ESU to host culture and literature conference

ESU will host a culture and literary studies conference April 24, bringing undergraduate and graduate students from six states and Washington D.C. to present academic papers.

The conference, called “On the Margins of it All,” is sponsored by Club Dialectic, Phi Kappa Phi, the Teachers College, Graduate Studies, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Ethnic and Gender Studies, Lifelong Learning, and the Department of English.

Jack Hutchens, a graduate student in English Department, is coordinating the conference.

“The idea originated last semester when I was a student in EG 710: Critical Theory,” said Hutchens. “I had wanted to gather the papers from the other students in the class. This transformed into the idea of hosting a conference on cultural and literary studies.”

While many academic meetings take at least a year to plan, Hutchens had only six months. He sent publicity calling for papers to many universities throughout the country and received enthusiastic responses. Close to fifty papers will be presented by students from Kansas, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Texas, Tennessee, Michigan, and Washington, D.C.

The conference will also have two keynote lectures. At 1:30 p.m., Washington State University American Studies Director T.V. Reed will present the first lecture in Science Hall 72. Reed is author of “Fifteen Jugglers, Five Believers: Literary Politics and the Poetics of American Social Movements and Social Movement Cultures and Arts of Resistance.”

Associate Professor of Women’s Studies Noel Sturgeon of Washington State Unviersity will provide the second keynote lecture at 7:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Skyline Room. She is the author of “Ecofeminist Natures: Race, Gender, Feminist Theory and Political Action.”

The conference panels and the keynote lectures are open to all ESU students, faculty, and the public. Registration and breakfast refreshments begin at 8:00 am on the third Floor of Plumb Hall, followed by a welcome speech by ESU President Kay Schallenkamp at 8:30 a.m.

For more information regarding the conference, contact Jack Hutchens in the Ethnic and Gender Studies at (620) 341-5661 or check out the conference’s web site at www.geocities.com/cult_litstudiesconference/ .

Last Updated July 2, 2007>