Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association Conference
Sponsored by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association and the Department of Mass Media at Minnesota State University, Mankato
We invite submissions of paper, panel, and workshop proposals for review and possible acceptance for presentation at the second LauraPalooza conference, to be held on the campus of MSU, Mankato, July 12-14, 2012.
The theme of this year’s conference reflects the continuing interest in the lives and stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, particularly as related to American culture, history, values, and ideological practice. Participants may consider asking themselves, “What Would Laura Do?”
Topics may include:
- The broad influence the stories have had on American popular culture in the last 75 years
- The history of the books and their cultural, educational, political, and social influences
- The renewed interest in women’s handwork as cultural artifacts of women’s history
- The preservation of American folk music ways
- The preservation of American food ways
- The strategic and political influence of farming and farming culture in American history
- The long-term ramifications of the 1862 Homestead Act on Western culture
- The ever-widening circle of Lane’s politically Libertarian belief structures
- Historical racism and its lasting effects
- New discoveries in individual research that add to the Lane and Wilder legacies
- Any other way you might interpret the legacies of Wilder and Lane.
Submit your proposal in the form of a 700- to 1,000-word abstract, outlining your idea and research, by midnight on December 15, 2011. All proposals should include a 200-word bio as would be appropriate for the conference program. Panel proposals should include bios for all panelists and his/her topic of discussion. Workshop proposals should include an outline of the workshop curriculum and materials needed.
We are also accepting proposals for presentations or programs for Camp Laura, an activity-based conference for elementary school children, running concurrently with Laurapalooza 2012. Please follow the same submission guidelines outlined above, but denote “Camp Laura” at the top of your abstract.
Be sure to include all contact information. Abstracts should be sent via email to amy.lauters@mnsu.edu, conference chair. Acceptance notifications will be sent out via email on the birthdate of Laura Ingalls Wilder: February 7. Those with accepted proposals will be expected to register for and attend the LauraPalooza 2012 conference. (Registration begins in February.)
[Find a PDF of the Call for Proposals here.]