www.asattaed.org

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One of the special treats of the American Studies year is the annual meeting of the American Studies Association, something that you shouldn’t miss if you are in the area – or if your school covers the travel expense. I like conferences in general, they give you a good idea of whats happening in the field and you get to talk to lots of smart and interesting individuals, plus the food is usually (but not always) quite exquisite. Today, the ASA published the program for the upcoming annual conference in Baltimore in October. Since there are literally hundreds of workshops and sessions, the program is searchable online and reveals some very exciting stuff. In general, the trends continue to go towards topics such as queer politics, diasporas, and aesthetics; labor and class studies; humor, popular culture and material culture; music and sound; religion, religious embodiment, and the politics of religion.

No matter what field you work in, you will find that American Studies professionals, whether big names or first-year grad students, are pretty approachable group and usually a very friendly, but critical crowd of your presentations. Everybody seems to acknowledge the hard work you do and if criticism comes, it is usually in the spirit of serious academic interest and the motivation to help you improve your work. It is a nice change from the hypercritical cultures that most Europeans come from. I recommend attending conferences such as the ASA Annual Meeting as early as possible in your career to get a sense of what I am writing about. Get a feeling of the atmosphere. It will help you once you are ready to present your own work.