Intersections and Meeting Grounds: Public History and Community

On February 17-18, 2012, Auburn University will host a two-day symposium exploring the intersection of public history and community in the South, with a focus on Alabama. The symposium, “Intersections and Meeting Grounds: Public History and Community,” will be held in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

“Intersections and Meeting Grounds” will explore the roles of community, institutional, and academic partners in public history collaborations. The symposium aims to bring together a diverse range of panelists working in Alabama and across the South to address strategies and approaches for sharing authority, effective decision-making, resolving conflict, and community engagement.

The symposium is sponsored by Auburn University's College of Liberal Arts' Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities and Department of History, Alabama Department of Archives and History, and History Matters LLC.

Registration for the conference is $30 ($15 for students), and includes lunch on Friday and Saturday. Registration for the keynote dinner Friday evening is $15. For a schedule and a list of presenters, please visit www.cla.auburn.edu/publichistory or call 334-844-4903.

Discover SHR at Free Master Class

On Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, the Southern Humanities Review will host “Discovering SHR,” free master writing classes at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Auburn.

Pushcart Prize nominees Alison Pelegrin and Emma Bolden will lead workshops on writing poetry and nonfiction. Pelegrin, poet, essayist and author of two poetry collections, will offer a poetry writing workshop from 10 a.m. to noon. Bolden, currently an assistant professor at Georgia Southern and author of How to Recognize a Lady, will lead a nonfiction master class from 1 to 3 p.m.

The classes are free and open to the public, but seating is limited. To reserve a spot, send an email to shreng@auburn.edu. Following the master classes, The Gnu’s Room will host a free reading by the presenters at 6 p.m. For more information on the reading, visit www.thegnusroom.com. 

The Southern Humanities Review was founded in 1967 as the official publication of the Southern Humanities Council. Under the leadership of Professor Dan Latimer and Alumni Professor Chantel Acevedo, SHR publishes fiction, poetry, critical essays and book reviews on the arts, literature, philosophy, religion and history. Work published in SHR is considered for Best American Essays, The Art of the Essay, Best American Poetry, Best American Short Stories, New Stories from the South, Prize Stories: O. Henry Awards and The Pushcart Prize. For information on submitting and subscribing to SHR, visit the website.

“Discovering SHR” is made possible through the generous support of the Auburn University Department of English and College of Liberal Arts, as well as grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

German Consul to Speak at Public Symposium on Immigration and Migration

Dr. Lutz Hermann Görgens, the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, will deliver a keynote address at “Becoming Alabama: Immigration and Migration in a Deep South State,” January 20-21, 2012 at the Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center. The two-day public symposium will feature scholars and professionals exploring immigration and migration from Spanish exploration to the 1813 Creek War through the present.

Görgens, a native of Düsseldorf, Germany, is the official representative of the German government to the Southeastern United States. During his career, Görgens has worked as a desk officer for the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn, Germany, and later as first secretary and head of the Economic Section for the Germany Embassy in Mexico. He later became a deputy consul general in Boston, head of the Economic Section in the German Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, and head of the European Internal Market Affairs Unit of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. He holds a Ph.D. in German history and literature from the University of Tübingen.

“It is a delight to welcome Dr. Görgens to our campus,” said Anne-Katrin Gramberg, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.  “He has a great deal of personal and professional knowledge on the subject of immigration and acculturation in the southern United States.   He is also a dynamic speaker and personable representative of the German culture.”

Prominent scholars of history and political science from Auburn University, as well as other institutions, will present on topics ranging from Spanish Exploration to how Alabama's immigrant population, including Germans, Koreans, Southeast Asians, and Hispanics, among others, have shaped art, politics, education and culture in the state.

The symposium is a “Becoming Alabama” event. Designed to commemorate major Alabama anniversaries of the Creek War/War of 1812, the Civil War and Emancipation and the Civil Rights era, “Becoming Alabama” is a statewide initiative begun by the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

 “Becoming Alabama: Immigration and Migration in a Deep South State” is supported by a generous grant from the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the state office of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is co-sponsored by the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts, History Department, and Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, as well as the Office of the Vice President for International Programs and the Office of Access and Community Affairs. The East Alabama Memory Project, a program of Southern Public Media Group, is also serving as a sponsor.

Registration for the conference is $50. Registration for meals, which will feature keynote speakers, is separate. Students may register at a discounted rate. For a schedule and a list of presenters, visit www.auburn.edu/cah or call 334-844-4946.

“Of Men and Gods” screening kicks off 2012 “Art at the Threshold” Series

AU Connects! and Art at the Threshold announce a screening and discussion of the film Of Men and Gods on Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m. in Biggin Hall Auditorium.

The film is the first in a series of Art at the Threshold programs on the role of the arts, language and ritual in the context of social issues. Designed to support the 2011-12 Common Book Program, the programs focus on Haiti, Guatemala and Mexico, three areas in which Paul Farmer’s Partners in Health is currently active.

Of Men and Gods is a documentary by anthropologist and film-maker Anne Lescot. Set in Haiti, it examines the daily existence of several men who are openly gay. Prevalent, yet still taboo, homosexuality and gay culture are allowed to flourish within the context of Haiti's Vodou religion. As "children of the gods," the men find an explanation for homosexuality as well as divine protection. They also find an outlet for theatrical expression through exhilarating performances in which they embody the gods. Meanwhile, the AIDS epidemic looms as a continual threat and adds a disquieting degree of nihilism to their relatively optimistic attitudes toward life and happiness in Port-au-Prince.

Lewis Nordan: Humor, Heartbreak, and Hope

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts will host a book talk celebration on the publication of Lewis Nordan: Humor, Heartbreak, and Hope at Pebble Hill on January 11 at 4:00 p.m.

Lewis Nordan: Humor, Heartbreak, and Hope examines and celebrates the work of southern writer Lewis “Buddy” Nordan. Written by scholars and fiction writers who represent a fascinating range of experience—from a Shakespearean scholar to a former student of Nordan’s—this is a rich array of essays, poems, and visual arts in tribute to this important writer. The collection deepens the base of scholarship on Nordan and contextualizes his work in relation to other important southern writers such as William Faulkner and Eudora Welty.

Lewis Nordan: Humor, Heartbreak, and Hope is edited by Dr. Barbara Baker, director of the College of Liberal Arts Women’s Leadership Institute and author of The Blues Aesthetic and the Making of American Identity in the Literature of the South. Her most recent publication is an edited collection of essays on Albert Murray, entitled Albert Murray and the Aesthetic Imagination of a Nation.

The program will feature Baker and several contributors and will be followed by a reception. The public is invited. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

Lewis Nordan: Humor, Heartbreak, and Hope is published jointly by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities and The University of AlabamaPress.

Lewis Nordan was born and raised in Mississippi before moving to Alabama to pursue his Ph.D. at Auburn University. He taught for several years at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and retired from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a professor of English. Nordan has written four novels, three collections of short stories and a memoir entitled Boy with Loaded Gun. His second novel, Wolf Whistle, won the Southern Book Award, and his subsequent novel, The Sharpshooter Blues, won the Notable Book Award from the American Library Association and the Fiction Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. Nordan is renowned for his distinctive comic writing style, even while addressing serious personal and cultural issues such as heartbreak, loss, violence, and racism. He transforms tragic characters and events into moments of artistic transcendence, illuminating what he calls the “history of all human beings.”

For more information, please call 334-844-4946 or visit our website at www.auburn.edu/cah. 

George Washington Carver Day Programs to be presented in Tuskegee and Auburn

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site invites the public to attend Carver Day programs on Saturday, January 7, 2012. The National Park Service is partnering with Tuskegee University, Auburn University and Eastern National to discuss this renowned scientist, teacher, and humanitarian.

At 10:00 a.m. a panel discussion will explore the life of Dr. George Washington Carver in Tuskegee at the George Washington Carver Museum and again at 3:00 p.m. in the Special Collections and Archives Department of Auburn University’s Ralph Brown Draughon Library. His life will be explored through a panel discussion with guest speakers Dr. Mark Hersey, Dr. Gary Kremer and Dana Chandler. 

Dr. Mark Hersey is an assistant professor of history at Mississippi State University and author of My Work is that of Conservation:  An Environmental Biography of George Washington Carver. Dr. Gary Kremer is executive director of the State Historical Society of Missouri, an adjunct professor of history at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and author of George Washington Carver: A Biography.  Dana Chandler is the archivist and adjunct professor of history at Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama.  A book signing will follow the presentation.

In addition to the Tuskegee panel discussion, the following activities will be held at the Carver Museum:

•       At 1:00 p.m., a children’s art workshop on Dr. Carver will be conducted at the Museum Participants will each create a Carver collage which will be on display at the museum throughout the month of January.

•       Refreshments, featuring peanuts and sweet potatoes, will be served after the panel and the workshop reflecting the influence of Carver’s agricultural and nutritional work.  Seldom seen Carver artifacts from the Tuskegee University Archives, including the Carver meteorite, will also be on display at the museum. 

All programs are free and open to the public.  Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the programs, please contact Park Ranger Shirley Baxter at 334-727-3200 or shirley_k_baxter@nps.gov.

Steps to Becoming Alabama

Lovers of Alabama and her history: plan to be on the road, the Cultural Crossroad, as Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, the Alabama Department of Archives and History, Auburn University College of Liberal Arts Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for theArts & Humanities and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts join hands with the Alabama Humanities Foundation for the annual January history symposium.

Scheduled at the Alabama Department of Archives and History for January 14, 2012, “STEPS TO BECOMING ALABAMA” will feature talks and tours highlighting the new exhibits in the Archives’ Museum of Alabama.  This presentation is a part of the multi-faceted, on-going BECOMING ALABAMA SERIES. Dr. Ed Bridges, Director of ADAH, will introduce the day’s program with a talk on the ideas and topics that are the foundations for BECOMING ALABAMA.

Speakers, who were also instrumental in the development of the exhibitions, are Dr. John Hall (The Land), Dr. Craig Sheldon (The First People), Dr. Kathryn Braund (The Creeks), Bob Bradley (Road to War and the next STEPS) and Debbie Pendleton (The Gold Star Collection). Following their discussions, these noted Alabama historians and archaeologists will lead the audience through their special exhibitions.  Karren Pell, the Alabama Troubadour, will entertain with some old and new Alabama songs.

 The day’s activities begin with sign-in and coffee from 8:30 and conclude at 4:00. The registration fee includes a light breakfast , refreshments and lunch. Members of the sponsoring organizations receive a small discount while teachers and students attend at a reduced fee. A registration form may be found here.  Please call Landmarks Foundation at 334-240-2500 or 888-240-1850 for more information.  The Alabama Department of Archives and History is located across Washington Avenue from the Capitol. Parking will be on the street on in the parking lot  directly across from the Adams Avenue entrance to ADAH.