UA English Dept. to Host 25th Annual Symposium on English and American Literature

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama will host the 25th annual Symposium of English and American Literature, Sept. 27-29, at the Bryant Conference Center.

Titled “Writing Race Across the Atlantic World: 1492-1763,” the symposium will begin on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m. in Morgan Auditorium with opening remarks by the distinguished African-American playwright August Wilson, who will speak on “Writing Race in America.”

Cleo Thomas, the first African-American SGA President and a current member of the UA board of trustees, will introduce Wilson. This year’s topics will include immigrants and native peoples, slavery and race, race and culture, race and ethnicity, and a final colloquium.

For more conference and registration information, go to http://www.as.ua.edu/english/symposium/index.htm or call Dr. Gary Taylor or Dr. Philip Beidler in the department of English at 205/348-5065.

25th Annual Symposium on English and American Literature – Topic and Speaker Schedule

Friday, Sept. 28

I. Immigrants and Native Peoples

9 a.m.-12 p.m. Bryant Conference Center

Welcome:

George Wolfe, University of Alabama English Department

Barbara Fuchs (University of Washington, English and Spanish and Portuguese);

“A Mirror Across the Water: Mimetic Racism and Cultural Survival.”

Introduced by Connie Janiga-Perkins, Director, UA Latin American Studies

Program:

Karen Ordahl Kupperman (New York University, History)

“Angels in America”

Introduced by Ed Tang, UA American Studies Department

Gordon Sayre (University of Oregon, English) “Prehistoric Diasporas: Colonial Theories of the Origins of Native American Peoples.”

Introduced by Richard Krause, UA Anthropology Department

II. Slavery and Race

2 p.m.-5 p.m. Bryant Conference Center

Joseph Roach (Yale University, Theatre and African-American Studies);

“Fresh Produce”

Introduced by Ed Williams, UA Theatre Department

Jennifer Morgan (Rutgers University, History and Women’s and Gender Studies);

“Summoning the Scribe: Estate Dispersal and Racial Slavery in Early American Slave Societies”

Introduced by Amilcar Shabazz, Director, UA African American Studies

Kim Hall (Fordham University, English); “Extravagant Viciousness’: Slavery and Gluttony in the Works of Thomas Tryon”

Introduced by Robert Young, UA English Department

Alabama Blues at 4th and 23rd: 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 29

III. Race and Culture

10 a.m.-12 p.m. Bryant Conference Center

Mary Floyd-Wilson (Yale University, English)

“Othello, Passion, and Race”

Introduced by Celia R. Daileader, UA English department

Francesca Royster (DePaul University, English)

“Working Like A Dog:” African Labor and Racing: The Human-Animal Divide in Early Modern England”

Introduced by Tony Bolden, UA English Department

IV. Race and Ethnicity

1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Bryant Conference Center

Benjamin Braude (Boston College, History)

“Michelangelo and the Curse of Ham: From a Typology of Jew-Hatred to a Genealogy of Racism”

Introduced by Steve Jacobs, UA Judaic Studies

David Baker (University of Hawaii, English)

“Errour’s Children: Milk, Blood, and ‘Race’ in Late Sixteenth-Century Ireland”

Introduced by Michael Mendle, UA History Department

V. Colloquium

4:00 p.m.