‘Imagine West’ is a new network for Early Career Academics and doctoral researchers in the UK interested in the invention and disruption of ‘westness’ by literary and visual culture in the United States and around the world. We’re open to anyone in American Studies – there’s no need to be an expert on the West! Our members talk, read and write about how contemporary novels, films, comics, images and academic works are disrupting the familiar mythologies of the Old West; internationalising, queering and ironizing the genre of the Western; and exposing the fabrication of the idea of ‘the West’ itself.

With funding from a BAAS Development Grant in 2026 and 2027, we’ll be running a regular reading group, an online writing group, and a newsletter that features our members’ writing. If you would like to learn more about any of these activities, email westnetwork-subscribe@maillist.ox.ac.uk to join the mailing list and get more information about our upcoming activities and opportunities. And, if you have any reading suggestions for our book group or ideas for collaborative events, please get in touch with the network lead, Dr Martha Swift.

Some key dates upfront:
1. Join our introductory call on Wednesday, February 11 at 3pm.
2. Our reading group will meet for the first time on Wednesday, March 4 at 3pm. In 2026, we’ll be talking about novels, films, comics, and the occasional article, and we’ll start the year with In the Distance by Hernan Diaz.