[Robert Nguyen]

Dear colleagues,

This post is a solicitation for papers for a special session proposal for MLA 2025 in New Orleans. The call is pasted further below and can also be found on the MLA website; as those calls are quite brief, I\’ve included further below additional details.

I\’m happy to respond to questions here, and I can also be reached at ran22@psu.edu.

Thank you and best regards,

Rob

Robert Nguyen

Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow

Department of English

Pennsylvania State University

robertnguyen.net

he/him/his

—

Call for Papers

Seeking 250-word abstracts on narratives of the tech industry and the digital beyond the Valley itself. How does Silicon Valley the place become a global imaginary in literature, film, television, and public discourse? (include bio+CV)

Deadline for submissions: Friday, 15 March 2024

Robert Nguyen, Penn State, ran22@psu.edu

Background

The term Silicon Valley is often used as a metonymy for the technology industry at large. And yet, that industry so often associated with a very particular geographic area of the United States is inextricably linked to sites and laborers around the globe: factories, mines, assembly line workers, content moderators, and the many cities pursuing economic growth by emulating the Valley\’s model (e.g. those branding themselves as \”[country or continent\’s] Silicon Valley\” or \”Silicon [+ name of landform]\” constructions—New Orleans as the \”Silicon Bayou\” is one such example).

How are the relationships between Silicon Valley companies and their global partners occluded, reified, or made more visible through representations in culture? How do literature, film, television, and public discourse mediate or contest the export of Silicon Valley ideologies throughout the world? What is the relationship between Silicon Valley as a mythology with its global, material manifestations?

[Author]

Posts