#CFP: The 28th Annual University of Florida Critical Theory Reading Group Conference: The State of the Unions
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEBRUARY 28TH
The University of Florida Critical Theory Reading Group Conference presents:
The 28th Annual University of Florida Critical Theory Reading Group Conference
The State of the Unions
April 23rd-25th, Gainesville (FL)
Keynote speakers: Sianne Ngai, Anna Kornbluh
Nicole LaRose Alumni Keynote Speaker: Ryan Kerr
In 1906, as Eugene V. Debs crisscrossed the country advocating for unions and the candidates who supported union initiatives across the nation, Upton Sinclair published The Jungle. After some time in his meatpacking job, Jurgis, the Lithuanian protagonist meets with an Irish union organizer. It seemed “a wonderful idea that by combining they might be able to make a stand and conquer the packers.” 120 years after the publication of The Jungle, one could write a story of the unions in the United States that starts with “it is the best of times, it is the worst of times.”
While unions are actively throwing their weight behind some of the most prominent politicians and advocating for radical measures in some parts of the country, their existence is being threatened in others. As United Automobile Workers won significant concessions from the car manufacturers after the President of the United States joined a picket line for the first time in 2023, Teamsters supported the party that promotes and upholds anti-union laws in 27 states. As SAG-AFTRA won concessions from the entertainment industry in the face technologic alterations in their labor, Amazon abruptly terminated union organizers from Staten Island to Alabama.
In addition to the obstacles and challenges in the ways of labor organizations, unions have persistently had to grapple with their own internal conflicts. Threats such as sectarianism, machinations behind closed doors with the ruling and owning classes, and internal conflicts among workers along racial and gender lines have always haunted unions.
It is for the purpose of reflecting on such circumstances that the Working Group for the Reading of Critical Theory at the University of Florida is proud to host the 27th edition of its annual conferences with the title of “The State of The Unions.” We invite proposals for papers addressing any of these questions:
- How have unions, and in a broader sense labor itself, been the subject of - or been eliminated from - literary studies and literary texts?
- How have unions historically dealt with fundamental transitions in the nature of labor? Examples for this include -but are not limited to - agrarian labor to industrial, from manufacturing to service labor, and from service labor to AI.
- How have institutions addressed the unions?
- How have the unions been reflected in various forms of popular culture?
- How has the use or avoidance of working class aesthetics in politics and media impacted the role of the university in union and labor politics? Including movies, music, or TV series.
- How have race and gender played a role in empowering or debilitating the working class and their attempt toward unionization?
- How have unions played a role in local and national politics? How have they been impacted by these forms of politics?
- How has the expansion of the concept of “working class” - from mere factory workers to include jobs such as university professors, screenwriters, and journalists - factored in the body of unions in a broader sense?
- What is the role of unions in the 21st century? Do 20th century union politics still hold relevance, positively or negatively?
Beyond these questions, the list of topics is not exhaustive, and we welcome any proposals related more broadly to Critical Theory and the Humanities.
Please submit a 250-word abstract with 4-5 keywords, along with contact information and a brief author biography by mid February to [email protected].
We will also consider panel proposals. Individual presentations will be limited to 15-20 minutes. Please indicate any A/V requests.
We would especially ask you to let us know if you have participated in past MRG conferences or if you are a UF-MRG alumnus.
- deadline: 2026-02-28
- event_date: “April 23-25, 2026”
- location: “Gainesville, FL”
- organization: “The 28th Annual University of Florida Critical Theory Reading Group Conference”
- contact_email: “[email protected]”
- keynote_speakers: “Sianne Ngai, Anna Kornbluh”