European Initiatives in American Studies-The Roosevelt Institute for American Studies
To kickstart our new series on American Studies on the continent, we travelled to Middelburg in the Netherlands to hear all about the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies, a centre for research and collaboration established in 1986. Since 2003, RIAS’ PhD seminars have brought the best and brightest of American Studies scholars from across the globe to the Netherlands to showcase and discuss their research. Today, we heard about our guests’ experiences of this unique program, learned how to get funding, marvelled at RIAS’s archival collections, and reflected on both the challenges and advantages of working, researching, and conferencing in continental Europe. We were joined by Aija Oksman (University of Edinburgh) to discuss all this with Gaetano di Tommaso, one of the program’s coordinators and a post-doc at RIAS, and David Carlson and Heleen Blommers, PhD students at the University of Notre Dame and Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam respectively. Thank you […]
Continue ReadingEyes on Events- BAAS 2023 Annual Conference
It’s BAAS Annual Conference time again! In this week’s Eyes on Events, we met with David Ballantyne and Hannah M. Smith (both Keele University) to discuss this week’s conference taking place at Keele from April 12th to April 14th. Along the way, we heard advice for organising such a colossal event, learned how to network and make the most of three-day mega-conferences, and discussed all the benefits of ‘mixing things up’ by making pottery or engaging in post-conference green therapy.
Continue ReadingEyes on Event: Bridging the Resource Gap
This week, USSO’s Eyes on Events continued our new series on Teaching and American Studies with a review of the BAAS initiative Bridging the Resource Gap. Bridging the Resource Gap aims to create resources for 16-to-19-year-olds interested in American Studies, including resources discussing the careers open to American Studies graduates. We interviewed Dr Emily Brady (Christ Church, University of Oxford) and Emma Hall (University of Warwick) about this initiative. We learned about current students’ interest in the contemporary lessons of American Studies, the promise of audiovisual and multimedia learning resources, and the dilemmas and advantages of working with such wide-ranging stakeholders. Bridging the Resource Gap also benefitted greatly from the work of keisha bruce (IAS) and Katharina Donn (University of Augsburg).
Continue ReadingEyes on Events-An Evening with Mrs Terrell and Friends
In this week’s episode of Eyes on Events, we interviewed Dr Marie Molloy (Manchester Metropolitan University) and the award-winning creative producer, historian, and theatre-maker Pamela Roberts about an outreach screening of the play ‘An Evening With Mrs Terrell and Friends.’ Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) was a celebrated Black women activist who was one of the first Black women to earn a college degree. A gifted linguist, journalist, and writer, Terrell worked extensively in the civil rights and women’s suffrage movements, helping to found the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and the National Association of College Women in 1923. An Evening with Mrs Terrell and Friends tells a story that commences as Terrell, and three other Black women activists met at the turn of the twentieth century, gathering in Scotland in 1901 before the Women’s World Congress. To find out more about this play and Pamela’s work, please visit: […]
Continue ReadingEyes on Events: Rachel Williams, BAAS Annual Conference 2022, #3
The next episode in our series Eyes On Events, this week we are interviewing Rachel Williams about 2022’s BAAS Annual Conference, held from the 21st to the 23rd of April 2022. This is our third and final interview in this series, taking place after the conference itself. We reflect on the pedagogical discussions that went on in Hull, assess the conference’s implementation of hybrid formats, and give advice to those balancing conference planning with day-to-day academic responsibilities. This is the final Eyes on Events of the 2021-2022 academic year- thank you to all our contributors and Dr Emily Brady, our Eyes on Events interviewer. If you are organising an upcoming event for the next year and would like to share your experience, please contact usso@baas.ac.uk
Continue ReadingEyes on Events: Stephen Colbrook, ‘Pandemics and the State’ Conference
The next episode in our series Eyes On Events, this week we are interviewing Stephen Colbrook about the upcoming ‘Pandemics and that State’ Conference at the UCL Institute of the Americas. The conference is being held from the 4th to 5th of July 2022. This event is organised with support from Royal Historical Society and Institute of Advanced Studies at UCL. More details can be found here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/americas/events/2022/jul/pandemics-and-state-conference If you are organising an upcoming or past event and would like to share your experience, please contact usso@baas.ac.uk
Continue ReadingEyes on Events: Marie Molloy, SHAW Annual Conference 2022
The next episode in our series Eyes On Events, this week we are interviewing Marie Molloy about the upcoming Society for the History of Women in the Americas (SHAW) Annual Conference: Black Women’s Activism in the Americas. This event is taking place at the Eccles Centre at the British Library. The conference is being held in-person on Friday the 1st of July. More details can be found here: https://shawsociety.net/annual-conferences-2/ If you are organising an upcoming or past event and would like to share your experience, please contact usso@baas.ac.uk
Continue ReadingEyes on Events: Megan Hunt, HOTCUS Annual Conference 2022
The next episode in our series Eyes On Events, this week we are interviewing Megan Hunt about the upcoming HOTCUS Annual Conference at the University of Edinburgh. The conference is being held from the 22nd to 24th of June, in a hybrid format, and so attendance is possible either in-person or online. More details can be found here: https://hotcus.org.uk/annual-conference-2022/ If you are organising an upcoming or past event and would like to share your experience, please contact usso@baas.ac.uk
Continue ReadingEyes on Events: Rachel Williams, BAAS Annual Conference 2022, #2
The next episode in our series Eyes On Events, this week we are interviewing Rachel Williams about the upcoming BAAS Annual Conference. This is our second interview, taking place a week before the event itself. We discuss some of the innovative ideas being trialled, USSO’s own plans for the event, and the challenges of balancing conference administration over other responsibilities. The British Association for American Studies’s 67th Annual Convention is being held from the 21st to the 23rd of April 2022. You can register for this virtual event here: https://www.baas2022.org If you are organising an upcoming or past event and would like to share your experience, please contact usso@baas.ac.uk
Continue ReadingEyes On Events: Elisa Pesce, International Panel on Fictional Maximalism
The next episode in our series Eyes On Events, this week we are interviewing Elisa Pesce about the upcoming International Panel on Fictional Maximalisms and the Americas: New Voices, New Perspectives. The panel is being held on the 11th of April 2022, online via Zoom. To join, email Elisa at e.pesce.1@research.gla.ac.uk for further information and the Zoom link. This event is organised by the Andrew Hook Center of American Studies, University of Glasgow. If you are organising an upcoming or past event and would like to share your experience, please contact usso@baas.ac.uk
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