Click here to skip to content

Events and conferences 2009

The Eccles Centre for American Studies regularly organises and supports conferences, seminars, lectures and other events on North American and transatlantic themes, often in partnership with other institutions and organisations. Below here is a list of recent events.

Nine months of the Obama administration: its meaning domestically and internationally

Monday, 23 November 2009

The Mark L.Osterweil Memorial Lecture

A rare opportunity to discuss the new US administration with Sander Levin, a knowledgeable, experienced and highly influential US Congressman.

This event was sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library, supported by a grant from the family of Mark Osterweil.

Samuel Coleridge Taylor: The neglected superstar

Tuesday, 10 November 2009

The life and work of Anglo-African composer Samuel Coleridge Taylor celebrated with an evening of music and words.

Part of Black History Month. Supported by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library and in association with reelJEMS.

Winston Churchill, Anglo-America and the Special Relationship Revisited

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

Leading historian Professor Sir David Cannadine looked again at the 'special relationship' that Churchill first named over 60 years ago. Presented in co-operation with the US - UK Fulbright Commission.

Botanical Passions: Benjamin Franklin, Kew Gardens, and the Millennium Seed Bank

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

Paul Smith, Director of Kew's Millennium Seed Bank, describes the legacy of the transatlantic botanical passion shared by Benjamin Franklin and his friend Joseph Banks, under whose early leadership Kew's Botanic Garden achieved international importance. Presented in co-operation with Benjamin Franklin House.

Rethinking the Vietnam War: a seminar for teachers

Tuesday 7 July 2009

The seminar was led by Professor John Dumbrell, one of the UK's leading experts on US foreign policy and a faculty member at the School of Government and International Affairs, the University of Durham. He has written widely on the history and practice of American foreign relations, including the history of the Vietnam War and the involvement of the United States in the Northern Irish peace process. He is also a former chair of the American Politics Group of the UK Political Studies Association. His books include Clinton's Foreign Policy: Between the Bushes, 1992-2000 (2009); A Special Relationship: Anglo-American Relations from the Cold War to Iraq (2006); President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Communism (2004); The Carter Presidency: A Re-evaluation (1993 and 1995); and The Making of US Foreign Policy (1990; 1997).

Anishinaabe Poets: Gordon Henry, Jr. and Kimberly Blaeser

Monday 29 June 2009

This event was co-sponsored by the University of Kent and the Eccles Centre for American Studies

Both poets' most recent collections have been published as part of Salt Publishing's vibrant Earthworks series.

Gordon Henry is an enrolled member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe of Minnesota. His first novel The Light People won an American Book Award and his work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies throughout the U.S. and Europe. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Michigan State University. His latest collection is The Failure of Certain Charms (Salt, 2007).

Kimberly Blaeser is a Professor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she teaches Creative Writing, Native American Literature, and American Nature Writing. Her publications include two books of poetry, the award-winning Trailing You, and Absentee Indians and Other Poems, as well as a scholarly study, Gerald Vizenor: Writing in the Oral Tradition. Of Anishinaabe ancestry and an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe who grew up on the White Earth Reservation, Blaeser is also the editor of Stories Migrating Home: A Collection of Anishinaabe Prose and Traces in Blood, Bone, and Stone: Contemporary Ojibwe Poetry. Kimberly's latest book of poems is Apprenticed to Justice (Salt, 2007).

Elaine Showalter: American women writers

Monday 1 June 2009

One of America's pre-eminent literary critics, feminist and social historian Elaine Showalter discussed her monumental new book, A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx, with Helen Taylor, Professor of English, University of Exeter. A fascinating survey of both great literary names and an array of unjustly overlooked women writers.

Native American Theatre: a panel of playwrights

Monday 11 May 2009

As part of the Origins Festival of First Nations Theatre and Culture, a panel of Native American theatre-makers discussed their work. What makes Native American theatre distinctive? How does it express traditional culture and relate it to the contemporary world? What are its main concerns today?

The panel included Cherokee playwright Diane Glancy, Delaware playwright Daniel David Moses, and the directors of the Huron-Wendat company Ondinnok: Yves Sioui Durand and Catherine Joncas. Chaired by Professor Helen Gilbert (Royal Holloway College, University of London).

Music and Spoken Word
John Cage: 'Europera 5'

Monday 20 April 2009

Part of a short season celebrating the work and influence of John Cage (1912-1992).

A rare opportunity to have heard a late theatre piece by Cage, his Europera no. 5 from 1991. After confronting his 'dislikes' in various pieces, Cage turned his attention to opera in a series of works, the Europeras, drawing on arias from the traditional European opera repertoire. In this last piece we reach an almost Beckett-like poignancy mingled with Cage's rarely absent and irrepressible humour. Performed by Apartment House directed by Anton Lukoszevieze and David Ryan.

Talk and Discussion
John Cage was all the rage

Monday 30 March 2009

Part of a short season celebrating the work and influence of John Cage (1912-1992), the pioneer American experimental composer.

Composer, writer and lecturer Peter Dickinson discussed Cage's work. He first met Cage in 1960 and in 1987 he made a BBC Radio 3 documentary that became the basis of his book Cage Talk: Dialogues with and about John Cage (University of Rochester Press, 2006).

Presented by the Eccles Centre for American Studies, The British Library.

Panel Discussion
The annual debate of the Academy of the Social Sciences
Prospects for the new U.S. administration

Monday 9 March 2009

A transatlantic panel considered the question: 'What can social science do for the new president of the USA?' Professors George Edwards (Texas A&M University & Oxford), Andrew Rudalevige (Dickinson College), Rob Singh (London), Dilys Hill (Southampton) and Jenel Virden (Hull) introduced topics for discussion on the possible policies and actions of the new presidential administration, just 50 days into its term of office.

The debate will be followed by a wine reception.

Presented by the Academy of the Social Sciences and the Eccles Centre for American Studies, the British Library, with the generous support of the ESRC as part of the 2009 Festival of Social Science.

Conference
The Right Man? Assessing the Bush Presidency

Monday 2 March 2009

This symposium explores George Bush's legacy and the historical significance of his presidency.

Presented in co-operation with the Institute for the Study of the Americas, University of London

Music and Spoken Word
Woody Guthrie: Hard Times and Hard Travellin'

Wednesday 25 February 2009

A live musical programme - the songs of Woody Guthrie are both performed and set in the context of the political turmoil of 1930s America by Will Kauffman, professor of American literature and culture at the University of Central Lancashire. Will Kauffman has published widely on many aspects of American culture, and has been a semi-professional folksinger and musician for over thirty years.

Presented by The Eccles Centre for American Studies, the British Library.

Conference
Mapping visual diversity in Canada : Historical and contemporary perspectives

Monday 23 February 2009

Focusing on photographic representations of Canadian landscape and peoples from the 19th century to the present, this one-day conference will bring together leading Canadian authorities on the history of photography and photographic archives with UK-based researchers on historical and contemporary Canadian photography.

Presented by the London Conference for Canadian Studies and the Eccles Centre for American Studies, The British Library.

Music and Discussion
After Cage: with Apartment House and David Behrman

Monday 16th February

Part of a short season celebrating the work and influence of John Cage (1912-1992), the pioneer American experimental composer.

Composer David Behrman is a true American experimental pioneer, who studied with Stockhausen in Europe, advised and worked with Cage and Cunningham in the 60s with electronics, and developed his own computer based researches into sound. Behrman was a member, with Alvin Lucier, Robert Ashley and Gordon Mumma, of the Sonic Arts Union, an influential experimental grouping of composers each of whom are featured in this concert performed by Apartment House, directed by Anton Lukoszevieze and David Ryan. In a pre-concert talk, David Behrman will discuss working with Cage as well as his own works.

Presented by the Eccles Centre for American Studies, The British Library.

Talk and Discussion
'Of the people, by the people, for the people': Abraham Lincoln's legacy in the 21st Century.

Monday 9 February 2009

Abraham Lincoln, America's 'Great Emancipator', was born 200 years ago this month. He led the USA through a civil war, and paid with his life for his stand on the issues that divided the nation. The issues of freedom, equality, enfranchisement, engagement and discrimination were discussed by a transatlantic panel of speakers, including Professor Charles Bullock (University of Georgia), Professor Tony Badger (Master of Clare College, Cambridge), and Professor Roger Wilkins (George Mason University), chaired by Allan Little (BBC special correspondent).

Presented by the Eccles Centre for American Studies, The British Library, with the support of the US Embassy, London.

Talk and Discussion
Time for a New Transatlantic Partnership?

Tuesday 20 January 2009

On the day the new US president was inaugurated, journalist and author Timothy Garton Ash explored the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Presented by the US-UK Fulbright Commission and The Eccles Centre for American Studies, the British Library.

Top of Page Top of page