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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

CFP: Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference


Northumbria University, Newcastle, 8-11 July 2013

The Chairman of the TSA, Prof Alan Dobson (St. Andrews University) and Dr. Michael Patrick Cullinane (Northumbria University) would like to extend an invitation to the 2013 Transatlantic Studies Association Annual Conference.

Our outstanding 2013 plenary guests are:
  • Professor Donna Alvah (St. Lawrence University) 
  • Professor Susan Manning (University of Edinburgh)
  • Professor Michael Clarke (Royal United Services Institute)
  • Professor Erwan Lagadec will lead a roundtable discussion of his book, Transatlantic Relations in the 21st Century with respondents

Panel proposals and individual papers are welcome for any of the general or sub-panels.  A 300 word abstract of proposal and brief CV to panel leaders or to Alan Dobson ad98@st-andrews.ac.uk and Michael Cullinane michael.cullinane@northumbria.ac.uk

Deadline – 30 April 2013.

The general panels, subpanels and panel leaders for 2012 are:

1. Literature and Culture: 

Constance Post, cjpost@iastate.edu and Louise Walsh walsh.lou@gmail.com


Sub-panels:

2. Economics: 

Fiona Venn vennf@essex.ac.uk, and Joe McKinney joe_mckinney@baylor.edu

3. History, Security Studies and IR

Alan Dobson ad98@st-andrews.ac.uk and David Ryan david.ryan@ucc.ie

Sub-panels:

4. Planning, Regeneration and the Environment


Antonia Sagredo, asagredo@flog.uned.es and Tony Jackson a.a.jackson@dundee.ac.uk

5. Migration and Diaspora in the Atlantic World


Tanja Bueltmann, tanja.bueltmann@northumbria.ac.uk

Sub-panels

Monday, October 22, 2012

Amiri Baraka to read at NUI Galway



Courtesy of the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, in association with Arts in Action, NUI Galway will be treated to a reading by poet, activist, and award-winning writer Amiri Baraka on Thursday, 25 October, in the O'Flaherty Theatre.




From the Marketing & Communications Office, NUI Galway:

The writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and jazz criticism, Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. He moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1957 and founded Totem Press, which first published works by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and others.  He moved to Harlem in 1965 where he founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School.

His reputation as a playwright was established with the production of Dutchman at Cherry Lane Theatre in New York in 1964. The controversial play subsequently won an Obie Award for Best Off-Broadway Play and was made into a film. The author of several volumes of poetry, an autobiography, and numerous essays on culture, music and politics, Baraka also founded the jazz/poetry ensemble Blue Ark.

In 1994, Amiri Baraka retired as Professor of Africana Studies at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, and in 2002 was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey and Newark Public Schools. In the fall of 2002, Baraka came under fire from the New Jersey office of the Anti-Defamation League, the New Jersey Assembly and others after a reading of his controversial poem ‘Somebody Blew Up America’ about the 9/11 attacks.

According to Professor Sean Ryder, Chair of English and Acting Director of the Moore Institute at NUI Galway: “Amiri Baraka has been a cultural catalyst in the US for over 50 years, impacting upon and inspiring writers, students and the wider public. We are thrilled that he is coming to our campus, and our students of English are enthused about meeting in person an author they study and admire.”

Amiri Baraka’s numerous literary honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the PEN/Faulkner Award, and many others. His book Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music was selected as a winner of the 31st annual American Book Awards for 2010.

The reading, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 5pm in the O’Flaherty Theatre in the Arts/Science Building.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Salzburg Global Seminar: American Studies Symposium


Screening America: Film and Television in the 21st Century

November 15-19, 2012

The Salzburg Seminar American Studies Association (SSASA) is organizing a four day symposium on American film and television, to be held at the Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Austria, from November 15-19, 2012. All activities will take place at the historic Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, and the adjacent Meierhof. The symposium is open to individuals working or interested in areas related to the topic. The symposium will focus on developments in American film and television since the turn of the millennium and the way they reflect and communicate messages and images about varied aspects of life and culture.

As we edge further into the 21st century there have been notable changes in the modern media and particularly in the film and television industries. The symposium will concern itself both with these changes and with the ways in which film and television have reflected and engaged with America and abroad. In the cinema, the documentary has become a significant force while television, partly as a result of cable -- particularly HBO and AMC, but also through a network such as NBC -- has attracted major talents from the theatre and the novel to produce genre series which compare favorably to any of world television. Why and how has this come about? Has this had any impact on mainstream television or movies? How has it affected the perception of America around the world?

In addition to sessions related to and the impact of films and television on individuals, our sessions will also explore the institutional effect of films and television on the arts, technology and politics of the United States and ultimately their relation to the perception of America abroad. We will examine the global politics of film making since Hollywood films are part of this modern global system, asking what film and television tell us about the new century, and the American political system. Discussions will include the impact of new technologies and the impact of new methods of film making and distribution.

As print journalism declines, television news falls prey to ideologues, and the blogger assumes an equal authority to the trained professional, where will we turn for our understanding of a changing world? Do we need to concern ourselves, as once we did, with the impact that American film and television products have on local media industries and people around the world?

For further information about becoming a symposium participant, please contact symposium director Ms. Marty Gecek mgecek@SalzburgGlobal.org. See also www.SalzburgGlobal.org/go/SSASA2012FilmandTV.

Speakers

  • Ron Clifton (Chair) - Retired Counselor, Senior Foreign Service of the United States; teaching, lecture and research interests include analysis of the perception, reaction and impact of American culture abroad and the implications for cultural diplomacy and foreign policy.
  • Melis Behlil - Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, Kadir Has University, Istanbul; member of steering committee, European Network of Cinema and Media Studies; research interests include production studies, Hollywood, and globalization
  • Christopher Bigsby - Professor of American Studies and director of the Arthur Miller Centre for American Studies, University of East Anglia, UK; broadcaster and award-winning novelist and biographer; currently writing a book on American television drama.
  • Christof Decker - Professor of American and Media Studies, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich; editor and author of Visuelle Kulturen der USA/Visual Cultures of the USA (2010)
  • Walter Hölbling - Professor of U.S. Literature and Culture, American Studies Department, Karl-Franzens-University, Graz, Austria
  • Lary May - Professor of American Studies and History, University of Minnesota; current project: "Foreign Affairs: Global Hollywood and America's Cultural Wars
  • Toby Miller - (Keynote Speaker) Professor and Chair, Media & Cultural Studies, University of California Riverside; Author, Global Hollywood 2(2005), Makeover Nation (2008), and Greening the Media (2012)
  • Richard Pells - Professor of History Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin; author of "Modernist America: Art, Music, Movies, and the Globalization of American Culture"(2011)
  • William Uricchio - Professor and Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies Programs; Professor of Comparative Media History, Utrecht University; currently working on the history of the televisual and on algorithms as cultural form

2013 Terra Foundation Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowships and Visiting Professorships


The deadline for all professorship and fellowship applications is January 15, 2013.

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 2013-2015

This two-year postdoctoral fellowship supports advanced inquiry in the history of American art, conservation, and museum studies and is integrated with the postdoctoral fellowship program of the Courtauld Institute of Art Research Forum. The selected fellow teaches three historical American art courses, participates in scholarly activities organized by the institute, and organizes an international scholarly event. Fellow receives a $134,564 stipend (over two years). For more information, please visit courtauld.ac.uk

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellowship at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, 2013-2015

This two-year postdoctoral fellowship focuses on the history of American art and visual culture. The selected fellow teaches four semester-long courses to undergraduate and master's-level students at a French university, participates in local seminars at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art and at the hosting university, and organizes academic programs on related research topics. The fellow receives a $107,000 stipend (over two years). For more information, please visit inha.fr

Visiting Professorships at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, 2013-2015

Two professorships are available at the Courtauld Institute to present the best recent scholarship on historical American art. A twelve-week professorship requires administering one full-term course integrated with the institute's curriculum and participating in other scholarly activities. A one-week intensive professorship entails a public scholarly event, a seminar, and a special visit to a London gallery, archive, collection, or library relevant to American art history. Stipends are determined by seniority of the scholars. For more information, please visit courtauld.ac.uk

Visiting Professorships at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, Paris, 2013-2015

These eight-week visiting professorships focus on the history of American art and visual culture. Visiting professors give lectures and seminars at a French hosting university and participate in workshops, conferences, and other scholarly gatherings. One visiting professorship is available for each academic year. Visiting professors receive a $32,500 stipend. For more information, please visit inha.fr


Visiting Professorships at the John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universitat Berlin, 2013-2015

These three-month visiting professorships focus on the history of American art and visual culture. Visiting professors offer specialized courses, seminars, and lectures and participate in the larger academic community throughout their stay. Two professorships are available for each academic year. Visiting professors receive a $36,000 stipend. For more information, please visit jfki.fu-berlin.de

“Worlds Out of Joint: Re-Imagining Philip K. Dick,” TU Dortmund University, Germany, November 15-18, 2012


“Worlds Out of Joint: Re-Imagining Philip K. Dick,” a conference held on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Philip K. Dick’s death, will take place at TU Dortmund University 15-18 November 2012. 

Keynote speakers will be Norman Spinrad, Roger Luckhurst, Marc Bould, Takayuki Tasumi, Laurence Rickels and Umberto Rossi.

Panels will include some 24 speakers from ten countries on the topics of Authorship and Exegesis, Power Relations and Global Capitalism, Cultural History, Translation, Narrative and Cultural Theory, as well as The Android Mind.

The conference will also feature a presentation of David Kleiweght’s filmic documentation of Dick’s last three years, THE OWL AT DAYLIGHT, including a discussion with the director and cinematographer; an exhibition with Philip K. Dick book covers from the 1950s until the present; and a musical tribute to Dick by Michael Lysight.

More information and registration at http://philipkdickconferencedortmund.com

North American Studies Post at Uppsala University


Application no later than 2012-11-19.

The Swedish Institute for North American Studies (SINAS) was founded by the Board of Uppsala University in 1985 and has been a section of the Department of English since 2003. The mission of the Institute is to pursue and promote research in the field of North American studies, in collaboration with the Section for American Literature, especially interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences, to coordinate academic work in a number of disciplines related to North American studies, and to constitute a forum for communication in this field, as well as to arrange courses, lectures, conferences, and seminars with the goal of disseminating knowledge of and creating interest in the field.

Duties: Teaching and examination primarily in the first (bachelor) cycle but also in the second (master) cycle, administrative duties, and duties involving interaction with the wider community. Teaching duties include course responsibility, course administration, and supervision.The teaching component comprises instruction in both campus- and IT-based courses. Also included is the teaching of social studies courses covering the English-speaking world at the Department of English, for teacher-training students, etc.

Teaching is done in English.
  • Eligibility requirements: Applicants are eligible for employment as a senior lecturer (assistant professor) if they have completed a doctorate or possess the equivalent academic competence or have some other professional competence of significance in regard to the content of the position and the duties included in the position; have completed relevant tertiary-level teacher training comprising ten weeks or in some other manner acquired the equivalent knowledge; possess documented teaching skills; and have the general capabilities necessary to carry out fully the duties of the appointment.
  • Assessment criteria: In selecting among eligible applicants equal emphasis will be placed on academic and teaching competence. The applicants’ academic qualifications must lie within the subject area of North American studies. In the assessment of academic qualifications, great emphasis will be given to breadth, to social and cultural perspectives in applicants’ research, and to research qualifications in United States politics or United States media.
  • Assessment of teaching skills will include planning, execution, and evaluation of teaching as well as supervision and examination. Primary consideration will be given to the quality of teaching, and teaching skills must be well documented in a way that enables evaluation.
  • Assessment criteria, other skills: Administrative competence is important for this position and will be afforded weight. Attention will also be paid to the ability to collaborate with the wider community and to inform others about research and developmental work. The capacity to inform others about research and developmental work is shown through popularizing activities, such as involvement in mass education, publication of popularly oriented writings, and participation in the public debate on education and research issues.
  • Administrative competence is shown, for instance, in the ability to plan, organize, and prioritize work in an efficient and goal-oriented manner and in the capacity to establish and respect timeframes. Competence comprises overarching operational planning and the ability to manage resources and the ability to work in a structured manner and with awareness of goals and quality.
  • Documented good capacity to cooperate with others.
  • Personal circumstances (such as parental leaves) that may be beneficial to the applicant when qualifications are assessed should be included in the list of qualifications and experience.
  • The University strives to achieve a better gender balance among its teachers, and men are especially encouraged to apply for this position.


Application procedure: 
  • The application must be written in English. A complete application, including writings brought to bear, must be submitted in triplicate in paper form and comprise:
  • A compilation of academic, teaching, and administrative qualifications (CV) documented by witnessed copies of grades, certificates, and other documents that are being brought to bear. The documentation of teaching qualifications must contain certificates, course evaluations, and qualitative assessments from directors of studies/equivalent.
  • A brief account of the applicant’s academic, teaching, and administrative activities. It should be clear from this account what investigations and findings as well as other achievements in general the applicant feels should receive primary consideration in the assessment. The portfolio of teaching qualifications should be designed in a way that makes their qualitative assessment possible.
  • A list of the academic and teaching-related works brought to bear. The applicant is to select no more than ten of these publications or other works for primary consideration.
  • The works (maximum of 10) selected for primary consideration, in triplicate.
  • In this recruitment the recruitment group may make use of interviews, trial lectures, and references. The applicant must therefore submit a list of references that can illuminate her/his professional competence and personal characteristics of significance for the appointment, such as capacity to lead and cooperate with others.

The position may come to be filled on a trial basis.
Information about the position will be provided by the head of department, Professor Merja Kytö, tel. +46 (0)18-471 1251, merja.kyto@engelska.uu.se or the director of SINAS, Reader (Associate Professor) Dag Blanck, tel. +46 (0)18-471 2208, dag.blanck@engelska.uu.se.

Instructions for presenting qualifications will be provided by the officer in charge at the Faculty, Birgitta Laghé, birgitta.laghe@uadm.uu.se. Union representatives are Anders Grundström, SACO-rådet, tel. +46 (0)18-471 5380; Carin Söderhäll, TCO/ST, tel. +46 (0)18-471 1996; and Stefan Djurström, SEKO, tel. +46 (0)18-471 3315.

You are invited to submit your written application, marked UFV-PA 2012/2490 no later than November 19th, 2012. Dierct your application to Uppsala University, P.O.Box 256, SE-751 05 Uppsala, SWEDEN, e-mail: registrator@uu.se or fax +46 (0)18‑471 2000, by 2012-11-19

Applications submitted by e-mail must be supplemented by signed original documents within one week after the application deadline.

The University’s Appointment Regulations are available at: http://regler.uu.se/Detaljsida/?contentId=92570&kategoriId=129

The Faculty of Languages supplementary guidelines for Appointment Regulations are available at: http://www.sprakvet.uu.se/For_medarbetare/Befordran/

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Free eBook: Inside the Presidential Debates


Did you know that the University of Chicago Press offers one of their publications each month for free in ebook format? This month's free ebook has an American Studies slant, and is certainly topical. Check out the link below. You can also subscribe to receive alerts when a new free ebook is released each month. 

Inside the Presidential Debates: Their Improbable Past and Promising Future 
by Newton N. Minow and Craig L. LaMay.

From the University of Chicago Press:
“There may be no one alive who cares more about America’s democracy than Newton Minow, who was there at the creation of the modern political debate. The riveting first-person stories he and Craig LaMay tell of debates in one election after another take us to the heart of American political life and argue for a continued central role for debates in our electoral process. Their book is must reading for anyone who wants to understand how to ensure that comes about.” - Judy Woodruff