Dartmouth College announces the 2009 Futures of American Studies Institute: “Re-Configurations of American Studies”, June 22-26, 2009. Application deadline: April 20, 2009.
“Re-Configurations of American Studies”
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE ANNOUNCES
THE 2009 FUTURES OF AMERICAN STUDIES INSTITUTE
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~futures
RE-CONFIGURATIONS OF AMERICAN STUDIES
MONDAY, JUNE 22 - SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 2009
DIRECTOR: Donald E. Pease (Dartmouth College)
CO-DIRECTORS: Elizabeth Dillon (Northeastern University)
Winfried Fluck (Freie Universitaet, Berlin)
Eric W. Lott (University of Virginia)
INSTITUTE FACULTY:
Nancy Bentley (University of Pennsylvania), Colleen Boggs (Dartmouth College), Barrymore Anthony Bogues (Brown University), Anna Brickhouse (University of Virginia), Hamilton Carroll (University of Leeds), Christopher Castiglia (Pennsylvania State University), Russ Castronovo (University of Wisconsin), Michael Chaney (Dartmouth College), Tim Dean (State University of New York, Buffalo), Soyica Diggs (Dartmouth College), J. Martin Favor (Dartmouth College), Nancy Fraser (New School), Jeffrey Glover (University of Rochester), Macarena Gomez-Barris (University of Southern California), Judith Halberstam (University of Southern California), Andrew Hebard (Miami University of Ohio), Donatella Izzo (University of Naples), Cindi Katz (City University of New York), George Lipsitz (University of California, Santa Barbara), Lee Medovoi (Portland State University), Klaus Milich (Dartmouth College), Jose Munoz ( New York University), Alan Nadel (University of Kentucky), Anders Olsson (Upssala University, Sweden), John Carlos Rowe (University of Southern California), Jose David Saldivar (University of California), Ramon Soto-Crespo (State University of New York, Buffalo), Paul Smith (George Mason University). Maurice Stevens (Ohio State University)
DESCRIPTION:
This year of the Institute is the fourth of a four-year focus on "Re-configurations of American Studies." This topic is meant to foreground the reflexive turn in the cultures of American studies both inside and outside the United States. As such, we are inviting both scholars well known as "Americanists" internationally and those whose theoretical frameworks, objects of study, and disciplinary inclinations promise to transform the field's self-understanding.
The Institute is divided into plenary sessions which feature current work from Institute faculty (listed above) and research seminars in which all participants present and discuss their own works-in-progress. Speakers in the plenary sessions will examine the relation between emergent and residual practices in the field of American Studies from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. The Institute welcomes participants who are involved in a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields and who are interested in current critical debates in American Studies.
The Institute was designed to provide a shared space of critical inquiry that brings the participants' work-in-progress to the attention of a network of influential scholars. Over the past ten years, plenary speakers have recommended participants' work to the leading journals and university presses within the field of American Studies, and have provided participants with recommendations and support in an increasingly competitive job market.
FEE:
The fee for the Institute (covering registration, housing, and seminars) is $695.00.
The fee to attend only the Institute plenary sessions is $500.
APPLICATIONS:
Applications for the 2009 Institute will be accepted until all slots have been filled, but applications received by April 20, 2009 will be granted priority.
Applicants should send a brief description of their own projects (no more than 1 page) along with a current CV, a writing sample (10-15 pages) and a $10 application fee (please make checks payable to "Dartmouth College").
Applications should be mailed to:
The Futures of American Studies Institute
Dartmouth College
116 Wentworth Hall
Hanover, NH 03755.
For further information, please contact:
Tom Zoellner
Email: Futures.of.American.Studies.Institute@Dartmouth.edu
Phone: 603-646-3592
RESPONSES TO THE INSTITUTE:
"The intense academic experience of the Futures Institute has been immensely valuable for my development as a scholar. A wide variety of lectures has given me a glimpse of the freshest thinking being done in the field of American Studies, and a chance to meet and talk with leading scholars whom I might have seen only from afar at larger conferences. Stimulating seminar discussions have challenged me to become a more responsive colleague and to situate my own work more effectively in an ongoing critical conversation. I feel confident that I'll carry my network of friends, mentors, and intellectual fellow travelers well beyond those summer days in Hanover!"
- Leslie Eckel, Futures Participant
"At the Futures of American Studies Institute, Donald Pease and Elizabeth Dillon have created a space of intellectual vitality that is absolutely unparalleled. The plenary lectures, given by internationally renowned figures in the field American studies, were a continual source of energy and inspiration. Yet what was truly remarkable about this Institute was the sense in which it was more than simply a collection of brilliant individuals. Through a seminar structure that actively engages participants and plenary speakers alike, the Institute invites each participant into the discussion of the state of American studies, insisting that each participant share the work they hope to contribute to the futures of this field. The result is the building of a community that is supportive yet challenging, in which each person is invested in helping others rethink their ideas in exciting new ways. This community has given me a completely new and valuable outlook on the work I do, and upon the ways this work intersects with the larger field of American studies. It was one of the best educational experiences I've ever had, and I only hope I can continue to be a part of the community this Institute has fostered in the years to come."
- Jesse Cross, Futures Participant
"The combination of intensive workshops devoted to each participant's work in progress, a dizzying array of fantastic plenary speakers, and the general atmosphere of intellectual fecundity that pervades the Institute sets it apart from all other academic gatherings, providing a serious workspace for critical discussion and exploration that is far greater than the sum of its parts. For all of its strengths, the single greatest virtue of the Futures Institute is its capacity to produce in every one of its participants an experience of intellectual euphoria that ultimately manifests itself as a kind of productive exhaustion."
-- Brian Thill, Futures Participant
"The Futures of American Studies Institute is one of the most vibrant and challenging intellectual spaces for critical thinking in the American Academy. Bringing together scholars from many different countries it facilities conversations and sharp exchanges between them through a series of plenary lectures and debates. For the graduate student, the Institute is a place where one can, in a non - competitive atmosphere, get feedback both from peers and leading scholars in different fields. I cannot think of a better place to spend a week in intense intellectual conversation."
- Anthony Bogues, Futures Faculty
