Upcoming Events
The American Studies program is proud to announce a series of lectures this spring, 2013:
March 11, 2013, 5:00 p.m., in Mandel G03
American Laughter: Memories of Joke Telling in Southern Culture
Andrew Hudgins
Andrew Hudgins, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Saints and Strangers and the National Book Award for The NeverEnding, is the author of nine books of poetry, two books of criticism, and The Joker: A Memoir (Simon and Schuster, 2013). He is Humanities Distinguished Professor in English at The Ohio State University.
This talk is sponsored by the American Studies Program and the Department of English.
March 20, 2013, 5:00 p.m., in Mandel G03
The Suppressed Desires of Mabel Dodge Luhan: Sex, Syphilis, and Psychoanalysis in the Making of Modern American Culture
Lois Rudnick
Lois Rudnick is professor emerita of American Studies, University of Massachusetts-Boston, where she taught American literature and culture for 36 years, 26 of which she chaired the American Studies Department. She has published numerous books and articles on modern American culture, and the artists and writers colonies of Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, including her multiple award winning Utopian Vistas: The Mabel Dodge Luhan House and the American Counterculture (1996).
This talk is sponsored by the American Studies Program and the Women's and Gender Studies Program.
April 5, 2013, 2:00p.m., in Mandel G03
DREAM BIG
From Waltham to Hollywood: Making Movies For the Big & Little(r) Screens
Stan Brooks
Stan Books (Brandeis / AMST '79) is an Emmy-winning filmmaker and one of the television industry’s most successful and prolific producers. Among his many credits are the Emmy-winning Broken Trail (for AMC in 2006), the Emmy-nominated Prayers for Bobby (for Lifetime in 2009) and the ratings triumph Capture of the Green River Killer (for LMN in 2007). He also created and produced the extraordinarily popular Behind the Camera film series chronicling the backstage stories of Three’s Company, Mork and Mindy, Dynasty and Diff'rent Strokes.. He has recently completed the feature film Perfect Sisters starring Abigail Breslin and Oscar winner Mira Sorvino - his directorial debut.
He will be speaking about breaking into Hollywood and adapting true crime stories for
both feature films and television movies/miniseries.
This talk is sponsored by the American Studies Program.
And in case you missed it:
Lecture by Marc Tyler Nobleman: "Heroes, With and Without Capes" Thursday, Nov. 8
The American Studies Program invites you to “Heroes, With and Without Capes: The Creators of Superman and Batman” with Marc Tyler Nobleman ’94, author of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman and Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman
As seen in Forbes and USA Today, and heard on MTV, TED and NPR’s All Things Considered.
Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster co-created Superman and writer Bill Finger was the main mind behind Batman. Yet Siegel and Shuster lived in poverty and anonymity for almost 30 years while Finger died poor and nearly forgotten.
Author Marc Tyler Nobleman (Brandeis ’94) reveals the startling tragedies behind the creators of two worldwide icons.
Thursday, November 8, 4 p.m.
Mandel Reading Room, 303
Light refreshments will be served.
This event has been sponsored by the Martin Weiner Lecture Series.
American Studies' Professor Joyce Antler Named First Head of the Division of Social Sciences
LETTER FROM THE DEAN:
Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that I have accepted the recommendation of the Social Science School Council and appointed Professor Joyce Antler (American Studies and Women's and Gender Studies) as Head of the Division of Social Sciences. Professor Antler will work with the entire social sciences faculty to coordinate discussions regarding the social science curriculum, work with the communications and development offices to raise the profile of the social sciences at Brandeis, and advise the Dean of Arts and Sciences and other senior administrators on matters related to the social sciences at Brandeis.
Please join me in thanking Joyce for taking on this important role.
Susan Birren
Dean of Arts and Sciences
Staging Race in the 21st Century:
The Case of Porgy And Bess
George Gershwin's classic American opera, "Porgy and Bess," debuted at the Boston Colonial Theater in 1936 to acclaim and controversy. Seventy-five years later, the American Repertory Theater hosted a run of the revamped classic in Cambridge, across the river from Boston. A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus' reinterpretation triggered applause, accolades and, once again -- controversy.
On September 25, 2011 more than 65 members of the Brandeis community from American Studies, Theater, Education, AAAS, Women and Gender Studies, and other programs went to Cambridge for an experiential learning experience; between watching the production, meeting actors and discussing the performance and its cultural underpinnings, the group found that a few hours weren't enough. A longer, more extensive and richer discussion of the cultural representation of race and gender was needed.
On Tuesday, November 15, from 6pm to 9pm in the Pearlman Lounge, join professors, staff and students for discussion, refreshments, reflection, analysis and more. Panelists include: Jamele Adams, Student Affairs; Joyce Antler, American Studies; Melissa Howard, ‘12; Ryan McKittrick, Theater; Anneke Reich, ‘13; Faith Smith, AAAS; and Ibrahim Sundiata, AAAS/History.
If you didn't catch the ART performance, please still attend; the discussion focuses on larger themes that resonate outside the performance.
This event is co-sponsored by African and Afro-American Studies; American Studies; Education; Theater Arts; Women’s and Gender Studies; Intercultural Center, the Transitional Year Program, Student Affairs, the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences, and the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life.
"The Reconstruction of Asa Carter," held Nov. 13.
When presidential candidate George Wallace shouted "Segregation Now! Segregation Tomorrow! Segregation Forever!" in his 1963 inaugural address as governor of Alabama, no one -- not the press, the audience, Wallace himself, or publishers at the University of New Mexico Press -- could have predicted that just 13 years later the same speech writer who penned those words would transform his persona from that of a hard-line, white segregationist to a gentle Cherokee native American.
Filmmakers Laura Browder (Ph.D. '94) and Douglas Newman ('94) tackle the mystery of "Little Tree" in their hour-long documentary, "The Reconstruction of Asa Carter." In the early 1960s he fought for segregation, but in 1976 Carter -- using the pen name "Forrest Carter," published an autobiography as a Cherokee man, spinning the tale of an orphaned Native American child raised by Cherokee grandparents in "The Education of Little Tree." The book gained national acclaim, largely through word of mouth, boosting sales for the tiny University of New Mexico Press, garnering book award nominations, and triggering a movie rights bidding war between Robert Redford and Steven Spielberg.
In 1991 "Forrest Carter" was outed as segregationist and white supremacist Asa Carter, who had helped found Ku Klux Klan chapters and, famously, penned Wallace's signature line. "The Reconstruction of Asa Carter" looks at racism in American culture and examines the fallout from Carter's actions.
This event was co-sponsored by the American Studies Program; Film, Television and Interactive Media; SoJust Forum, and The Edie and Lew Wasserman Fund.