fyi

Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 16:46:03 -0500
From: Catherine Lavender <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: H-NET List for American Studies <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CFP: Recovery Movement Panel (ASA 2000)

>Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1999 14:39:07 -0600
>From: Trysh Travis <[log in to unmask]>

This is the second call for papers on the history and meaning of the
Recovery movement. In it, I actually mention that this is for a panel at
next year's ASA, rather than just leaving that for everyone to guess.

Since its founding in 1935 by a New York stockbroker and an Ohio surgeon,
Alcoholics Anonymous has grown into an international organization of nearly
two million members.  Its "12-Step" model of addiction and recovery has
profoundly influenced the self-help movement in the U.S., and spawned
numerous imitators: groups dealing with the abuse of other substances as
well as with eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, relationship and
financial problems, and general social maladjustment.  The metaphor of
disease at the heart of the recovery movement increasingly shapes the way we
think of ourselves and our relationships with other individuals and the
larger society.  Recent years have seen a flowering of books and films
organized around the "addict's" journey into and then out of "diseases" of
various kinds, and have also witnessed the vigorous export of the 12-Step
philosophy to other nations.  Yet due to the anonymous and non-professional
nature of the recovery movement, little is known about how-and
whether-recovery works.  This roundtable session, "The Meaning of Recovery,"
seeks to map the presence of the recovery movement in modern America, and to
begin to understand its place both in the social and the imaginative life of
the nation.  Contributions from both humanities and social science are
welcome, as are proposals that explore the gender, race, and class
dimensions of the movement, and its articulations in real life and in
imaginative narrative.

Please send a current vitae along with a proposal that describes research
interests, and explains how you would present them within a ten-minute time
slot, to:

Trysh Travis
Ass't Professor of English
Box 0435, Dallas Hall
Dedman College
Southern Methodist University
Dallas, TX 75275
<[log in to unmask]>
(214) 768-4056

Proposals must be postmarked by 3 January.

        "I'm a goddess, not your mother."
                -- Luscious Jackson