Conference recognizes 200th anniversary of abolition of British slave
trade
From Oct. 25 through 28, Dartmouth will host the annual conference of the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth
Century Studies (NEASECS), a regional interdisciplinary association devoted
to the study of 18th-century history, literature, arts, society, and culture.
This year’s theme, Transatlantic Destinies: Connection and Disconnections
Across the Atlantic Seaboard in the Eighteenth Century, honors the 200th
anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain.
Rauner Special Collections
Library will mount an exhibition showcasing its diverse collection of
18th-century holdings, highlights of which include the Dartmouth charter and
correspondence between the College’s co-founders Eleazar Wheelock and his
Native American pupil, Samson Occom. The Hood Museum of Art is also
participating with a public screening of the film Orozco: Man of Fire,
on Friday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Loew Auditorium. A reception will be
held at 5:30 in the Kim Gallery, and filmmaker Laurie Coyle will introduce the
film and answer questions.
Peter
Cosgrove, conference chair and professor of English, says, “This major
conference will show many academics from around the world the scholarly wealth
to be found at Dartmouth. It is important that we are recognizing the 200th
anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade, and I am grateful to
Rauner Library and the Hood Museum of Art for helping us provide a
one-of-a-kind experience for our participants.”
The conference
program features a range of panels and presentations exploring 18th-century
life. A public panel on the topic of colonial fantasies will be held Saturday,
Oct. 27, at 2 p.m. in Haldeman 246. The panel is dedicated to the memory of
Susanne Zantop, who was a German professor at Dartmouth, Other events include
Chair of the Department
of English and Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor of Biography Gretchen
Gerzina’s panel on Olaudah Equiano, a former slave whose autobiography was
a best seller in the 18th-century, and Professor of English Ivy
Schweitzer’s session exploring the subject of transatlantic Dartmouth.
Plenary speakers include Madge Dresser from the University of the West of
England, and Caryl Phillips of Yale University, who will read selections from
his newly released novel, Foreigners. The program also features a
collaboration between NEASECS and the Leslie Center for the Humanities’ fall
term institute on visual humor, No Laughing
Matter. The institute will present two public panels on the role
visual humor has played in the 18th century in circulating ideas of race,
nationality, and ethnicity. Co-director of the institute and Professor of Art History Angela Rosenthal will
chair three sessions, including a discussion of the pioneering 18th-century
satirist and cartoonist William Hogarth, featuring an international panel of
specialists.
For more information, call 646-0896.
By STEFANIE ZYCHOWSKI ’09
|
RSS/XML Feed