The Department of Modern Languages, Cultures and Literatures at NOVA University of Lisbon – School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NOVA FCSH) invites proposals for the international conference The Times They Are A-Changin’, to be held on June 18-19, 2026, in Lisbon, Portugal.

The motto, borrowed from Bob Dylan’s iconic song, foregrounds the idea that the fields of American and English Studies are undergoing profound transformations. Shifting political realities, technological change, global crises, evolving cultural forms, and new critical frameworks are reshaping how literature, language, history, and culture are studied, taught, and understood. This conference invites scholars to reflect on moments of change—rupture, transition, resistance, and reinvention—within American and English Studies, past and present.

The conference seeks to explore how change, transition, and transformationshape texts, discourses, identities, and methodologies across periods and disciplines.

Suggested Topics Include (but Not Limited To):

Literature and Cultural & American/English Studies

• Literary canons in transition
• Periods of crisis and cultural change
• Contemporary British and American literature
• Marginalized, forgotten, and emerging voices
• Literature and social justice
• Climate fiction, pandemic narratives, and crisis writing
• Changing concepts of identity, race, gender, and class
• Popular culture and social transformation
• Media, technology, and cultural production
• Memory, history, and cultural trauma
• Postcolonial, transnational, and comparative perspectives

Politics and Power in Changing Times

• Literature and culture as responses to political crisis, reform, and revolution
• Democracy, populism, nationalism, and authoritarianism in Anglophone contexts
• Empire, colonialism, and postcolonial political imaginaries
• The politics of race, citizenship, borders, and belonging
• Protest writing, dissent, and activist cultures
• Cold War, post–Cold War, and contemporary geopolitical narratives
• Political rhetoric, discourse, and ideology in literary and cultural texts
• Neoliberalism, capitalism, and class politics
• Surveillance, state power, and individual freedoms
• War, terrorism, and political violence in American and British literature and media
• Identity politics and culture wars
• Political satire, parody, and resistance

Linguistics and Translation

• Language change and variation
• Global Englishes and World Englishes
• Language contact, migration, and multilingualism
• Digital communication and new media discourse
• Sociolinguistic perspectives on change
• Translation and cultural mediation in times of social and political change
• Translation, ideology, and power
• Literary translation and canon formation
• Postcolonial, feminist, and decolonial approaches to translation
• Translation and global circulation of Anglophone texts
• Audiovisual translation, subtitling, and media localization
• Translation technologies and AI-assisted translation
• Retranslation, adaptation, and intersemiotic translation
• Translator agency, ethics, and visibility
• Translation in educational and institutional contexts

Pedagogy & Methodology

• Teaching English and American Studies in changing times
• Digital humanities and innovative research methods
• AI, technology, and the future of the humanities
• Curriculum development and academic practice

Interdisciplinary approaches and comparative perspectives are especially welcome. Papers and panel proposals on any subject that falls under the remit of English and American Studies are also welcome.

Submission Guidelines

• Abstracts of 250–300 words
• Please include a short biographical note (50–100 words)
• Individual papers, panels, and roundtable proposals are welcome

Abstracts should be sent to: imom@fcsh.unl.ptand mzc@fcsh.unl.pt  

Important Dates

• Abstract submission deadline: April 15, 2026
• Notification of acceptance: April 30, 2026
• Conference dates: June 18-19, 2026

For more information, check the conference website:  https://apeaa2026.wordpress.com

Conference Languages

English/Portuguese

Selected papers may be considered for publication in a peer-reviewed volume or journal. We warmly welcome contributions from established scholars, early career researchers, and doctoral students, and look forward to engaging discussions on how the times are—and have always been—a-changin’.