This is a call for papers for a special issue (27/2024) on “Mobility and American (Non)Fiction” of the online open-access double-blind peer-reviewed journal [Inter]sections, co-edited by José Duarte (School of Arts and Humanities, University of Lisbon) & Mihaela Precup (American Studies Program, University of Bucharest).

While mobility is key to understanding North American culture, more recent studies (Rank, Eppard, and Bullock 2021), along with different works of literature and popular culture—books, paintings, films, music, television shows, etc.—also show that the idea of (social, cultural, political) mobility  is being revised and questioned. Mobility is also deeply tied to the American success myth, as many are those who still praise the possibilities offered by the American Dream based upon what Julie Levinson defined as the “fervid conviction that the opportunity for material attainment and spiritual fulfillment is every individual’s birthright and is within each person’s power” (2012: 1). This story, as Levinson further argues, has been told over and over in many ways, examining the contradictions posed by the journeys undertaken, while being equally relevant for the understanding of new geographies in articulation with new perceptions of past, present, and future. These portraits in movement are crucial to recognizing the potential of new and as yet unexaminedvoices and contexts in present-day North America. Therefore, by focusing on the idea of mobility, this special issue of [Inter]Sections considers proposals on (but not limited to) the following potential topics:

– (non)fiction and American mobility (in various media, such as literature, film, television etc.);

– migration and diversity;

– spatial dimensions and geographical contexts;

– mobility and the American Dream;                                         

– ecology and mobility;

– mobile identities and belonging;

– road movies, the western, Sci-Fi and fantasy;

– quests and questioning;

– (in)equalities and movement;

– mobility, genre, and gender;

– mobility and estrangement

– mobility and immobility.

[Inter]sections is the online open-access double-blind peer-reviewed journal of the American Studies Program at the University of Bucharest (www.intersections-journal.com).  It is indexed in the MLA Directory of Periodicals, Ulrichsweb, DOAJ, CEEOL, EBSCO, and ERIH PLUS.

Please send all inquiries and proposals (a title, 300-word abstract, and 100-word bio) to Mihaela Precup at mihaela.precup@lls.unibuc.ro and José Duarte at joseaoduarte@campus.ul.pt.  The deadline for proposals is December 10, 2023. The deadline for full papers is March 30, 2024. Papers should be between 4,000 and 8,000 words (for book reviews, the suggested length is between 1,000 and 3,000 words). All texts should be written in accordance with the 9th edition of the MLA citation style.