The College of Arts and Sciences Center for the Humanities at the University of Miami and the College of Arts and Sciences at Florida International University (FIU) will present Atlantic Narratives – a two-day symposium on Thursday, February 4 and Friday, February 5, 2010. This symposium brings an international group of acclaimed scholars from a variety of fields and disciplines together to examine and discuss groundbreaking research on the production and reception of narratives in and about the Atlantic world in the period up to the mid-nineteenth century.
On Thursday, February 4th the opening session, “Atlantic Enlightenments,” will be held at FIU at 2 pm in the Frost Art Museum, (10975 SW 17th Street, Miami). On Friday, February 5th, sessions will be held at UM, beginning at 10 am with “History and Memory in Atlantic Narratives” and continuing at 2 pm with “Intercolonial Atlantic Narratives,” followed by a closing roundtable at 4:30 pm. The UM sessions will be held in the College of Arts and Sciences Gallery/Wesley House, (1210 Stanford Drive, on the Coral Gables campus).
Guest speakers for the symposium include professors from University of Illinois-Chicago, McGill University, University of Virginia, Brigham Young University, Rutgers University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Ohio State University. They will be joined by a strong cohort of humanities researchers currently studying the Atlantic World at both UM and FIU.
The symposium is organized by the Atlantic Studies Research Group in the College of Arts and Sciences Center for the Humanities at UM.
Associate Professor of English Tim Watson commented, “We started the group at UM four years ago, and it’s grown to become a lively interdisciplinary seminar drawing members from UM, FIU, and other universities and colleges in the region. This year we’ve been happy to have found a supportive home in the new Center for the Humanities.”
Group co-founder, Assistant Professor of History Ashli White added, “We thought the time was right to bring in prominent scholars from around the country to continue and extend that conversation about how the Atlantic Studies paradigm is changing humanities scholarship in the early twenty-first century.”
Director of the UM Center for the Humanities, Dr. Mihoko Suzuki stated, “This is the first symposium organized by one of the Center’s Research Groups. Atlantic Studies has become a productive focus of conversation among scholars of literature and history alike, and we are proud to be able to host this exciting symposium.”
Nicol Rae, Senior Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at FIU stated,”FIU’s College of Arts and Sciences is very proud to host the opening session of the Atlantic Narratives symposium and we look forward to welcoming area students and scholars to our campus where they will be able to discuss new developments in the study of the Atlantic World with a distinguished panel of invited presenters.”
Dean Rae continued, “We are especially glad to be collaborating with the University of Miami and its new Center for the Humanities in hosting this event. Atlantic Narratives participates in the ongoing effort to build bridges between our universities that will enhance teaching and research at both institutions.”
To register for the Atlantic Narratives Symposium events and for further information please visit www.humanities.miami.edu/symposia/atlanticnarratives or call 305-284-1580.