Announcement: Dr. Maurie McInnis appointed UT Provost and Professor of American Studies
Earlier this week, University of Texas at Austin’s President Greg Fenves announced the appointment of Dr. Maurie McInnis as the University’s executive vice president and provost. In addition to her duties as the provost, Prof. McInnis will also be appointed as Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities #1 in the Department of American Studies.Prof. McInnis has long taught undergraduate courses in American Studies and Art History, including an innovative multi-disciplinary lecture class focused on the history and culture of the slave South. A former Chair of University of Virginia’s American Studies program, her interdisciplinary scholarship focuses on the relationship between politics and art in early America. Prof. McInnis’s most recent book, Slaves Waiting for Sale: Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade, was awarded the Charles C. Eldredge Book Prize from the Smithsonian American Art Museum for outstanding scholarship in American Art and the Library of Virginia Literary Award for non-fiction. Her scholarship has been long engaged with public history, and she has worked regularly with museums and historic sites. More details on Professor McInnis’s scholarship, research and accomplishments are available on her website.We are delighted to welcome Maurie McInnis to both the College of Liberal Arts, and the Department of American Studies!
Grad Research: Come See UT AMS at MLA 2016 in Austin
This year's Modern Languages Association conference begins today, right here in Austin, and a couple of UT AMS grad students will be participating.Joshua Abraham Kopin will be presenting a paper called "Lost Causes: Jack Jackson's Underground Comics as Underground History" as part of the roundtable The Counterpublic of Underground Comix, at 5:15 PM on Thursday, January 7.Christine Capetola will be giving a presentation entitled "'We Got Love Too Good to Throw Away': Frankie Knuckles, House Music, and Black Queer Diaspora," as part of the panel Sound, Activism and Protest, at 5:15 PM on Friday, January 8.We hope to see you there!
Faculty Research: Dr. Mark Smith writes on the Pledge of Allegiance for the Austin American-Statesman
Have you read today's Austin American-Statesman? If not, check it out for a new op-ed piece by Dr. Mark Smith about the history of the Pledge of Allegiance - a history that extends back to the late 19th century.We've printed an excerpt below and the full piece is available here.
The Pledge of Allegiance is thus our pledges of allegiance. It has always symbolized, as Bellamy intended, the union of a nation of different nationalities, religions and regions into one strong and cohesive whole. It stood for the vision of Bellamy’s hero, Abraham Lincoln, of one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.But, as time has passed and we face continuing crises, we have defined the nation in increasingly narrow political terms and have used the pledge to symbolize these political views. Today, there are two movements from the right and left to amend the pledge: the first, which ends “liberty and justice for all, born and unborn”; and the other, which inserts Bellamy’s original “equality, liberty and justice for all.”
Happy holidays to all!
The AMS :: ATX blog will be going dark for a few weeks for winter break, so we hope everyone has a restful and relaxing holiday season.
The Snowfall is So SilentThe snowfall is so silent,so slow,bit by bit, with delicacyit settles down on the earthand covers over the fields.The silent snow comes downwhite and weightless;snowfall makes no noise,falls as forgetting falls,flake after flake.It covers the fields gentlywhile frost attacks themwith its sudden flashes of white;covers everything with its pureand silent covering;not one thing on the groundanywhere escapes it.And wherever it falls it stays,content and gay,for snow does not slip offas rain does,but it stays and sinks in.The flakes are skyflowers,pale lilies from the clouds,that wither on earth.They come down blossomingbut then so quicklythey are gone;they bloom only on the peak,above the mountains,and make the earth feel heavierwhen they die inside.Snow, delicate snow,that falls with such lightnesson the head,on the feelings,come and cover over the sadnessthat lies always in my reason.Miguel de Unamuno