The Grapevine

blackatlanticresource's avatarBlack Atlantic Resource Debate

Depaul University Symposium Header

Location: Courtelyou Commons, 2324 N. Fremont St., DePaul University, Chicago 
Date/Time: March 7th, 4-9pm.


This free public event will address the provocative, explorative and suggestive work of cultural critics in the digital age. It is particularly interested in how cultural critics address an age that is repeatedly depicted as post-soul, post-race and post-black. 

The symposium will feature three exceptionally talented, perceptive, and incisive writers who have consistently produced intellectual work that deepens our interest in arts and culture; reveals new meanings and perspectives; expands our sense of culture; confronts our assumptions about value and taste; and sharpens our ability to respond to cultural texts. 

Lewis Gordon teaches in the Department of Philosophy and the Institute for African American Studies, with affiliation in Judaic Studies, at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. He previously taught at Temple University (where he was a Laura H. Carnell Professor of Philosophy and founded and…

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CONF: Mapping: Geography, Power, and the Imagination in the Art of the Americas @ NYU

March 7-8, 2013

Focusing on the North and South American landscape in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the conference will explore mapping as a conceptual and artistic practice from a hemispheric perspective. While scholarship has generally used the date of 1900 and the border between the United States and Mexico to mark distinct fields, this event seeks to foster a dialogue between disciplines traditionally separated by such temporal and geographic boundaries. How can the “map” as an intellectual model both unite diverse cultures and modes of knowledge as well as highlight their differences? Though maps are often taken as straightforward, objective configurations, they can also expose deeply subjective frameworks with social, political, and economic significance. Whether considering mapping as a traditional cartographic system representing the land or as a contemporary scientific approach to visualizing the body, maps allow for the unique diagramming of relationships between people and spaces, objects and time, vision and knowledge. The conference will use the concept of map-making as “world-making” in order to examine the ways in which power, place, and cultural traditions intersect and come into conflict.

Organized by Jennifer Raab (IFA/Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, 2011 – 2013) with Kara Fiedorek and Elizabeth Frasco (IFA Ph.D. students)

For a detailed conference agenda with abstracts:
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/research/mellon/mellon-mapping.htm

This event will be streamed live on:
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/events/livestream.htm

PARTICIPANTS:

Keynote Speakers:
Jennifer L. Roberts (Professor of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University)
Irene V. Small (Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University)

Curatorial Roundtable:
Richard Aste (Curator of European Art, Brooklyn Museum)
Peter John Brownlee (Associate Curator, Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago)
Dennis Carr (Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Art of the Americas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Deborah Cullen (Director and Chief Curator, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University)
Georgiana Uhlyarik (Assistant Curator, Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Ontario)

Graduate Student Speakers:
Cabelle Ahn (Courtauld Institute of Art)
Layla Bermeo (Harvard University)
Lauren Jacks Gamble (Yale University)
Sean Nesselrode (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University)
Gabriela Piñero (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City)
D. Jacob Rabinowitz (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University)
Caroline Riley (Boston University)
Oliver Shultz (Stanford University)
Catalina Valdés Echenique (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris)

RSVP
This event is open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To make a reservation for this event, please click here:
http://tinyurl.com/IFAmapping
Your RSVP will apply to both days of the conference. Please note that seating in the Lecture Hall is on a first-come first-served basis with RSVP. A reservation does not guarantee a seat in the lecture hall. We will provide a simulcast in an adjacent room to accommodate overflow. This event will also be streamed online.

This conference is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

SYMP: Beyond the Proclamation: Interpreting Emancipation for Today’s Youth

There will be symposium which will feature presentations by museum professionals, artists, and educators on teaching and engaging K-12 audiences in conversations about the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, as well as other complicated topics in history.

Entitled Beyond the Proclamation: Interpreting Emancipation for Today’s Youth, this symposium is jointly hosted by Independence National Historical Park, Friends of Independence National Historical Park, National Park Service, the Library Company, and the African American Museum in Philadelphia, and University of Delaware’s President’s Diversity Initiative and University Museums.

In honor of the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, this symposium will look beyond the historical facts to explore creative ways that difficult topics in history can be taught.

Panelists and presenters will address the incorporation of multiple teaching techniques for a variety of learning styles for a richer classroom experience. Attendees will have the opportunity to interact with their peers and the panelists.

Participating Teachers will be able to earn Act 48 Credits for attending this symposium. Please fill out the educator section of the registration form to receive credit.

Panelists and presenters include:

Panel 1 – Reaching Students in the Classroom and in the Field
· Introduction by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Ph.D.,Director of the Program in African American History, The Library Company of Philadelphia
· Museum Programs: Naomi Coquillon, National Museum of American History
· Experiential Learning: Michelle Evans, Conner Prairie Interactive History Park
· K-12 Educator: Amy Cohen, Julia R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School
· Reference Librarian: Krystal Appiah, The Library Company of Philadelphia

Panel 2 – Bringing History Alive Through Literature and the Arts
· Introduction by Denise Valentine, Storyteller
· Visual Arts: Jerry Pinkney, Artist
· Games: Amy Hillier, The Ward: Mapping Race and Class in DuBois’ Seventh Ward
· Children’s Literature: Cynthia Levinson, Author
· Performing Arts: Michael Bobbitt, Adventure Theatre

*Benjamin Filene, co-editor of Letting Go? Sharing Historical Authority in a User-Generated World, will be the keynote speaker.

When: Saturday February 23, 2013 from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM EST
Where: WHYY Philadelphia Offices, 150 North 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Contact: Friends of Independence National Historical Park, 215-861-4971, attn@friendsofindependence.org
Registration is $70. Discounts are available for members of the hosting organizations.

The registration link for the symposium is here: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=zfvkdvcab&oeidk=a07e6u90n3n2b6f24ff

Contact information:

Ivan D. Henderson
Curator of Education
University Museums
University of Delaware
203 Mechanical Hall
30 North College Avenue
Newark, DE 19716

EMAIL: ihenders@udel.edu

PHONE: 302-831-8047
FAX: 302-831-8057
WEB: www.udel.edu/museums

CFP: African Photography issue of Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies

Call for papers for a special issue of Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies

African Photography: Realism and After

The place and meaning of photographs in Africa has shifted dramatically
over time, from colonial and ethnographic practices to radical new forms
of contemporary representation. Photographs circulate as documents, as
remnants in the aftermath of violence and dislocation, as both public
and private records of celebration, kinship and dwelling, and as
artworks. Photography offers a suggestive surface for engagements with
questions of both the imaginary and the real. This special issue of
Social Dynamics invites papers that explore the history, theory and
practice of photography across the continent.

Topics might include:

The role of portraits and family albums
Photographs of public figures
Photography and the history and memory of slavery
African photography and postcolonial modernity
Reading photographs as colonial documents
Photography and liberation struggles
Photography and national history
Local histories of photography
Art photography and imaginative transformation

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words by the 22 February 2013 to:
kyliethomas.south@gmail.com

Social Dynamics: A Journal of African Studies is a peer-reviewed journal
that is published three times a year by Taylor & Francis in electronic
and print format.  The journal is based at the Centre for African
Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and is edited by
Louise Green and Kylie Thomas.

For more information about the journal see:
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rsdy20/current

NEH Summer Institute on American Material Culture

American Material Culture: Nineteenth-Century New York
NEH Summer Institute for College and University Teachers

At the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture
New York City, July 1-26, 2013

Objects matter. Material culture scholars use artifactual evidence
such as consumer goods, architecture, clothing, landscape, decorative
arts, and many other types of material.

The Bard Graduate Center will host a four-week NEH Summer Institute on
American Material Culture. The institute will focus on the material
culture of the nineteenth century and use New York as its case study
because of its role as a national center for fashioning cultural
commodities and promoting consumer tastes. We will study significant
texts in the scholarship of material culture together as well as in
tandem with visiting some of the wonderful collections in and around
New York City for our hands-on work with artifacts. The city will be
our laboratory to explore some of the important issues of broad impact
that go well beyond New York.

We welcome applications from college teachers and other scholars with
some experience doing object-based work, as well as those who have
never taught or studied material culture. Application materials and
other information about content, qualifications, stipends, housing,
etc. is available at http://bgc.bard.edu/neh-institute.

The application deadline is March 4, 2013.

David Jaffee, Project Director
Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture

For more information, please contact:

Katrina London
Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture
38 West 86th Street
New York, NY 10024
212.501.3026 / nehinstitute@bgc.bard.edu

JOB: Curator of Latin American Art @ Blanton Museum of Art (UT Austin)

Curator of Latin American Art – Blanton Museum of Art (UT Austin)

Required Application Materials

A Resume is required in order to apply
A Letter of Interest is required in order to apply.
A List of 3 References is required in order to apply.

Additional Information

Purpose

The curator is responsible for overseeing the Blanton Museum of Art’s collection of Latin American art, which is considered to be among the foremost public collections of modern and contemporary Latin American art in the U.S.

Continue reading “JOB: Curator of Latin American Art @ Blanton Museum of Art (UT Austin)”

CFP: Building the Anti-racist University (University of Leeds conference, Oct. 2013)

Annual Black History Month Conference, October, 18th 2013, The University of Leeds
Building the Antiracist University (BAU): Next Steps

The introduction of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 for the first time placed a statutory duty on HEIs in the UK to eliminate racial discrimination and promote racial equality. In many institutions there was a knowledge vacuum and little guidance on how to move forward. Stimulating institutional change towards the construction of the Antiracist University was the aim of the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies (CERS) toolkit, which was concerned to develop a maximal, transformative approach to institutional change, rather than a minimal meeting of legal obligations. Over 300 HEIs established racial equality schemes by 2008 and improved experiences and opportunities in this sector, particularly for black and minority ethnic students are evident (National Students Survey 2002-2012, HEFCE 2012). However, progress in this field has slowed and a focus on the goals of eliminating racial discrimination, promoting racial equality and engendering change in organisational culture as well as approaches to curriculum and pedagogy has dissipated so that building the antiracist university remains urgent in 2013.
Continue reading “CFP: Building the Anti-racist University (University of Leeds conference, Oct. 2013)”

University of Texas-Austin Seeks Assistant Professor in Photography

The Department of Art and Art History at the University of Texas at Austin seeks an exceptional artist with extensive knowledge of both film based and digital photographic processes. Applications are being accepted for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Photography with an anticipated start date of Fall 2013. Applicants should have a significant record of exhibition and be conversant in photographic history and critical/media theory. The successful candidate will have a demonstrated ability to work in an integrated studio and lecture environment, teaching a range of undergraduate and graduate courses as assigned.

The Photography program is part of the Studio Art division in the Department of Art and Art History. The Department of Art and Art History is comprised of four divisions: Design, Art History, Visual Art Studies and Studio Art. The University of Texas at Austin is a flagship Tier One research institution, situated in a city known for its quality of life and active engagement with the arts.

The Photography curriculum offers students both the technical skills, and creative fluency, needed to create resonant visual images. Courses focus on the interrelation of photography and art, providing a stimulus that challenges students to overcome preconceptions about photography. With course offerings in wet black & white and digital photography, the curriculum provides a multifaceted approach to the medium that includes traditional forms of image making and conceptually oriented practices. Applicants must be able to develop, refine and teach courses in wet black & white and digital photography ranging from non-majors to majors and freshman through graduate level.

Teaching will be at all levels, with a typical faculty load of 2/2 based on an active research schedule. Service to the community of the department in addition to official college and university business is required. As a Tier One research institution, the University of Texas at Austin expects this faculty member to actively pursue original research with a mandate to significantly contribute to their field through publication, exhibition, or other venues central to their discipline. Salary is commensurate with experience.

Applications should include a statement of interest, current curriculum vitae, the names of three professional references (with phone and email contact information), and documentation of teaching and research history. Please organize the documentation within a single PDF file and email to photosearch@austin.utexas.edu. For other media that isn’t easily accommodated by this format, please embed links within the PDF. Review of applications will begin February 25th, 2013 and continue until the position is filled.

The University of Texas at Austin is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer. The University of Texas at Austin maintains a strong commitment to equity and diversity. Given its continued efforts to achieve a diverse and equitable work environment and campus community, the University of Texas at Austin encourages all interested candidates to apply.
For further information, please visit http://www.utexas.edu/finearts/aah.

Timbuktu: It’s like a library has burned

Gregory Mann's avatarAfrica is a Country (Old Site)


News came yesterday, violent, rotten news. It’s been a steady rhythm from Mali, a country that has already suffered too much. But there’s something brutal in the news that Salafist fighters burned hundreds of rare manuscripts, some of them unique and centuries old, before leaving Timbuktu to French paratroopers.

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