From the Yucatán Peninsula to the Florida Keys, from the oral traditions of many Indigenous cultures to modern-day digital content creators, Southeast Texas and the greater Gulf regions have enjoyed rich histories of storytellers and storytelling. Narratives and all their varied forms energize human societies with meanings that help them make sense of each other and their physical and emotional environments. As constructed and malleable forms of communication, stories often serve conformist, or subversive, but seldom ambivalent agendas. Not only indispensable to the culture and history, storytelling has also shaped the literatures of Southeast Texas and the greater Gulf as they have borrowed from established genres to create new perspectives such as “bayou gothic,” “Southern noir,” “country hood,” “petrofiction,” and many others. Both an agent of change and an adherent to tradition, storytelling plays a substantial role in positioning the region as representative of larger national and global forces while simultaneously forming a locality that is grounded in place and utterly unique.
The Center for History and Culture will convene an interdisciplinary symposium at Lamar University, Beaumont, Texas, on March 30-31, 2026, to consider the many storytelling modes of the greater Gulf and publish this work in a themed issue of The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record. Topics may include but are not limited to art history, communication studies, cultural history, folklore, literature studies, music, and oral history.
To apply, submit a 300-word proposal for a single paper and a brief c.v. (2 pages maximum) by November 10, 2025. Symposium Fellows will commit to submitting drafts for pre-circulation by March 2, 2026, and participate in the events and workshops in person on March 30-31, 2026. Fellows will revise their papers and submit final drafts of about 8,000 to 10,000 words (notes included) by July 1, 2026, for peer review and publication in The Record.
The Center will provide lodging, meals, and $750 (paid upon receipt of the pre-circulated draft). Each author will receive contributors’ copies of The Record.
For more information, follow the link or contact Jimmy L. Bryan Jr., Director (jlbryan@lamar.edu).