Spring 2010 Warren Center Programs

The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities promotes interdisciplinary research and study in the humanities and social sciences and, when appropriate, the natural sciences. Members of the Vanderbilt community representing a wide variety of specializations take part in the Center’s programs, which are designed to intensify and increase interdisciplinary discussion of academic, social, and cultural issues.

Fellows Programs

2009-2010 Fellows Program, “Immigration and the American Experience” co-directed by Daniel B. Cornfield (sociology) and Gary Gerstle (history). Participants in the program are Katharine Donato (sociology), Jonathan Hiskey (political science), Kevin Leander (teaching and learning), Ifeoma Nwankwo (English), Efrén Pérez (political science), and Nina Warnke (European studies/Jewish studies). The 2009-2010 William S. Vaughn Visiting Fellow is Jemima Pierre (anthropology, University of Texas at Austin).

2009-2010 Robert Penn Warren Graduate Student Fellows. Eight graduate students are participating in the Warren Center’s fourth dissertation completion fellowship program. They are Elena Deanda-Camacho (Spanish and Portuguese), Gesa Frömming (Germanic and Slavic Languages), Patrick Jackson (history), Sarah Kersh (English), Gail McConnell (English, Queen’s University, Belfast), Elizabeth Meadows (English), Rachel Nisselson (French and Italian), and Matt Whitt (philosophy). Elena Deanda-Camacho is the Mary and Joe Harper Fellow, Patrick Jackson is the American Studies Fellow, and Matt Whitt is the George J. Graham Jr. Fellow.

2010-2011 Fellows Program, “Representation and Social Change” co-directed by Bonnie J. Dow (communication studies) and Laura M. Carpenter (sociology).

Special Events

Africa in the Atlantic World
Mariza de Carvalho Soares, (history, Fluminese Federal University, Rio de Janeiro), and Yacine Daddi Addoun (history, York University, Toronto), will each present lectures entitled “African Barbers and Bleeders in Brazilian Slave Ports: A Case Study from Rio de Janeiro" and “Securing Paradise: Salvation Through Manumission in the Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Algeria,” respectively. Their talks, sponsored by the Circum-Atlantic Studies Group, with additional support from the Department of History’s African Speakers Series, will take place on Wednesday, January 20 at 4:10 p.m. in Sarratt 325/327, followed by a reception.

Black Atlantic History Lecture
Sue Peabody, Professor of History at Washington State University, Vancouver, will present the Warren Center’s annual Black Atlantic History Lecture on Thursday, February 11 at 4:10 p.m. Professor Peabody’s talk, "Justice on the Margins: Popular and Official Claims to Freedom under French Law," is hosted by the Warren Center’s Circum-Atlantic Studies Group, the Department of French, and the Department of History in honor of Black History Month. Her talk will take place in the Black Cultural Center, followed by a reception.

Postcolonial Theory Seminar Visiting Speaker
Malini Johar Schueller, Professor of English at the University of Florida, will deliver a public lecture entitled "Post-Orientalism, Neoliberal Feminism, and Afghan Women" on February 16 at 4:10 p.m. in Buttrick 101.

Warren Center Graduate Student Fellows Lecture Series
This spring, each of the Warren Center’s eight graduate students will present a public lecture on his or her research. All lectures take place in the conference room of the Warren Center at 4:10 p.m. and are followed by a reception. More details will soon be available on our website. The presenters and dates are: March 15 - Matt Whitt (philosophy); March 22 - Elizabeth Meadows (English); Monday, March 29 - Sarah Kersh (English); Thursday, April 1 - Rachel Nisselson (French and Italian); April 12 - Gesa Frömming (Germanic and Slavic Languages); April 15 - Patrick Jackson (history); April 21 - Elena Deanda-Camacho (Spanish and Portuguese).

Trauma: Memory, the Body, and the Arts
Members of the 2008-2009 Warren Center Fellows Program on “New Directions in Trauma Studies” have planned a three-day symposium to be held at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center March 18-20. The symposium will consist of six sessions, featuring scholars from various disciplines around the country: Jackie Orr (Syracuse University), Marianne Hirsch (Columbia University), Ellen Bass (Pacific University, Santa Cruz), Gwendolyn Du Bois Shaw (University of Pennsylvania), and Kenneth Robinson (Vanderbilt Integrative Health). Conference information will soon be posted on our website.

Graduate Student Research Symposium
On Thursday, March 25, and Friday, March 26, the Graduate School and the Graduate Student Council will present the Graduate Student Research Symposium with sponsorship from the Warren Center. This annual interdisciplinary conference – featuring public lectures and poster presentations by Vanderbilt’s diverse graduate student body – begins Thursday with a keynote address at 4:10 p.m. in 103 Wilson Hall by Julia Miller Vick, author of The Academic Job Search Handbook. All other symposium activities will take place in the Student Life Center.

Seminars

Ancient and Medieval Studies Seminar. The purpose of the group is to foster interdisciplinary study of the time periods embraced in its title, which means not only history but language and literature, chiefly, though not exclusively, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. The main focus will be on faculty and graduate student research. The first meeting will take place on Wednesday, February 3, during which Tom Burman (history), University of Tennessee, will deliver a lecture (please check the website for the time). The remaining meetings will take place on the following Mondays at 12:00 p.m.: March 15 and April 12. To be added to the seminar mailing list, e-mail Katherine Newman at katherine.newman @vanderbilt.edu. Seminar coordinator: Bill Caferro (history), william.p.caferro@vanderbilt.edu.

Circum-Atlantic Studies Group. Now in its seventh year, this group meets monthly and reads and treats works-in-progress authored by participants or other significant work in the field. Our focus is on scholarship that is interdisciplinary in nature, focuses on at least two of the following regions – Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and North America – and treats some aspect of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, and/or postcolonialism. The group’s first meeting will take place at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 21. At this meeting, Mariza de Carvalho Soares (history) from the Fluminese Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, and Yacine Daddi Addoun (history) from York University, Toronto, will discuss “Preservation of African Historical Sources.” A public lecture on Wednesday (see further details under Visiting Speakers above) will precede this seminar meeting. The group’s annual Black Atlantic History Lecture will take place on Thursday, February 11, at 4:10 p.m. The speaker this year will be Sue Peabody, Professor of History at Washington State University, Vancouver. Further details about her talk are listed above under Special Events. The group will also meet with Professor Peabody for a luncheon seminar at 12:00 p.m. on February 11. On Tuesday, March 2 at 12:00 p.m. Gad Heuman, editor of Slavery and Abolition will lead “Publishing on the Atlantic World: A Roundtable Conversation.” Later in the semester, Tiffany Patterson (African American and Diaspora Studies) will deliver a talk, "Postoccupation Haiti in the Moral Imagination of Zora Neale Hurston," on Thursday, March 25 at 12:00 p.m. The final meeting will be on Thursday, April 15 at 12:00 p.m. Lauren Clay (history) will present “Justifying the Slave Trade in the Era of Human Rights: M. Chambon’s Le Commerce de l’Amérique par Marseille?” To be added to the mailing list, e-mail Katherine Newman at katherine.newman@vanderbilt.edu. Seminar coordinator: Celso Castihlo (history), celso.castihlo@vanderbilt.edu.

Feminist Theory Reading Group. This reading group is designed to facilitate a sustained interdisciplinary discussion of feminist theories. The group will meet to read and discuss canonical as well as recent texts and will workshop members' original research. Meetings will take place at 12:30 p.m. on the following Fridays: February 26 and April 23, and at 12:00 p.m. on March 26. Seminar coordinators: Natalie Cisneros (philosophy), natalie.cisneros@vanderbilt.edu, and Andrea Tucker (religion), andrea.l.tucker@vanderbilt.edu.

Food and Sustainability. This working group aims to engage in interdisciplinary conversation about the political (as well as spiritual, ecological, cultural, and nutritional) dimensions of global/local foodways, agricultural practices, and consumption habits. Each meeting will include discussion of selected readings as well as discussion of actionable applications of the readings to local food politics concerns. Meetings will take place at 5:00 p.m. on the following Mondays: January 18, February 8, March 22, and April 12. Seminar coordinators: Amanda Hagood (English), charlotte.a.hagood@vanderbilt.edu, and C.J. Sentell (philosophy), charles.j.sentell@vanderbilt.edu.

Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life. The Warren Center and the American Studies Program are co-sponsoring this group to provide opportunities for exchange among faculty members who are interested in or who are currently involved in projects that engage public scholarship. Vanderbilt is a member of the national organization, “Imagining America,” a consortium of colleges and universities committed to public scholarship in the arts, humanities, and design. Meeting dates will be announced later in the semester. Seminar coordinators: Teresa Goddu (American Studies), teresa.a.goddu@vanderbilt.edu, and Mona Frederick, mona.frederick@vanderbilt.edu.

Memory and Trauma Studies Working Group. This group is designed to explore the interdisciplinary fields of memory and trauma, with a focus on literary, religious, psychosocial, and neurobiological considerations of memory and trauma. Meetings will consist of either a presentation of original work by a seminar participant or a discussion of pre-circulated readings. The seminar will meet at 12:00 p.m. on the following Fridays: January 22, February 12, and March 5. Seminar coordinator: Elizabeth Covington (English), elizabeth.r.covington@vanderbilt.edu.

Postcolonial Theory and its Discontents
This interdisciplinary reading group will discuss recent criticism in the fields of postcolonialism, comparative colonialism and critical race theory. Such broadly defined and interconnected work has been catalyzed in particular by scholars from and scholarship about the Caribbean, India, and Southeast Asia but has also recently been discussed in relation to various regions throughout the world, including the U.S., the Gaelic fringe (Ireland and Scotland), and Latin America, among others. In our reading group we will consider the usefulness of various buzz words popularized by diverse postcolonial theorists past and present, such as de-colonization, hybridity, paracolonialism, and cosmopolitanism. The group will meet at 12:00 p.m. on the following Tuesdays: January 26, February 16, March 16, and April 6. Malini Johar Schueller, Professor of English at the University of Florida, will join the group for an informal lunch on February 16 followed by a public lecture in Buttrick 101 at 4:10 p.m. More information about her talk can be found under Special Events. Seminar coordinators: Matt Duques (English), matthew.e.duques@vanderbit.edu and Matt Eatough (English), matthew.eatough@vanderbilt.edu

Queer Theory Graduate Student Reading Group. This seminar meets to discuss emergent issues in queer theory and its intersections with theories of gender, race, class, sexuality, and history. Meetings alternate between reading-based discussions and workshop formats. During workshops, seminar participants volunteer their work for feedback from the larger group; discussions work to explore the ways in which current issues within the scope of queer theory are developing across disciplinary boundaries. Check the website for meeting dates and times. Seminar coordinator: Jane Wanninger (English), jane.m.wanninger@vanderbilt.edu.

Reclaiming Citizenship. This interdisciplinary group is designed to explore theories of citizenship that will be translated into a useable pedagogical framework. The group will ask, as scholars and teachers, what it means to be an active citizen both locally and globally. Discussions of these theoretical concerns will be used to construct syllabi for use by group members. The first meeting of the semester will be on Friday, February 5 at 5:00 p.m. Seminar coordinator: Sarah Kersh (English), sarah.e.kersh@vanderbilt.edu.

Science Studies. This interdisciplinary group is comprised of faculty from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities with a shared interest in the history and sociology of scientific thought and practice, issues of scientific methodology and its application across disciplines, and the social functions of scientific knowledge. The group is in its initial stages, and we encourage anyone interested in the topic to join the conversation. Meetings will be held on Mondays at noon at the Warren Center. Please contact Ole Molvig (history), ole.molvig@vanderbilt.edu, or Dahlia Porter (English), dahlia.porter@vanderbilt.edu for specific meeting dates or to be added to the group’s listserv.

Vanderbilt Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies. This is a forum for those with an interest in literature, history, music, art, and culture from 1400-1800. The group meets monthly to discuss ongoing research by a faculty member, recent publications in the field, or the work of a visiting scholar. Graduate students are particularly encouraged to attend and contribute. The group will meet at 3:10 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14 for a talk by Erec Koch, Professor of French at the University of Tennessee. Information about additional speakers and seminar dates will be forthcoming. To be added to the mailing list, e-mail Katherine Newman at katherine.newman@vanderbilt.edu. Seminar coordinator: Leah Marcus (English), leah.s.marcus@vanderbilt.edu.

18th-/19th-Century Colloquium. The colloquium features new scholarship on the arts, cultures, and histories of the 18th and 19th centuries, with an emphasis on work by visiting or Vanderbilt faculty members. While loosely focused around British culture, we will also invite scholars from other linguistic and geographic fields to present work and join in the discussion. We will be emphasizing interdisciplinary conversations, with potential events to include an “aesthetics roundtable” and a forum on comparative religion. All meetings except the February 5 event will take place on Fridays at 2:00 p.m. The group will meet for the first time on January 29 for a roundtable session on Comparative Religion. Participants are: Richard McGregor (religious studies), "Comparing Religions in Egypt and Syria: Female Orientalists of the 18th and 19th centuries," Humberto Garcia (English), "The 'Worlding' of Religion and Postcolonial Studies," and Paul Lim (Divinity School and history), "Religion Belonging to No One in Particular: the Fate of Natural Theology in Late 17th- and Early 18th-Century England." On February 5 Alan Richardson (English), Boston College, will lead a workshop, "Recent Neuroscience and the Romantic Imagination." The final meeting of the semester will take place on February 26. Richard Menke (English), University of Georgia, will deliver a talk entitled "The Wordsworths’ Daffodils: On the Page, upon the Inward Eye, in their Media Ecology." All faculty or graduate students interested in 18th/19th-century culture are invited to attend. Please contact one of the seminar coordinators: Dahlia Porter (English), dahlia.porter@vanderbilt.edu, Rachel Teukolsky (English), rachel.teukolsky@vanderbilt.edu to be added to the listserv.

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