Please join us for our annual Obama Lecture on Thanksgiving, where we will celebrate 70 years of American Studies at JGU Mainz, with contributions from three professors who helped shape what has eventually become the Obama Institute. In addition, we will learn more about the current management of the USA library collection and award the Obama Dissertation Prize as well as the Galinsky Prize for outstanding student theses.
On Nov 10 the Obama Institute will hold an info session on its Direct Exchange programs. Please join us in room P 11 (Philosophicum) for more information about the exciting exchange opportunities!
Nov 10, 18:00-20:00 (s.t.)
P 11 (Philosophicum)
Please find all details about the session on the flyer, which is available for download here and on the Exchange page, where you can also browse general information on the programs in order to get a headstart on what your options are and what an application would entail.
Looking forward to talking to you in person on Nov 10, when we will be happy to answer all your questions!
Date: July 6-9, 2022 Location: Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz Hosted by the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies and the Humanities Research Center at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Venues: Atrium Maximum, Campus JGU Helmholtz-Institute Mainz (HIM) Faculty Room, Philosophicum I
We are delighted to welcome you to Mainz in July this year for the “Indigenous Print Cultures, Media, and Literatures” Symposium, co-organized by the Obama Institute at JGU and the Humanities Research Center at VCU. Please find the program below or download it here. Additionally, we are happy to provide maps and directions to help you, e.g., get from the hotel to the venues. Please find the maps below the program or click here to download the maps. Public transportation in Mainz will cost you 1,50€ per short distance trip. Additionally, you can download the conference program here.
We will upload a separate document including WiFi access, setting up speaker/participant accounts, as well current Covid-19 regulations and restrictions soon. If you have any questions, please reach out to Anette Vollrath (anette.vollrath@uni-mainz.de).
If you would like to take a look at the hotels’ websites, please feel free to go to Hotel Königshof or Hotel Hammer.
Program
Wednesday, July 6, 2022 (Atrium Maximum, Campus JGU)
16:00 Registration
17:00 Welcome Reception:
Vice-Presidents for Research JGU, Prof. Dr. Stefan Müller-Stach
Vice President for Research and Innovation, VCU, Dr. P. Srirama Rao
Director of the Obama Institute, Prof. Dr. Alfred Hornung
Symposium Organizers, Profs. Cristina Stanciu, Oliver Scheiding
17:45 In-person Keynote Lecture
Chair: Mark Rifkin (University of North Carolina at Greensboro)
Mishuana Goeman (Tonawanda Band of Seneca, Professor of Gender and American Indian Studies, University of California, Los Angele). “Carrying Our Ancestors Home: The Importance of Storytelling, Digital Projects, and Centering Tribal Voices”
18:30 Virtual Keynote Lecture
Gerald Vizenor (UC Berkeley, Emeritus), “Waiting for Wovoka: Scenes from a Novel of Good Cheer and Native Hand Puppet Parleys”
19:00 Reception (Atrium Maximum)
Thursday, July 7, 2022 (Venue: Helmholtz-Institute Mainz (HMI))
9:00-10:30 Session 1
Indigenous Print Cultures and Language
Chair: Jutta Ernst (U of Mainz)
Noenoe Silva (UH Manoa): “The Twentieth-Century Hawaiian-Language Newspapers”
Christopher Pexa (U of Minnesota). “‘Bringing the Language Together’: Ochéti Šakówiŋ Pasts and Futures in the Iapi Oaye (The Word Carrier) Newsletter”
Philip Round (U of Iowa): “The Role of Indigenous Languages in the Production of Native Texts/Periodicals at the End of the Nineteenth Century”
10:30-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:30 Session 2
A Lasting Legacy of Periodicals and Politics
Chair: Mark Rifkin (UNC Greensboro)
Adam Spry (Emerson College), “The Demosthenes of White Earth: Theodore Beaulieu, The Progress, and the Recovery of an Indigenous Intellectual Tradition”
Jill Doerfler (U of Minnesota, Duluth), “‘A Few Honest Words’: Writing for the Anishinaabeg Today in the Twenty-first Century”
12:30-13:30 Lunch
13:45-15:15 Session 3
Boarding School Publications
Chair: Cristina Stanciu (Virginia Commonwealth U) and Frank Newton (U of Mainz)
Lionel Larré (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne), “A Magazine not only About Indians, but Mainly by Indians: Native Representations in the Carlisle Publications at the Beginning of the 20th Century”
Frank Newton (U of Mainz), “Indigenous Dialogues: Early 20th Century Native American Discourse in Boarding School Publications”
Jane Griffith (Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, Canada), “Nineteenth Century Printing Programs and Indian Boarding Schools: What Archival Newspapers Reveal About Settler Colonialism Today” (Zoom)
15:15-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30-17:00 Session 4
Indigenous New Media and Literature
Chair: Philip Round (U of Iowa)
Bethany Hughes (U of Michigan), “Little Chahta News Bird: Biskinik and Twitter as Sovereign Spaces”
Dallas Hunt (U of British Columbia). “The Archive in Conflict: The Contours of Resource Extraction Literatures in Canada”
17:30-18:30 Keynote Lecture (Zoom)
Chair: Chadwick Allen (U of Washington)
Beth Piatote (UC Berkeley): “The Indigenous Archive and The Beadworkers: Stories“
19:15 Reception (City Hall, Mayor-Mainz)
Friday, July 8, 2022 (Venue: Helmholtz-Institute Mainz (HMI))
9:00-10:30 Session 5
Indigenous Writing, Rights, and Activism
Chair: Matt Bokovoy (U of Nebraska Press)
Cari M. Carpenter (West Virginia University), “‘What the Curious Want to Know’: Ora Eddleman Reed Advising Land Development and Rejecting Racial Stereotypes in Indian Territory”
Cristina Stanciu (Virginia Commonwealth U), “Gender and the Editors of the Indian Boarding School Press”
Miranda Johnson (U of Otago, New Zealand), “Indigenous Writing, Indigenous Rights: Activisms in the Post-War South Pacific”
10:30-11:00 Coffee Break
11:00-12:30 Session 6
Progressive Era Indigenous Periodicals and Magazines
Chair: Frank Newton (Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz)
Jonathan Radocay (UC Davis), “California Indian Paper Routes: Winnemem Wintu Futures in Progressive-Era Periodicals”
René Dietrich (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), “Literary Sovereignty and the Politics of Indigenous Anthologies”
12:30-13:45 Lunch
14:00-15:30 Session 7
Indigenous Printscapes and Indigeneity
Chair: Oliver Scheiding (Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz)
Kathryn Walkiewicz (UC, San Diego), “Indigenous Printscapes: Media Culture in Late Nineteenth-Century Indian Territory”
Frank Kelderman (U of Louisville), “Children’s Pages, Indigenous Writing: Reframing Labor, Learning, and Leisure, 1880-1913”
Mark Rifkin (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), “Indians Gone ‘Wild’: The Politics of Ethnographic Form in Zitkala-Ša’s Stories”
15:30-16:00 Coffee Break
16:00-17:30 Session 8
Project Presentations: Indigenous Modernities
Chair: Chris Andersen (U of Alberta)
Kirby Brown (U of Oregon, Eugene), Co-editor of the Routledge Handbook to North American Indigenous Modernisms(2022)
Oliver Scheiding (U of Mainz), Editor of Anthology Project: “Indigenous Periodicals: American Indian Newspapers and Magazines, 1880-1930”
Chadwick Allen (U of Washington Seattle), “Canoeing the Whale: Fred Graham’s Te Waiata o the Moana-nui-a-Kiwaat the Burke Museum(s)”
19:00-23:00 Dinner at “Strausswirtschaft Peter Dohm, Mainz” (Vinery Peter Dohm). Local transportation will be provided. http://winzerfamilie-peter-dhom.de
Saturday, July 9, 2022 (Venue: Faculty Room, Philosophicum I)
10:00-11:00 Final Discussion, Roundtable
Chadwick Allen, Cari Carpenter, Mishuana Goeman, Mark Rifkin, Philip Round, Oliver Scheiding
Maps (Hotels, Campus, Venues)
Map 1: Mainz Central Station to Hotel Hammer / Hotel Königshof
Map 2: Mainz Central Station to Mainz University Campus
Map 3: Mainz University Campus and Symposium Venues
Fig. 1: Venues: Atrium Maximum (top left), Philosophicum I (top right), Helmholtz-Institute (bottom)
The Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies welcomes several internationally renowned scholars in the summer term of 2022. Please join us for their contributions to our course and research program!
May 9 2–4pm, P3, Philosophicum I
Imagined Pasts: Historical Thinking and Black Immigrants Herman L. Bennett, City University of New York
May 10 2–4pm, 01-6182–4pm, P5, Philosophicum I
Ethnic Formation Now and the Problem with the Past Herman L. Bennet, City University of New York
4–6pm, P 205, Philosophicum I
Visual Arts as Research: Examples from the Studio Ruth Stanford, Georgia State University, Atlanta
May 16 2-4pm, P3, Philosophicum I
Leaving America: Emigrant Culture When the Dream Is Over Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera, Universidad de Puerto Rico-Mayagüez
May 17 10am–12pm, P106, Philosophicum I
Juanita Harrison’s “Great, Wide, Beautiful World” Cathryn Halverson, Minot State University, North Dakota
2–4pm, P5, Philosophicum I
On the Puertoricanization of U.S. Higher Education Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera, Universidad de Puerto Rico-Mayagüez
May 24 12–2pm, P207, Philosophicum I
From Lemonade to Homecoming: Beyoncé’s Spatial Politics Patricia Coloma Peñate, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia
4–6pm, P205, Philosophicum I
The Phenomenology of Heinrich Sisstrunk: A Portrait of a First Settler in the New World Patricia Coloma Peñate, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia
June 13 2–4pm, P3, Philosophicum I
The Muslims Are (Always) Coming!: How Religion as a Category of Analysis Complicates American Immigration Narratives Moustafa Bayoumi, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
June 14 2–4pm, P5, Philosophicum I
“It don’t Gitmo better than this”: Why Guantanamo Bay May Be the Best Worst Place for Understanding Transnational American Studies Moustafa Bayoumi, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
An online symposium on Zoom (use meeting code 207060)
April 29, 2022
The Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies organizes a symposium on the heritage of Colonial Germany and the presence of people of African descent in German society. This trilateral investigation ranges from Germany to Africa, America and back, addresses the German engagement in the slavery trade and the institution of slavery, the violent effects of colonization still felt on site and visible in the spoils on display in the museums, and the systemic discrimination of Black people. Fellows of the Obama Institute, former and present colleagues will present aspects of their current research involving the relations between Namibia and Germany, the racist treatment of Africans, African Americans and Afro-Germans and the legacy of German colonialism in the Pacific.
We welcome Ruth Stanford (Georgia State University, USA), Heike Raphael-Hernandez (University of Würzburg, Germany), Herman Bennett (City University of New York, USA), Pia Wiegmink (University of Bonn, Germany) and a student presentation by Ahngeli Shivam (University of Mainz, Germany).
