January 13, 2009
TO:
Members of the University Community
FROM:
Edward Friedman, Director
Mona Frederick, Executive Director
RE:
Spring Semester 2009 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.
Spring Semester Warren Center Programs
Fellows Programs
2008-2009 Fellows Program, “New Directions in Trauma Studies” directed by Vivien Green Fryd
(history of art). Participants in the program are Laura Carpenter (sociology), Kate Daniels (English), Jon
Ebert (psychiatry), Christina Karageorgou-Bastea (Spanish and Portuguese), Claire Sisco King
(communication studies), Linda Manning (psychiatry), and Charlotte Pierce-Baker (Women’s and
Gender Studies/English). The 2008-2009 William S. Vaughn Visiting Fellow is Maurice Stevens
(Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University).
2008-2009 Robert Penn Warren Graduate Student Fellows. Seven graduate students are participating
in the Warren Center’s third dissertation completion fellowship program. They are Jeffrey Edmonds
(philosophy); Donald Jellerson (English); Sonalini Sapra (political science); Derrick Spires (English);
Laura Taylor (religious studies); Jonathan Wade (Spanish and Portuguese); and David Wheat (history).
Sonalini Sapra is the George J. Graham, Jr. Fellow, Derrick Spires is the American Studies Fellow, and
Jonathan Wade is the Mary and Joe Harper Fellow. Each of the fellows will present a public lecture on
their research this semester. Please see Special Events for the listing of their talks.
2009-2010 Fellows Program, “Immigration and the American Experience” co-directed by Daniel B.
Cornfield (Vanderbilt Center for Nashville Studies/sociology) and Gary Gerstle (history). Participants in
the program will be Katharine Donato (sociology), Jonathan Hiskey (political science), Kevin Leander
(teaching and learning), Robert McGreevey (history), Ifeoma Nwankwo (English), Efrén Pérez (political
science), and Nina Warnke (European studies/Jewish studies).
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Special Events
Realities and Representations: The 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign
Over the course of the academic year the Warren Center, in conjunction with the Communication
Studies Department, is presenting a series of four lectures on the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign,
bringing to campus several leading scholars and critics to reflect upon the historic nature of the
presidential race, as well as to examine the ways in which mass media are shaping our national response
to the campaign. The last two speakers in the series will join us this semester. Dhavan Shah, Louis A.
and Mary E. Maier-Bascom Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, will give his talk “Network Nation: How Campaign Ads and the Internet Shape
Participation” on Wednesday, January 28 at 12:00 p.m. in the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural
Center. The series will conclude with a lecture by John Murphy, Associate Professor of Speech
Communication at the University of Illinois, on Monday, February 16 at 4:10 p.m., also in the Black
Cultural Center. Further information about the series can be found on the Warren Center’s website.
Black Atlantic History Lecture
Vincent Brown, Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History at Harvard University, will present
the Warren Center’s annual Black Atlantic History Lecture on Monday, February 2 at 4:10 p.m.
His talk, “The Reaper’s Garden: Social Death and Political Life in Slavery,” is hosted by the Warren
Center’s Circum-Atlantic Studies Working Group and the Department of History in honor of Black
History Month. Additional support is provided by the Program in African-American and Diaspora
Studies, the Program in American Studies, and the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center.
Professor Brown, a scholar of African Diaspora studies and the history of slavery, is the author of The
Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery. His talk will take place in the
Black Cultural Center, followed by a book signing and reception.
Warren Center Graduate Student Fellows Lecture Series
This spring, each of the Warren Center’s seven 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. The presenters and dates are:
Monday, March 9 – David Wheat (history)
“Afro-Iberian Roots of the Early Modern Atlantic World: A Caribbean Perspective”
Tuesday, March 10 – Donald Jellerson (English)
“Complaining Ghosts in Elizabethan Poetry”
Wednesday, March 25 – Sonalini Sapra, George J. Graham, Jr. Fellow (political science)
“Feminist Environmentalism and Neo-Liberal Globalization: Activist Initiatives for Environmental
Justice in India”
Tuesday, March 31 – Derrick Spires, American Studies Fellow (English)
“Staging Citizenship in the Black State Conventions of the 1840s”
Tuesday, April 14 – Laura Taylor (religious studies)
“La Frontera: Boundaries, Identities, and Difference in Theological Thought”
Thursday, April 16 – Jeffrey Edmonds (philosophy)
“War as Democratic Education: William James and the Strenuous Life”
Tuesday, April 21 – Jonathan Wade, Mary and Joe Harper Fellow (Spanish & Portuguese)
“Portuguese Nationalism in a Spanish Costume: Language, Literature, and Politics on the Iberian
Peninsula from 1580 to 1640”
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Graduate Student Research Symposium
On Monday, March 30, 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 – ends with a keynote address at 4:10 p.m. by Susan Basalla May, author of So
What Are You Going to Do With That?: Finding Careers Outside of Academia. All the symposium’s
activities, including the keynote address, will take place in the Student Life Center. Please check the
Warren Center and Graduate Student Council websites for further details.
Black Europe Documentary Film Debut
The 2007-2008 Fellows of the Warren Center met for a year-long program on “Black Europe, or
Diaspora Studies In/On Europe.” Their weekly meetings and lectures by visiting speakers were recorded
by documentary filmmaker Lyle Jackson, and have been compiled into a short educational film on Black
Europe. This spring, the Warren Center will host a premier screening of the film as the capstone project
of the Black Europe Fellows. Please check the Warren Center website for details later in the semester.
2009-2010 Harry C. Howard, Jr. Lecture
Rosanna Warren, Emma Ann MacLachlan Metcalf Professor of the Humanities and Professor of
English and Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures at Boston University, will present the 20092010 Harry C. Howard, Jr. Lecture on Thursday, October 29, at 4:10 p.m. More information about her
lecture, including the title and location, will be announced in the fall. The Harry C. Howard, Jr. Lecture
Series was established in 1994 through the endowment of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Nash, Jr., and Mr.
and Mrs. George D. Renfro, all of Asheville, North Carolina. The lecture honors Harry C. Howard, Jr.
(B.A. 1951) and allows the Warren Center to bring an outstanding scholar to Vanderbilt annually to
deliver a lecture on a significant topic in the humanities.
Warren Center Seminars
All seminars meet in the Warren Center conference room unless otherwise noted.
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 seminar will meet at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 10 and again on Tuesday,
March 10. Seminar coordinator: Bill Caferro (history), william.p.caferro@vanderbilt.edu.
Circum-Atlantic Studies Working Group. Now in its sixth year, this group meets monthly and reads
and treats works-in-progress authored by participants or other significant work in the field. The 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 transAtlantic slave trade, colonialism, and/or postcolonialism. The first meeting of the semester will be a
panel presentation of graduate student research on Wednesday, January 21, at 12:00 p.m. The group’s
annual Black Atlantic History Lecture will take place on Monday, February 2, at 4:10 p.m. The
speaker this year will be Vincent Brown, Dunwalke Associate Professor of American History at
Harvard University. Further details about his talk are listed above under Special Events. Later in the
semester, on March 9, the group will meet at 4:10 p.m. to hear David Wheat, graduate student in the
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department of history, present a public lecture as part of the Warren Center’s Graduate Student Fellows
Lecture Series. The final meeting of the semester will take place on Wednesday, April 8, at 12:00 p.m.
Those interested in presenting a paper at this meeting should contact the seminar coordinator. To be
added to the mailing list, e-mail Sarah Nobles sarah.h.nobles@vanderbilt.edu. Seminar coordinator: Jane
Landers (history), jane.landers@vanderbilt.edu.
Feminist Theories 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. Seminar coordinators: Natalie Cisneros (philosophy), natalie.cisneros@vanderbilt.edu
and Andrea Tucker (religious studies) andrea.l.tucker@vanderbilt.edu.
Food Politics Reading and Working Group. This working group aims to foster interdisciplinary
conversation about the political (as well as spiritual, economic, ecological, cultural, and nutritional)
dimensions of global/local foodways, agricultural practices, and consumption habits. The group plans to
meet four times this spring, addressing topics ranging from ‘radical’ agrarianism, to Vandana Shiva’s
Navdanya movement in India, to the shape of the contemporary U.S. food politics scene after the recent
Farm Bill and under the new Obama administration. Each meeting will include discussion of selected
readings as well as discussion of actionable applications of the readings to local food politics concerns.
The group will meet on the following Mondays at 5:00 p.m.: January 12, February 23, March 16,
and April 20. 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 a monthly seminar to provide opportunities for exchange among
faculty members who are interested in or who are currently involved in projects that engage public
scholarship. Vanderbilt has recently joined the national organization “Imagining America,” a consortium
of colleges and universities committed to public scholarship in the arts, humanities and design. Seminar
coordinators: Teresa Goddu (American Studies), teresa.a.goddu@vanderbilt.edu and Mona Frederick,
mona.c.frederick@vanderbilt.edu.
Medicine, Health, and Society Seminar. This interdisciplinary seminar meets monthly to discuss
common concerns and hear talks by members and visiting speakers. For more information or to be
added to the mailing list, contact Lynn Lentz at lynn.lentz@vanderbilt.edu. Seminar coordinator: Arleen
Tuchman (history), arleen.m.tuchman@vanderbilt.edu.
Nineteenth Century Seminar. This group focuses upon the history, art, literature, and culture of the
long nineteenth century (ca. 1789-1914). While the focus has been traditionally on Britain, the group’s
perspective is widening to encompass the transatlantic nineteenth century. Each meeting consists of a
presentation by a visiting scholar, Vanderbilt faculty member, or graduate student, followed by a
discussion of that work with the author. Graduate students and faculty are encouraged to attend. The
group will have its first meeting on Friday, January 23, at 12:00 p.m. for a talk by Tricia Lootens,
Associate Professor of English and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of
Georgia. Further meetings will be held at 2:00 p.m. on the following Fridays: March 13 and April 10.
Seminar coordinators: Erin Spinka (English), erin.e.spinka@vanderbilt.edu and Elizabeth Meadows
(English), elizabeth.s.meadows@vanderbilt.edu.
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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. Reading group meetings will be held on the following Fridays at 12:00 p.m.: January 30,
February 27, March 27, and April 10. Seminar coordinators: Jane Wanninger (English),
jane.m.wanninger@vanderbilt.edu and Rob Watson (French & Italian), robert.j.watson@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. Meetings are at 12:30 p.m. on the following
Thursdays: January 29, February 26, March 26, and April 16. Seminar coordinator: Derrick Spires
(English), derrick.r.spires@vanderbilt.edu.
Trauma Studies Graduate Student Reading Group. This graduate student reading group is designed
to explore the interdisciplinary field of trauma studies, with a focus on literary, religious, psychosocial,
and neurobiological considerations of trauma. The organizers share an interest in the traumatic impact
of war, from the Civil War to the present, but will not restrict discussion to this area. Meetings are at
12:00 p.m. on the following Fridays: January 16, February 20, March 20, and April 24. To join the
mailing list, contact the seminar coordinators: Zo Newell (Graduate Department of Religion),
zo.newell@vanderbilt.edu and Elizabeth Covington (English), elizabeth.r.covington@vanderbilt.edu.
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 on Thursdays 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 first presentation of
the semester will come from Lynn Enterline on February 5 at 4:10 p.m. Later that month, Barbara
Bowen will present “Facetious Ladies in a 16th-century French Story Collection” at 3:30 p.m. on
February 26. On March 26 at 4:10 p.m. Donald Jellerson in will give a talk based on his research. To
be added to the seminar mailing list, please e-mail Sarah Nobles sarah.h.nobles@vanderbilt.edu.
Seminar coordinator: Leah Marcus (English), l.marcus@vanderbilt.edu.
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