The American Studies Department of the University of Kansas is co-sponsoring the Mid-America American Studies Association (MAASA)Biennial Conference in March 4-5, 2016 titled #BattleGroundMidwest. In preparation for, and continuing throughout and after the conference itself, the blog of the American Studies Journal seeks commentaries and social analysis by faculty members located in MAASA’s region and nationally focused on the conference theme. The maximum entry for each commentary is 800 words. Each entry should judiciously discuss salient issues around the various social justice concerns in the region. For example, Oklahoma’s death penalty, the national movement spurred by the events in Ferguson, Missouri, Voter I.D. laws in Kansas, pro-choice success of Minnesota activists amid cutbacks on women’s reproductive rights in every other Midwestern state, effects of the Koch brothers’ political empire on labor, immigration policy, healthcare, and presidential campaigns, etc. Commentary should be submitted to mailto:americanstud@ku.edu. The editors of AMSJ for sake of fact checking and grammar will review these commentaries.

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