Professor Eric Lorentzen presented over the summer a paper as part of the “Dickens and Education” panel of the annual Dickens Society Symposium. His talk, “Happy Shepherd-Boys and Closing Prison-Houses: The Importance of Connection in Wordsworth, Dickens, and Tolstoy,” originated in a UMW Faculty Development Summer Grant and detailed, in part, the creation of a new course that he is planning to offer at UMW during the 2022-2023 academic year. The course will examine a philosophical genealogy of the “continuity of the self” that begins with Wordsworth and other Romantic poets, continues through Dickens and other Victorian novelists, later spreads globally to writers like Tolstoy, extends to contemporary short stories of the late 20th and early 21st century, and finally permeates many forms of popular American culture, from Disney films to teen dramas. The course will also include aspects of popular culture in the form of literary tourism, a component about which Lorentzen plans to … [Read more...]
Dasgupta Presents at Conferences
Professor Shumona Dasgupta presented “Subaltern Pasts: Other Archives of the Indian Partition (1947)” at the thirtieth annual British Commonwealth and Postcolonial Studies conference (BCPSC) hosted by the Georgia Southern University, GA (February 15-19, 2021) and held as a virtual conference. She also presented “A Geography of Crisis: Memorializing the Partition (1947) in Indian Cinema” at the fifth annual Memory Studies Conference (MSA) hosted by University of Warsaw, Poland (July 5-9, 2021) rescheduled from 2020 and held as a virtual conference. … [Read more...]
Barrenechea Presents at American Comparative Literature Association
Antonio Barrenechea, Professor of English, recently presented “A Hemispheric World of Differences: Luis Alberto Sánchez and Stanley T. Williams” at the meeting of the American Comparative Literature Association, which took place virtually this year. … [Read more...]
Lee Leads Linguistics Teach-In
Janie Lee, Associate Professor of Linguistics, recently led a teach-in in the 2021 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. The teach-in was part of the workshop "Room at the Table: Locating Asian Identity in Linguistics and the LSA." In it, Lee gave a short presentation on teaching Asian American linguistics and facilitated an informal discussion. The conference was held virtually from January 7 through January 10, 2021. … [Read more...]
Lorentzen Presents on Dickens and Contagion
Eric G. Lorentzen, Professor of English, was one of six international Dickens scholars who took part in a roundtable presentation and discussion on Dickens and Contagion. The roundtable was part of a virtual global conference which took place on 9 June, which was the 150th anniversary of the Victorian writer's untimely death. #Dickens150 featured Dickens scholars from 10 different countries, and linked many participants around the world, through synchronous time zone presentations that stretched from the London morning until evening in America. The specific roundtable on Dickens and Contagion, along with a few other selected parts of the conference, was filmed live, and is available for viewing on the #Dickens150 YouTube channel. … [Read more...]
Lorentzen Gives a Talk on Victorian Serial Fiction at George Mason University
Eric Lorentzen, Professor of English, was recently invited to George Mason University to speak about Victorian serial fiction, Dickens, and elements of popular culture that continue in that tradition today, such as film chronicles, soap operas, teen dramas, and the telenovela. He also discussed Dickens and Victorian literary traditions that survive beyond the realms of visual culture in the twenty-first century. … [Read more...]
Foss Presents Paper on Wilde at SAMLA Conference
In November, Professor of English Chris Foss presented a paper entitled “'He remembered that the little Mermaid had no feet and could not dance': The Nexus of Power, Identity, and Relationships in Oscar Wilde's 'The Fisherman and His Soul' as Seen through the Lens of Disability Studies” as part of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association conference at the Westin Peachtree in Atlanta, GA. In his paper, Foss argued “The Fisherman and His Soul” offers a fascinating trawl of entangled elements relative to its two main disability-aligned characters, a little Mermaid and a young Fisherman (the latter only becoming so after he cuts away his Soul from his body). The story offers a clear undermining of the sort of monstrous identities those in power insist upon assigning to those different from them in an attempt to limit any new understandings of or relationships with any groups or individuals upon whose othering their authority and privilege depends. This paper represents the first … [Read more...]
Lee Presents Conference Paper
Janie Lee, Associate Professor of Linguistics, presented at the 2019 meeting of the American Anthropological Association and the Canadian Anthropology Society in Vancouver. Her paper was “Migrants as Language Experts and Subtitles as Listening Subject in South Korean Television” and was part of the panel “Redefining the Language Professional: Shifting Duties and Changing Institutional Climates.” The paper investigated the way Korean ethnonationalism was enabled in entertainment media through the use of unconventional subtitling practices for migrant speech. … [Read more...]
Johnson-Young Presents at and Chairs Panel at NCA Conference
Elizabeth Johnson-Young, Assistant Professor of Communication, presented at the 2019 National Communication Association’s annual conference in Baltimore, Maryland. She presented on a research paper titled “Communicating about Safety: Understanding Pediatric Residents’ Communication Decisions Regarding Anticipatory Guidance about Firearms” during a panel titled Factors that Prompt Interpersonal Discussion about Health. The paper presented descriptive statistics regarding how pediatricians in the Baltimore area communicate about anticipatory guidance with patients and parents. Ultimately, the research presents a path analysis model that demonstrates the factors leading to pediatricians’ prioritization of firearm counseling during well child visits. While at the conference, she also chaired a panel titled Beyond the Journal: Discussion of Media Narratives about Youth and Race and a Call for Media Literacy. This panel included presentations from UMW colleagues Adria Goldman and Emily … [Read more...]
Rao Presents on Speech-Anxious Students at National Communication Association Conference
Anand Rao, Professor of Communication, presented last Friday at the National Communication Association conference held in Baltimore, MD. The title of his presentation was "Helping Speech Anxious Students Survive and Thrive" and was part of a panel about speech apprehension and the basic course. In the presentation, he discussed what UMW has done to help address communication apprehension for first-year students at UMW through the FSEM, as well as the special sections of COMM 205: Public Speaking that he has offered for highly apprehensive students. Anand reports that the panel had a great turnout--approximately 35 in attendance--and a wonderful discussion after the panel. … [Read more...]