Overview

Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom is looking for syllabi and syllabus clusters that will model inclusive, antiracist, antiableist, and anticolonial course design for Victorian Studies at large. Anyone with relevant professional interests is encouraged to apply, but we are especially interested in submissions from early-career scholars and those with backgrounds that are under-represented in Victorian Studies.

Full Solicitation

Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom (UVC) is a digital humanities project that reimagines how to teach Victorian Studies through a positive, race-conscious lens. Our site launched in 2021 with the publication of peer-reviewed syllabi, peer-reviewed lesson plans, and Zoomcasts (i.e., video interviews with scholars engaged in important antiracist classroom work). The site has since been well-received by Victorianists and has as a whole been peer-reviewed for Reviews in Digital Humanities.

We are seeking syllabi and syllabus clusters to publish on our website that align with the mission of UVC. All syllabi, whether they are being submitted individually or as part of a cluster, should expand the geographical, temporal, and methodological boundaries of Victorian Studies. The syllabi should also be innovative and original, as well as antiracist, antiableist, and anticolonialist in content and/or form. For those who are submitting syllabi together as a cluster, each cluster should include 2–4 syllabi from different contributors that are organized around a central theme. For examples of syllabi that we have already published, see our Syllabi section.

While these syllabi should feature material or ideas from the Victorian era, the syllabi do not need to be for courses that exclusively focus on the nineteenth century. Syllabi can be from courses already taught, revised versions of previously used syllabi, or for courses that have been designed but not yet deployed in a classroom (in-person or virtual). Syllabi can also target different levels of students (undergraduates/graduates, majors/non-majors).

We have a simple submission process. For this Call for Syllabi and Syllabus Clusters, we request a proposal (250 words if you are submitting an individual syllabus; 500-750 words if you are submitting a syllabus cluster) that explains the overarching theme of the proposed syllabus/syllabus cluster, discusses the syllabus’s/syllabus cluster’s connection to UVC’s mission, summarizes the content and aims of each syllabus, and provides brief critical reflections on course design. Proposals should also list and provide a short biography of each contributor.

These materials will be reviewed by UVC’s founding developers. Syllabus clusters will be assessed as a whole for their contributions to furthering pedagogy and course design in Victorian Studies. Individual syllabi will be assessed similarly, but the founding developers will also consider if these syllabi can be placed in an existing syllabus cluster or if they can be grouped together to form a new cluster. Select contributors will be invited to submit their full syllabi along with essays that expand on the framing of their courses. The syllabi and essays will then be sent to an outside reviewer who will offer suggestions for improvement. Once the syllabi are revised and finalized, they will be published on our website as open-access resources.

We will accept proposals on a rolling basis. For those who are interested in submitting individual syllabi, please submit your syllabus proposals through this form. For those who are interested in submitting syllabus clusters, please submit your cluster proposals through this form. Anyone with relevant professional interests is encouraged to apply, but we are especially interested in submissions from early-career scholars and those with backgrounds that are under-represented in Victorian Studies.

Questions about this call and the Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom initiative should be directed to Sophia Hsu. To be placed on the project mailing list, kindly fill out this form.