08/28/2020
A note about an opportunity from our friends in the English Department:
Hello,
My name is Huntley Hughes and I am a third year PhD student in the English Department here at Vanderbilt. I am writing to inform you know about an interdisciplinary working group for graduate students and candidates interested in American studies, which will be having its first meeting on Thursday 9/3/20 at 5:00pm. Dr. Paul Stob, professor of communication studies and interim chair of the American Studies Department, will begin with a brief explanation of what American studies is, its history as a discipline, and its relationship to other fields of research. After that we’ll have time to discuss what we might like to get out of the group and to decide collectively how we’d like to move forward for the rest of the semester.
In short, American studies is an interdisciplinary field which links history, English, philosophy, sociology, religious studies, communications studies, and more in an attempt to better understand the Americas broadly understood and their relationship with the rest of the world. In other words, anyone who’s academic work or research interests deal in any way with American politics, history, culture, economics might find this an excellent opportunity to engage in dialogue with their colleagues in other departments and learn from the methodology and discourse of individuals they otherwise might not have a chance to informally compare notes with. It is important to emphasize that “American studies” refers not just to the United States, but to the Americas more broadly, and can also encompass the work of individuals concerned with transnational or international trends.
The nature of the group is as of yet undecided, since we're hoping to choose a direction democratically after our first meeting, but this could function as a forum for us to read and discus texts, to invite speakers, to workshop our writing, or just to enjoy a chance to share ideas and socialize with people outside of our home departments. We’ll decide how we all might benefit the most from sharing our time with each other, as well as how frequently we’d like to meet, next week. I’ve attached a couple of short readings which we might like to briefly discuss at our interest meeting and which might be helpful for those unfamiliar with American Studies as a discipline, but reading them is entirely optional.
I look forward to seeing some of you there. Please see the zoom ID, password, and link below, as well as a flyer anybody is welcome to share or distribute.
Many thanks,
Huntley Hughes
Doctoral Student
Department of English
Vanderbilt University
Zoom ID: 849 0166 5399
Password: ONWqps
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