The Southern Child in Literature and Film — Our English Department has a long tradition of promoting the study of Southern literature and culture. In 1977, the English Department officially added to the university catalog an upper-level course titled “Literature of the American South,” and ever since then, members of our faculty have been teaching courses and conducting scholarship on Southern literature. In keeping with this forty-year history, the English Department is about to launch a series of cultural events under the heading of “The Southern Child in Literature and Film.” Supported by a major grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council and co-sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, these events will be open to the public and will take place at various venues both on campus and in the Charlotte community.
The kick-off event will take place on Thursday, February 8, 2018, at 5:00 p.m. in the Atkins Library’s Halton Reading Room. This event is tied to a special issue of The Southern Quarterly that I recently guest edited on “Children in the South.” Three of the contributors to this special issue will give presentations related to their articles. Johnathan Alexander will give a talk titled “Outside Within: Growing Up Gay in the South.” Jan Susina will give a presentation titled “Alabama Bound: Reading Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird While Southern,” and Joanne Joy will deliver a presentation titled “Lessons at the Southern Table: The Fusion of Childhood and Food in Dori Sanders’s Clover.” For more information about this event, please click on the following link: https://exchange.uncc.edu/event/the-child-character-in-southern-literature-and-film/
This project also involves a film series featuring films set in the South in which child characters play significant roles. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is sponsoring this film series, and the films will be shown at library locations. The details about this film series will be announced soon, but the tentative schedule is listed below:
March 10th: BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
March 24th: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
April 7th: SOUNDER
April 14th: THE REIVERS
May 12th: NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
Several members of the English Department are contributing to the planning and administrative aspects of this project. Sarah Minslow is playing a key leadership role in all aspects of this project. Paula Eckard is participating in all of the planning meetings and is coordinating the project’s connections with the American Studies Program. Sam Shapiro, who teaches film courses for the English Department, is taking responsibility for the film series, and Angie Williams is handling the project’s budget. We also have two students who are helping with the project–Kelly Brabec and Amy Arnott. My thanks go to everyone who is helping to make this project a reality.
Kudos — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department. Here is the latest news:
Meghan Barnes has put together an impressive string of journal publications in the past few months. Here is the list of her recent articles that she either wrote or co-wrote:
- “Mediating the ‘Two-Worlds’ Pitfall Through Critical, Project-Based Clinical Experiences,”The New Educator
- “Beyond Censorship: Politics, Teens, and the ELA Teacher Candidates,” English Teaching: Practice and Critique
- “Encouraging Interaction and Striving for Reciprocity: The Challenges of Community-Engaged Projects in Teacher Education,”Teacher and Teacher Education
- “The Absent Dialogue: Challenges of Building Reciprocity Through Community Engagement in Teacher Education,” eJournal of Community Engagement
Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:
February 2 — The 18th Annual English Graduate Student Conference will take place on February 2, 2018, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. in UNC Charlotte’s Student Union.
February 6 — The UNC Charlotte Alumni Association is sponsoring a program called “A Fireside Chat with Bryn Chancellor.” During this event, Bryn will discuss her debut novel, Sycamore. The event will take place on February 6, 2018, in the Harris Alumni Center from 5:30 to 7:00. The event is free, but registration is required. For more information, please click on the following link: https://49eralumni.uncc.edu/s/1721/interior.aspx?sid=1721&pgid=1306&gid=2&cid=3574&ecid=3574&post_id=0
Quirky Quiz Question — Every year the English Department gives an award to an outstanding graduate student with an interest in Southern literature. Do you know the former faculty member for whom this award is named?
Last week’s answer: Katie Hogan and Aaron Toscano
Not only are the current leaders of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Humanities, Technology, and Science Program from the English Department, but so too were the immediate past leaders of these programs. Can you identify the immediate past leaders of these two interdisciplinary programs?