An international conference examining American nationalism opened yesterday in 13 Carpenter Hall.
Sponsored principally by the Geisel Professorship, the four-day event entitled "Re-Figuring U.S. Nationalisms" features approximately 40 distinguished scholars speaking on the notion of national identity and what it means to be an American in the late 20th century.
Conference Organizer Donald Pease, the Geisel Third Century Professor in the Humanities, said the goal of the event is "reconceptualizing the role the nation-state plays in what has become a global as opposed to a national-oriented economy."
"We want to draw upon the linkage between U.S. nationalism and its origins, integrate that with critical literary theory and art history and extend the examination to the present," he said.
Co-organizer Robert McGrath, an art history professor at the College, added that the conference "turns the United States into an object as well as a subject of study."
"Americans tend to think we can describe others without having to be described ourselves, and that is an increasingly difficult view in a world where nations are becoming increasingly interdependent," he said.
The conference includes presentations by scholars from the U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan, including Masao Miyoshi of the University of California at San Diego, Paul Bove of the University of Pittsburgh, Wlad Godzich of the University of Geneva and Gynter Lenz of the University of Berlin.
The heads of a number of leading academic presses--including Harvard, Duke, Chicago and Wesleyan universities--will also participate and plan to publish selected papers from the conference.
The conference coincides with the beginning of the College's annual School of Critical Theory, which draws leading scholars of literature nationwide.
Remaining sessions will be held 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. today and Saturday, and 8:30 a.m. to noon Sunday. Contact Sandra Gregg at 646-3756 for registration information.
