Explore American Studies at Explore UT!

February 29, 2012 Holly Genovese

This weekend, American Studies students and professors will be taking part in Explore UT, "The biggest open house in Texas."AMS faculty members Janet Davis, Steven Hoelscher, and Randy Lewis will be giving public talks on different aspects of their research, and American Studies Graduate Students will be taking part in the Children’s International Festival on the South Mall from 11:00 a.m. - 4:40 p.m. This year, our booth features a game called "Follow that Food," which helps younger students understand how culture travels via international foodways. Kids will match the dishes and ingredients to their correct country and origin and win a prize!Click here for a full schedule of events, and make sure to stop by our booth and catch these great lectures by out very own Dr.s Davis, Hoelscher, and Lewis!American Animals: Culture, History, and Society (3:00 p.m. - 3:40 p.m. Parlin 203)Associate Professor Janet Davis will explore American history of animals from multiple vantages: from clashes between Native Americans and English colonists over wandering cows and pigs, to the rise of pet-keeping as a business in today’s world.Remembering America’s Past – and Forgetting It, Too (3:00 p.m. - 3:40 p.m. Parlin 204)

Memory forms the fabric of human life, affecting everything from the ability to perform simple, everyday tasks to defining our very identity as individuals. Dr. Steven Hoelscher explores the various ways that American cultural memory is created, and lost. The Magic of Austin: The Past and Future of the Weird City (12:00 p.m. - 12:40 p.m. Mezes 1.120)

This lecture, presented by Dr. Randy Lewis, will explore Austin’s sense of weirdness using film, music, art, and other cultural forms. We will examine the tensions between "keeping Austin weird" and the city’s mainstream development.