30th Annual Delta Symposium: It’s About Time
Call for Presentations
Featuring physicist and writer Alan Lightman
The Department of English, Philosophy, and World Languages at Arkansas State University opens a call for papers and presentations for the 30th annual Delta Symposium April 9-12, 2025. The Delta Symposium features a wide variety of scholarship and creative work that focuses on the Delta’s history and culture. Individual and panel presentations on topics relevant to the history and culture of the Arkansas and Mississippi Deltas and surrounding regions are welcome. Although the event will be held in-person at the university, there will also be options for online presentations for those who cannot attend in person.
Special consideration will be given to proposals that specifically address this year’s theme of “It’s About Time.” Writers, historians, musicians, artists, and other creative individuals engage with time in different ways in their work. Time is especially relevant to the culture of the Delta as interest in time shows up in romanticism, modernism, historical fiction, and contemporary literary expression. The coordinating committee invites presentations from a wide range of fields. The Delta Symposium has featured presentations from fields such as literary criticism, cultural studies, history, anthropology, folklore, ethnomusicology, sociology, speech communication, arts and art history, and heritage studies.
The 2025 symposium seeks to expand the discussion to include presentations from physicists, biologists, archaeologists, historic preservationists, and other contributors who can expand our discussion beyond the humanities. Our keynoter is the renowned physicist and writer Alan Lightman. His presentation is co-sponsored with generous support from Black River Technical College.
Although proposals that have direct connections to Arkansas and the Delta are especially welcome, more general proposals that address the theme within Southern history, culture, and heritage will be considered. The 2025 event will conclude on Saturday with the Arkansas Roots Music Festival through continued support from KASU 91.9 FM and A-State’s Heritage Sites. The deadline for entries is December 18, 2024. Each entry should consist of the following: presenter’s name and affiliation and a 150-word abstract of the presentation as well as a current Vita (2 pages max). Please include your address, phone number, e-mail address, and the technical needs for your presentation.
Delta Symposium Committee
c/o Dr. Gregory Hansen and Dr. Kristen Ruccio, Co-Chairs
ghansen, kruccio
Arkansas State University
Dept. of English, Philosophy, and World Languages
P.O. Box 1890
State University, AR 72467
Visit us on the web at www.astate.edu/a/delta-symposium/