The British Association for American Studies is pleased to maintain a list of news and events from across the American Studies community.
The items below include news from BAAS itself and submissions from other institutions and organisations. You will find posts organised by category below. Each week, the news and events submitted to BAAS, are included on the Weekly Digest mailing. You can sign up to receive the weekly mailing by completing this form.
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Thursday 1 August, 12.30 – 13.30, Foyle Room at the British Library. Free. Drop-in (no need to book). An Eccles Institute Visiting Fellow explores James Baldwin’s enigmatic Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood.
Friday 26 July, 12.30 – 13.30, British Library Knowledge Centre. Free. Two Eccles Fellows explore the life of scholar, missionary and abolitionist Augustus Hanson and the wide-ranging influences that shaped the representation of Andean music in the UK. The Summer Scholars season of free in-person lunchtime talks explores the exciting and wide-ranging research into the Americas and Oceania collections at the British Library by Eccles Institute Fellows and Award winners and British Library members of staff.
Mon 22 July, 12:30 - 13:30 Knowledge Centre, British Library: A US book artist shares her work as part of the Eccles Institute’s Summer Scholars programme. The British Library has an outstanding collection of artist’s books and works published by American fine presses. This talk offers a unique insight into the creative process behind Sandstone Steps, a transatlantic collaboration between artists Maddy Rosenberg and Hugh Bryden.
This book discusses five generations of the Taft family, America's longest-lived but under-appreciated political dynasty. It shows the Tafts to be far-sighted, fair-minded and surprisingly astute when considering modern concerns. President William Howard Taft was an opponent of plutocracy who supported the Income Tax Amendment and the first corporate income tax, while opposing the privileges of philanthropic foundations. His son Robert Taft was the key Republican Senator in repealing provisions of the Neutrality Act, making possible sales of arms sustaining Britain from 1939 to 1941.
Call for Papers for the 17th SAAS Conference: American Dreams, American Nightmares, American Fantasies, which will be held from 8-10 April 2025 at the the University of Alicante (Spain). Deadline for submissions: 15 October 2024.
We are looking for PhD proposals that interrogate the relationship between celebrity and political activism in the twentieth-century North Atlantic. Given the prominence of celebrity-activism as a feature of recent protest movements, there is a need for renewed investigation and historicising of the relationship between media personalities and mass-based political change. The student will work with Dr. Cecilia Brioni and Dr. Owen Walsh (University of Aberdeen) to make a substantial contribution to the scholarship on this topic. Candidates with interdisciplinary training are welcome.
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