The past few years have been difficult in untold and untellable ways. As part of this, it has meant that AMSA has not been able to be in-person with all of us in the room together. To seek to recenter ourselves on our mission and ethos, this year’s conference is focused on coming back together in person with each other. AMSA’s conference have always focused on community and an ethos of collective-engagement and togetherness, and this year our core focus will be on renewing this spirit that these conferences have always had. 

While this is not a theme in the traditional sense, we see this as an invitation to think through togetherness and communion - particularly in light of traditionalist masculinity’s position of individualism and the “self made man” myth. As such, this year’s conference invites us to consider our past while also pinning our hopes on better futures, futures marked by a commitment to equity and inclusion, to diversity and multiculturalism, to togetherness. 

We live in deeply divided times, times that are marked by both a hope and a fear. We live in what we hope is the beginning of the next side of the pandemic (towards an endemic), a pandemic that further revealed to us how embedded systemic racism & classism is within our culture; but also the desire for community after months of isolation. Today we are challenged to think and rethink how we engage with, relate to, harm, heal, co-exist, and love one another. It is for this reason that we are choosing to focus on togetherness writ large.

Scholars are thus invited to ask big questions, to propose innovative methods, and to expand the scope of analysis so as to enable us to collectively learn, grow, and engage. 

While there is no directed theme, the Conference Committee is particularly interested in papers that attend to the elements of the following themes: Relationality & Collectivity; The Future, Futurism, and Speculative Fiction (or No Future); Affect and Emotions; Community Building and Social Justice; Decolonialism, Indigeneity, and Masculinities; Queer, Trans, and Feminist Approaches; Global Approaches, North/South, East/West; Body Politics and Bodily Autonomy; Radicalism and Healing; Spirituality, Religion, and the Sacred; Violence, War, and Peace; Sexuality and Consent, Heterosexuality and MeToo; Anti-Social Thesis during/after the Pandemic ; Reproductive Futurism; Apocalypse and Utopia; Tyranny, Politics, and Power; Crip Theory and Disability Studies.

While the American Men’s Studies Association is particularly interested in the above, presentations are welcome on any topic that develops the critical studies of men and masculinities globally through the advancement of feminist-informed scholarship.

AMSA accepts the following types of proposals:

Individual Presentation proposals must include:

• Title

• Abstract of 250-300 words

• 3-5 keywords

• Presenter information

• Name

• Contact information

• Brief biography (50 words max)

• Co-Author(s) or Co-Presenter(s) Information

• Name(s)

• One chair and 3-4 presenters organized around a common theme

• Panel Title

• Panel Abstract of 250-300 words

• Individual Presentation Titles

• Individual Presentation Abstracts of 150-words each

• Presenter information for the panel chair and presenters

• Names

• Contact information

• Brief biographies (50 words max)

• Workshop Title

• Workshop Abstract of 250-300 words

• 2-3 learning outcomes/take-aways

• Brief outline of workshop structure, including how you plan to actively engage participants

• Facilitator information (workshops can include up to three co-facilitators)

• Name(s)

• Contact information

• Brief biography(ies) (50 words max)

AMSA welcomes productive and engaging 3-hour OR 90-minute workshops that complement the conference theme or the broader themes of AMSA. In particular, we will give priority to workshops that focus on the following:

• Professional development and mentoring for students and early-career scholars, teachers, and practitioners within and outside of academia

• Working with communities, and community-industry partnerships

• Professional networking and collaboration

• Working with media and public scholarship