A Message from Tracey Bowen, 2010-2011 President of MAPACA:
On behalf of the board and members, I welcome you to the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association site. Members of MAPACA include academics, independent scholars, students and interested individuals who come together to talk about the issues and events that affect cultural construction and production in ways that often connect and collide across disciplinary boundaries.
While MAPACA is one of the largest of the regional branches of the national Popular Culture and American Culture Association, it continues to grow in size yet retain an intimate and inclusive character. MAPACA hosts an annual conference that attracts a range of interested scholars and popular culture researchers, including established academics, practitioners and interested individuals from outside academia, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. Participants from the Mid - Atlantic States as well as across North America and from many other parts of the world convene annually in various Mid-Atlantic cities to create an interesting and stimulating dialogue. It has truly become an international gathering. Past conferences have convened in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and Alexandria, Virginia in the DC region. The upcoming 2011 conference will be held November 3rd through November 5th in Philadelphia, and MAPACA heads to Pittsburgh in November 2012.
With a wide range of topic areas to select, the annual conference offers a great opportunity for submitting paper proposals and joining a number of interdisciplinary conversations. There is something for everyone at the conference. Both new and experienced scholars will find receptive audiences for their work. The annual conference serves as a great place for up-and-coming scholars as well as established scholars to meet, network and share ideas. Many paper presentations that have originated at the annual conference have been published in a range of journals and publications, and some have inspired larger researcher projects.
MAPACA's strength comes from people. Many volunteers sit on committees, Area Chairs manage paper submissions, panel chairs provide leadership while many conference participants share their work and ideas with each other about research, job-hunting, teaching, publishing and so forth. MAPACA welcomes all members new and returning to share new ideas and help the organization continue to grow in the Mid-Atlantic region, in North America and across the globe. Please feel free to contact me, or any of our board members, with any ideas or thoughts you have. It is the input of our members that enriches our organization and contributes to our growth and success. I look forward to an enjoyable year as president and to the many vibrant and enriching conversations that MAPACA members and volunteers inspire over the next year. See you in Philadelphia!
Sincerely,
Tracey BowenLecturer
Institute of Communications, Culture and Information Technology
University of Toronto, Mississauga
tracey.bowen@utoronto.ca