SURREALISMS Inaugural Conference of the ISSS

ROUNDTABLE.  The Journal of Surrealism and the Americas 10 Years On

The Journal of Surrealism and the Americas was one of the first multidisciplinary scholarly online only journals dedicated to the surrealist diaspora and indigenous responses to it. The first issue of the JSA ejournal appeared in 2007, and its mission continues to focus on the work and interaction of Surrealists and surrealist ideology in the Americas, including North and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada. In its early years, the JSA was driven by its specialized conferences on the subject, which took place in 2006 and 2010. This roundtable discussion reunites editors of the ejournal with key contributors and collaborators over the JSA’s first decade. We’ll discuss the challenges facing a specialized and multilingual surrealist ejournal which navigates a landscape of similarly focused in-print journals and intense public interest. We’ll also consider the future of the ejournal’s specialized regional conference on Surrealism in an era of shrinking university funding for the arts and humanities.

Samantha Kavky
Pennsylvania State University, Berks

Susan Aberth
Bard College

Kate Conley
William & Mary

Michele Greet 
George Mason University

Terri Geis
Fowler Museum at UCLA