About the Event
- Friday, March 7th (9:30am - 6pm)
- Saturday, March 8th (11:30am-6pm)
- To see the full schedule and to RSVP, please scroll down.
In 2004, in a speech about the painter Romare Bearden, Toni Morrison argued that critics must appreciate the “liquidity” between Black art forms, the “resonances, alignments, the connections, the inter-genre sources of African American art… the resounding aesthetic dialogue among artists.” “Locating instances of this liquidity,” Morrison explained, “is vital if African American art is to be understood for the complex work that it is and for the deep meaning it contains.”
In that spirit, this two-day symposium at Rice University will explore the rich interplay between African American literature and the other arts, in connection with a special issue of the journal African American Review on that topic. Guest speakers will share work-in-progress–including critical essays and original poems–and participate in roundtable conversations.
The symposium is free and open to the public; all are warmly welcome to attend!
Friday, March 7
9:30AM—Light breakfast & coffee/tea available
10AM—Welcome
10:15AM—Panel I: Artmaking, Activism, and Experimentation Across Forms
- Kya Mangrum (San Diego Community College): How Deep and Dark: William Wells Brown and the Possibilities of Panorama
- Noa Saunders (Tufts University): Amiri Baraka’s Political Media Aesthetics: From Jello to New-Ark
- Julius Fleming, Jr. (Washington University in St. Louis): Faith Ringgold’s Literary Aesthetics
- Moderator: Nicole Waligora-Davis (Rice University)
12PM—Catered lunch available for all attendees
1PM—Panel II: Legacies and Afterlives of Black Modernisms
- Stephen Pasqualina (University of Detroit Mercy): Seeing and Hearing Black Modernism
- J. Ken Stuckey (Bentley College): Art That Touches: August Wilson, Romare Bearden, and the Quest for Intimacy
- Leslie Wingard Cunningham (Washington and Lee University): Gaining Steam: Zora Neale Hurston’s “Sweat” and Willie Cole’s Iron and Ironing Board Art
- Moderator: Tara T. Green (University of Houston)
2:45PM—Break
3PM—Black Literary and Cultural Studies Now: A Roundtable, part I
- Julius Fleming (Washington University in St. Louis)
- Denva Gallant (Rice University)
- Tara T. Green (University of Houston)
- Eli Greene (Rice University)
- Olivia K. Young (Rice University)
- Moderator: Hayley O’Malley (Rice University)
4:15PM—Break
4:30PM—Poetry Readings and Discussion, part I
- Herman Beavers (University of Pennsylvania)
- A. Van Jordan (Stanford University)
- Evie Shockley (Rutgers University-New Brunswick)
- Moderator: Kiese Laymon (Rice University)
6PM—End of the first day
Saturday, March 8
11:30AM—Black Literary and Cultural Studies Now: A Roundtable, part II
- Herman Beavers (University of Pennsylvania)
- Brittney Michelle Edmonds (University of Wisconsin)
- Rachel Afi Quinn (University of Houston)
- J. Ken Stuckey (Bentley University)
- Moderator: TBA
12:30PM—Catered lunch available for all attendees
1:30PM—Panel III: The Literary Histories of Black Film Cultures
- Alyssa Lopez (Providence College): Whose Birthright?: Oscar Micheaux, Adaptation, and the Power of Black Cultural Production
- Hayley O’Malley (Rice University): Dreams of a Black Cinema: How Black Women Writers Reimagined Filmmaking in the Twentieth Century United States
- Moderator: Brittney Michelle Edmonds (University of Wisconsin)
2:45PM—Break
3PM—Panel IV: Aesthetic Crossroads–Race, Poetry, and the Visual Arts
- Joshua Kotin (Princeton University): Painting at the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School
- Evie Shockley (Rutgers University-New Brunswick): Black Graphics
- Moderator: Eve Dunbar (Rice University)
4:15PM—Break
4:30PM—Poetry Readings and Discussion, part II; Group Reflection on the Symposium
- Tonya Foster (San Francisco State University)
- Douglas Kearney (University of Minnesota)
- Moderator: Brittney Edmonds (University of Wisconsin)
6PM—End of second day
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The symposium is made possible through generous support by the following:
The Center for African and African American Studies
The Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
The Creative Ventures Funds
The Department of Art
The Department of Anthropology
The Department of Art History
The Department of English
The Department of Modern and Classical Literatures and Cultures
The Humanities Research Center
The Moody Center for the Arts
The Office of the Dean of Humanities
Questions? Please contact Hayley O’Malley (homalley@rice.edu)
[Image: Photograph by Griff Davis/Courtesy of Griffith J. Davis Photographs and Archives]
