AmericanStudies Unibuc

The STAMPED team is excited to announce the launch of the 3rd issue of our creative writing magazine!

Take a break from exams and spend the evening with us on June 19, in room MLK of the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​and Literatures, St. Pitar Mos 📍

Fun activities and special moments dedicated to the issue await you — don’t miss it! (you can bring your +1 or more 🤗)

We would like to thank everyone involved in the creation of this edition, especially the authors who managed to bring it to life!

🎀 We are waiting for you — do not hesitate to bring your friends and good vibes!

Yours creatively,
The STAMPED Team

FYI "Call for Papers: aspeers 20, graduate-level peer-reviewed American studies journal
Deadline: October 11, 2026

aspeers, the first peer-reviewed print journal for MA-level American studies scholars in Europe, calls for papers for its twentieth issue by October 11, 2026.

As in previous years, aspeers calls for general submissions of excellent academic work by MA-level students as well as for work specifically focused on this year’s topic of “Individualism in Community.”

For more information, please refer to the following URLs:

* General Submissions:
https://www.aspeers.com/sites/default/files/aspeers-20_2027_cfp_general.pdf

* Submissions on “Individualism in Community”:
https://www.aspeers.com/sites/default/files/aspeers-20_2027_cfp_topical.pdf

aspeers is a unique opportunity for students to get published early on in their career and to gain experience with the process of publishing academic work. If you have any questions, please consult https://aspeers.com/2027 or get in touch with us directly via [email protected]. "

Individualism in Community | www.aspeers.com aspeers is the first peer-reviewed journal for MA-level American studies scholars in Europe. It is a platform for the best work done by American studies graduate students below the PhD level. It aims to foster academic exchange among young Americanists across Europe, and to thereby advance the field...

Welcoming submissions for a free scholarly conference on scary literature to be hosted online from October 22nd-24th, 2026 by graduate student, Anais Shelley.

Research may draw inspiration from (but is not limited to) these prompts:

Supernatural themes
Domestic horror
The role of setting within scary stories
Frightening myths and folklore
The gothic novel and short story
Monsters and the monstrous
Multicultural superstition and regional ghost stories
The works of authors such as Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Edgar Allan Poe

A variety of presentations are encouraged, including traditional papers, digital graphics, multimodal/powerpoints, roundtables, creative writing, performance art, and visual art. The event is open to researchers at all levels. Please note that all presentations will take place in Central US time. Proposals will be accepted through this form with a deadline of 31 August 2026: https://forms.gle/TfvuQLFPfpj23enq8
Contact Information

Anais Shelley -- Organizer and Host

[email protected]

docs.google.com

FYI

European parliament Traineeships - Informations pour votre candidature Consultez toutes les offres d'emploi Parlement européen stage et postulez en ligne a nos annonces emploi sur le site recrutement Parlement européen stage

Please find below an invitation from Dr. Cornelia Vlaicu, who teaches Native-American literature and culture in the American Studies Program. The invitation is for everybody (not only American Studies majors). Professional practice terms apply.

"I am pleased to let you know that the next meeting of the Indigenous Voices and Expressions Reading and Conversation Club will take place on Tuesday, May 26, from 6pm in Puskin Room. We'll discuss another horror story - "Wingless" by Marcie Rendon, from the volume Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. Marcie R. Rendon (https://www.marcierendon.com/) is Anishinaabe, and an enrolled member of the White Earth Nation. A 2020 McKnight Distinguished Artist awardee, Rendon is a playwright, director, community arts activist, and founder of the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Indigenous theater company Raving Native Productions. She is the author of the acclaimed Cash Blackbear mystery series, in which the protagonist, a young Ojibwe woman, helps the tribal police chief solve brutal murder cases in the Red River Valley.

Any and all interested students are welcome, regardless of whether or not you attended the previous reading club meetings. I encourage people who plan on coming to send me a brief note at [email protected] - e-mailing is not required, though, just come in if you feel like spending a little time talking about award-winning contemporary Indigenous writers."

You are kindly invited to a lecture by doctoral candidate André Filipe Amaral Francisco (ULICES/ULisboa, Portugal), titled "HBO and the Persistence of Neo-noir on American Television” on Monday, May 18, from 6:30pm, in Room 4 (first floor, 7-13 Pitar Mos St.).

THE ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION FOR AMERICAN STUDIES

THE ROMANIAN-U.S. FULBRIGHT COMMISSION

ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA UNIVERSITY OF IAȘI

CALL FOR PAPERS

Journeys and Frontiers in American Literature and Culture

A RAAS-Fulbright Conference, October 8-10, 2026, organized by the Romanian Association for American Studies and the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission, at the Faculty of Letters at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Romania

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

At a time when we celebrate 250 years of American independence, the RAAS-Fulbright conference on American studies seeks to strengthen the relationships among academics and doctoral students and continue to promote research in this field in Romania. This year’s conference invites scholars from a wide range of disciplines to re-examine the multiple forms, meanings, and representations of journeys and frontiers in American culture. We invite various explorations of the ways in which physical, spiritual, psychological, or imaginative journeys intersect with the American culture and how the frontiers, borders or challenges encountered during those journeys continue to shape the symbolic geography of the United States. Thus, our conference welcomes papers and panels that engage with these themes, inviting participants to rethink American journeys and frontier spaces not only as stories of movement, but also as processes of encounter, exploration, adaptation, or transformation.

The journey motif has been part of the American imagination from the beginning, as stories of adventure, war, exploration and self-development have always stood at the core of American culture. America was born out of the imaginary journeys of those who thought that there were better places to settle outside the Old World and the real journey of those who actually took on the challenge and set for the New World. Since those beginnings, the American imagination relied on journeys towards real or imaginary frontiers. From the Puritan pilgrimages and the westward expansion to various types of narratives of captivity and escape, from sea journeys, explorations of the vast plains or the Wild West, to modern narratives of departure and return, from optimistic to nightmarish stories of transformation, the journey has shaped the myths, literary works and cultural forms of the United States. The frontier, meanwhile, has evolved from a geographical and ideological boundary to a more fluid metaphor for the limits of the self, of knowledge, of technology, and of art. In the twenty-first century, both terms, journey and frontier, demand renewed critical attention, as global mobility, technological change and digital transformation continue to redefine the meanings of movement, borders, belonging and connection.

By rethinking journeys and frontiers as both physical and metaphorical spaces, the conference aims to illuminate how movement and boundaries have defined American imagination and how they continue to be reimagined in response to contemporary pressures, challenges and transformations.

Proposals for papers can relate, but are not limited to the following topics:

The American journey as cultural narrative;
Voyages and quests in American literature, journeys into the wilderness, sea journeys and the American imagination, road narratives, frontier stories, domestic frontiers, and travel writing;
Journeys through time: memory, history, and the return to the past;
Journeys of (self-)discovery, exploration, trail or renewal, from colonial exploration narratives, captivity stories, religious or conversion narratives to contemporary narratives of departure and resettlement;
Urban crossings and journeys through the modern American city;
Migration, memory, and belonging, an exploration of the emotional and cultural geographies of displacement, homecoming, and exile;
Narratives and counter-narratives of space; environment, movement, and place in American imagination;
Transnational journeys, America and the world beyond its borders;
Imaginary journeys and speculative frontiers: utopias, dystopias, and the reinvention of space in science fiction and fantasy;
Gothic terrains, haunted landscapes and nightmarish inner voyages;
Posthuman and digital journeys, technological frontiers and digital mobilities in contemporary culture.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Please submit an abstract of 250 – 300 words for individual papers and a short (150-word) biographical note by accessing the following registration form.

Submissions should be sent by JUNE 15th, 2026. Notifications of acceptance and a provisional program will be sent by JULY 15th, 2026.

Contact email: [email protected]

More details about the conference will be posted and updated on the RAAS site – https://raas.ro/

Selected papers may be considered for inclusion in an edited collection or a special journal issue following the conference.2026-raas-fulbright-conference-call-for-papers/

The Romanian Association for American Studies, Romania – We promote the academic study of American culture and society in Romania. Our mission is to encourage and support Romanian academics and students to create, and be part of, a network dedicated to the promotion of American Studies in Romania.

It's that time of the year, again! We are looking forward to welcoming you to our annual American Studies student conference, The United States of America at 250, on Saturday May 16, 2026, 9.30 to 18.30, in MLK Hall and Room 4 (1st floor, 7-13 Pitar Mos street, Bucharest). A huge thank you to Laura Rusu for the graphic concept. All welcome!

You are kindly invited to welcome Fulbright ETA Paris Mercurio, who will be giving a lecture on “Not Just Cornfields: Exploring University Life & Regional Culture in the Midwest” on Friday, May 15, from 11am to 1pm in MLK lecture hall. Professional practice terms apply. You don't have to be an American Studies major to apply, everybody's welcome! :)

This presentation will discuss American university culture broadly and dive more specifically into student life at a small liberal arts college in the midwestern United States (as well as the differences between larger public universities and private liberal arts schools). We will dive into the unique history of Oberlin College in Ohio—informed by Paris’s experience as a student there—as well as the intertwined history and culture of the greater Cleveland area.

With Paris’s post-grad experience teaching English in Indonesia through Oberlin Shansi as a starting point, there will also be a brief discussion of our own University of Bucharest Fulbright ETA Isaura Bozu and Paris’s respective experiences teaching in Asia, and potential pathways for students who may be interested in opportunities to teach English abroad.

Bio: Paris Mercurio is a writer and educator from New Jersey, USA, and the current Fulbright English Teaching Assistant at Ovidius University. She studied Creative Writing at Oberlin College in Ohio, then moved to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, where she spent two years as a Shansi Fellow at Gadjah Mada University. Within her writing and teaching, she enjoys digging into questions and conversations related to literature, music, and the internet.

Please find below a message from Dr. Cornelia Vlaicu, who teaches Native-American literature in the American Studies Program:

"I am pleased to let you know that the next meeting of the Indigenous Voices and Expressions Reading and Conversation Club will take place on Tuesday, May 12, from 6pm in Puskin Room. We'll talk about the booming genre of Indigenous horror. To illustrate the unsettling way in which it engages with contemporary Indigenous experiences, we'll discuss the short story "Quantum" by Nick Medina, from the bestselling volume Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. Medina is a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana; an "Indigenous horror master" (People Magazine), he has published three highly praised novels, and his fourth is upcoming. Any and all interested students are welcome, regardless of whether or not you attended the previous reading club meetings. I encourage people who plan on coming to send me a brief note at [email protected] - e-mailing is not required, though, just come in if you feel like spending a little time talking about award-winning contemporary Indigenous writers."

This is an invitation for all students (you don't have to be an American Studies major). Professional practice terms apply.