The simple, compact, well-join'd scheme--myself
disintegrated, every one
disintegrated, yet part of the scheme:
The similitudes of the past, and those of the future;
Walt Whitman, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"
For us, of course, things can change so
abruptly,
so violently,
so profoundly,
that futures like our grandparents' have insufficient 'now' to stand on.
We have no future because our present is too volatile.
William Gibson, Pattern Recognition
The future comes apace:
What shall defend the interim? and at length
How goes our reckoning?
William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens
Like any futures market, that of the
in-(inter-, in-between) discipline of American Studies is at the
present moment a highly volatile one.
In this year's conference, we will speculate on the promises of an
American Studies to come by showcasing some of the rich, diverse, and
innovative scholarship of faculty at the University of Florida and
beyond.
In so doing, we also hope at length to begin a reckoning of our debt to
our colleague, David Leverenz (Paternalism
Incorporated; Manhood and
the American Renaissance; The
Language of Puritan Feeling), for his
many contributions to the field, the profession, and our program.
Previous UF American Cultures Symposia
2002 Circulations: "America" and Globalization
2003 American Cultures: Technologies of Citizenship
2004 Counter-Cultures: Dissent, Radicalism, and Community in American Life
2005 U.S. Imperialisms Inside and Out
2006 Rethinking Race and Domesticity in American Culture
2007 Material Cultures of the Atlantic World, 1500-1800
For more information on the conference,
please contact, Phillip E. Wegner, pwegner@english.ufl.edu
For more information on literary and cultural studies
at the University of Florida,
see the Department of English website at
http://www.english.ufl.edu/