Cambridge American History Seminar: “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the American Century”

We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the forthcoming conference ‘Trump’s First 100 Days’, 2nd May 2017. A copy of the conference programme is available below.  Registrations should be made via the University of Reading’s Conferences and Events pages.

It has been nearly 25 years since the publication of Donald Pease and Amy Kaplan’s seminal collection of essays, Cultures of United States Imperialism (Duke, 1993), a volume which built on and expanded in new directions a field of foreign policy and imperial studies initiated largely by William Appleman Williams and the Wisconsin School in the 1950s and 60s. Since then, of course, ‘US imperialism’ has become a familiar (if still deeply contested) concept for historians, political analysts, sociologists, literary critics, and scholars of other cultural forms. Meanwhile, U.S. foreign policy itself has moved in decisive new directions: the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, interventions in Libya and Pakistan, the changing relationship with Cuba and Iran, and so on. This one-day symposium seeks to revisit and reassess the continuing currency of ‘U.S. Imperialism’ as a concept and its place in the wider projects of cultural, literary, and artistic history.  Bringing […]

This conference will examine the political and cultural significance of Donald Trump’s election as President of the United States, and consider the first 100 days of his administration. Speakers include: Robert Brigham (Vassar College), Mary Fitzgerald (Irish Times), Scott Lucas (University of Birmingham), Clodagh Harrington (De Montfort University),  Diane Negra (University College Dublin), Inderjeet Parmar (City, University of London),Donald E. Pease (Dartmouth College), Stephen Shapiro (University of Warwick) Topics may include but are not confined to: “Make America Great Again” – American exceptionalism, nostalgia “America First” – foreign policy and diplomacy “Protect our borders” – immigration and terrorism “Drain the swamp” – Washington elites, lobbying and corruption “A historic movement” – white nationalism, identity politics, protest “American carnage” – dystopian visions of the US, narratives of decline “Crime and gangs and guns” – race and the cities, gun violence, civic anxiety “Fake news” – politics in the new media age, […]

For a long time, transnational trends have inspired social, political, economic and cultural transformations across the globe.  In the Americas, and particularly since 1968, there have been numerous examples of bridge-building across borders.  From Human Rights and transitional justice processes to solidarity movements and the international trade agreements of more recent times, building bridges between nations has been seen as a means of progress across the Americas. Today, developments across the region seem to signal a ‘centrifugal’ tendency towards isolationism and nationalism.  Propelled by complex social phenomena such as migration, human displacement, economic instability and political upheaval, many are turning to the erection of barriers – real and imagined – as a means to cope with uncertainty.  In the US, discourses based on nationalism are on the rise.  Meanwhile, in Latin Americas, the slowdown of the so-called ‘Pink Tide’ suggests a clear shift in the incentives to maintain hitherto strong […]

THURSDAY 11 MAY, 16:30--18:00. School of English, University of Leeds On May 11, the School of English at the University of Leeds is hosting a panel session in which three leading scholars in the vibrant field of US food culture studies will join in conversation and discuss their new research: Dr. J. Michelle Coghlan is Lecturer in American Literature at University of Manchester and the author of Sensational Internationalism (2016). Her new project, Culinary Designs, "chronicles the rise of American food writing and the making of American taste in the long nineteenth century." Professor Elizabeth Engelhardt, incoming chair of American Studies at UNC Chapel Hill, is the author of many landmark food writings including A Mess of Greens: Southern Gender and Southern Food (2011) and the student collaboration Republic of Barbecue: Stories Beyond the Brisket (2009). Professor Psyche Williams-Forson, chair of American Studies at the University of Maryland, is the author of Building Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power (2006). With Carole Counihan she is also the editor of the important collection Taking […]

Lives Outside the Lines: Gender and Genre in the Americas, held from May 15-17, 2017 at York University in Toronto, is the third biennial conference of the International Auto/Biography Association Chapter of the Americas (IABAA). The conference brings together the leading scholars of autobiography, biography, and other forms of life writing, as well as new and emerging scholars, artists and practitioners of life writing, and graduate students. Focusing on regional and hemispheric research and scholarship, the conference will explore the multiple lines that gendered lives in the Americas cross, both physical boundaries of national borders and intangible crossings of the established borders of gender, language, and genre. "Lives Outside the Lines" is a timely theme, given the importance of transnational movements triggered by globalization and given the popularity of multi-media and multi-genre experimentation that creates new possibilities and forms of self-representation. Papers and presentations delivered at this conference will investigate […]

HARDBOILED HISTORY: A NOIR LENS ON AMERICA’S PAST Friday 19th May 2017 University of Warwick  Keynote Speakers: Dr. Helen Hanson (University of Exeter) Warren Pleece (Comic Artist and Graphic Novelist) Provisional Programme   09:00-9:30 Registration (The Oculus, OC1.06), Tea and Coffee 09:30-9:45 Opening Remarks 09:45-10:45 Panel 1: (Re)Creating/Marginalising History Alex Pavey (University College London), “‘Something is wrong here’: James Ellroy and the Historiography of Noir Los Angeles” Thomas Travers (Birbeck University), “Cuban Breach: Don DeLillo’s Libra as Historical Noir” Michael Docherty (University of Kent), “All Pachucos go to Heaven: Grim Fandango’s Interactive Requiem for the Mexican Dead of 1940s Los Angeles” 10:45-11:45 Panel 2: The “Historical” Female Body Katherine Farrimond (University of Sussex), “Black and White and Dead: The Femme Fatale as Corpse in Retro Noir” Esther Wright (University of Warwick), “‘It’s a sad story but this town has seen it play out a thousand times”: L.A. Noire’s ‘Historical’ Women” […]

American Colors: Across the Disciplinary Spectrum (University of Southern Denmark) Color defines America. First of all color defines America through ideas of slavery, race, and civil rights. W.E.B. Du Bois’ claim that ‘The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line’ is certainly hard to deny in an American context. Yet American Colors are far from all about race. The respective colors of the Democratic and the Republican Party, since 1976 partitioning the country into demographics of blue and red, are significant reminders of the power of American Colors to divide and contrast. On the other hand, American Colors are not necessarily divisive, even if they stay distinct. Whether it is in the color of the rainbow, as seen on the pride flag of the LGBT community, or in the idea of ethnic and racial diversity, the notion of colors mixed as well as existing in diverse […]

“Purple Reign: An interdisciplinary conference on the life and legacy of Prince” A two-day international conference hosted by The School of Arts and Media, University of Salford, UK and the Department of Recording Industry, Middle Tennessee State University, USA 24th- – 26th May 2017 Media City UK, University of Salford, UK. Convenors: Dr Mike Alleyne, Dept of Recording Industry, College of Media & Entertainment, Middle Tennessee State University Dr Kirsty Fairclough, School of Arts and Media, University of Salford, UK Tim France, School of Arts and Media, University of Salford, UK A two-day international conference on the life and legacy of Prince. This conference aims to provide fresh perspectives on the creative and commercial dimensions of Prince’s career, re-examining the meanings of his work in the context of his unexpected death. This conference seeks to address the issue of Prince’s significant influence and lasting appeal from a number of multi-disciplinary perspectives.  We welcome […]