The Atlantic World Research Network
Atlantic World Lunchtime Colloquia 2008-2009 |
Everyone has to eat, and scholars and researchers usually like to talk. So the Atlantic World Research Network sponsors a series of regular colloquia to encourage the exchange of ideas around the lunch table.
Each of these lunchtime gatherings will bring together 15 or so selected UNCG colleagues from a variety of disciplines to enjoy a hearty lunch, thanks to the support of College Dean Tim Johnston, and to share in interdisciplinary conversations about doing Atlantic-World-related research. These conversations will be led by fellow UNCG faculty members or by distinguished visiting scholars.
Lunchtime colloquia will meet about once a month in 2008-2009 on varied weekdays (see below), usually from 11:45 am-1:30 pm. We will meet in MHRA 1607, the Research and Partnerships conference room on the first floor of the Moore Humanities and Research Administration Building’s research wing. Colloquia will be led by colleagues from varied disciplines, but with a shared purpose: to explore life around the Atlantic Rim in ways that will spark new approaches, provide useful responses to work-in-progress, and reflect on the shared project of transatlantic studies.
As of May 8, 2008, the 2008-2009 Colloquium schedule is as follows:
| --Tuesday, September 9— Colleen Kriger, Associate Professor of African History Linda Rupert, Assistant Professor of Atlantic World History Topic: Teaching the Atlantic World (12:30-2:00 pm) |
--Friday, October 24— Moses Acquaah, Associate Professor of Strategic Management Department of Business Administration, Bryan School of Business Kevin Lowe, Professor of Business Administration, Bryan School of Business Topic: Implicit Leadership Theories in Africa (11:45-1:30) |
| --Monday, November 24—To be announced |
| --Monday, February 2—Susanne Rinner, Assistant Professor of German Arndt Niebisch, Assistant Professor of German Topic: Transcultural and Transatlantic German Studies (11:45-1:30) |
| --Tuesday, March 3—Gail McDonald, Senior Lecturer in English, University of Southampton, England, Co-Founder and Past President, Modernist Studies Association. Topic: Has Globalization Been Good for the Arts? (11:45-1:30) |
| --Friday, April 24—Deborah Bell, Professor of Theatre Topic: Circumatlantic Maskmaking (11:45-1:30) |
Although each Colloquium will be by invitation and space is limited, you’re welcome to inquire about the availability of spaces on particular dates at awrn@uncg.edu.
Recent Colloquia
The first Atlantic World Lunchtime Colloquium met Friday, April 4 and was led by Kate Flint, Professor of Victorian Literature at Rutgers University and 2007-2008 Fellow of the National Humanities Center. Professor Flint is author of The Victorians and the Visual Imagination (Cambridge University Press, 2000), The Woman Reader, 1837-1914 (Oxford University Press, 1993), and Dickens (Harvester, 1985). Her newest book, The Transatlantic Indian 1776-1930, is appearing from Princeton University Press in 2008.
Professor Flint led out with a thoughtful consideration of how to define “Atlantic World”: Cis-Atlantic? Trans-Atlantic? Circum-Atlantic? Do Atlantic World Studies carry their own ethical, multicultural charge as a rebuff to the notion of transatlantic being really just North Atlantic? The assembled lunchtime group went at it for a good hour, with some healthy diversity of opinion. By the end of the discussion, it was clear that while the issues of ethical and cultural redress are of interest in the network's ongoing discussions, its purposes are broader than any particular theoretical commitment or political program. Instead, our mission is to foster and encourage research from a variety of disciplinary perspectives into the geographical and cultural zone that is the Atlantic Rim. Our first colloquium drew 18 people by invitation, deliberately varied in their disciplinary affiliations, including history, political science, music history, Environmental studies, theatre, English, and Romance Languages.