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Early American Matters Caucus
“EARLY AMERICAN MATTERS” Caucus within the American Studies Association
A question that this title raises is “By ‘early,’ do you mean pre-1900? Prior to the so-called American Renaissance? pre-1800? Maybe even pre-European contact?,” and a legitimate answer would be Yes, as in Yes to all of the above.
We know that a number of our colleagues who attend A.S.A. conferences—as well as many more prospective participants—have research interests touching on those earlier periods. We know that alongside the re-invigoration of American Studies during the past two decades there has been a flourishing of interdisciplinary attention to America before the Civil War, before the Revolutionary War, before slavery came to the English colonies, before there were European colonies throughout these continents. We know too that many of today’s most fiercely contested issues have their sources in the first two centuries of European settlement. We also know that as scholarship flourishes around such questions and issues, it not only crosses these fairly arbitrary temporal boundaries (1900, the 1850s, 1800, and so on) but also takes us across traditional disciplinary lines.
We also know, alas, that for the past decade and more, the programs of A.S.A. conferences have included a paucity of matters early American. For us, matters include everything from the material culture of pre-European contact archeology to the pseudo-scientific racial theories of the antebellum decades; in short, we look at matters textual, ideological, material, and historical. Another question, then, suggests itself:
Shouldn’t the A.S.A.‘s menu of caucuses include one
whose title bears these keywords EARLY and MATTERS?
We say Yes, and we relish that prospect. Why don’t you Join Us? Why don’t you Sign-Up for our e-mail list-serve?
Community Blog
“Keywords in Early American Studies”: session we’ll sponsor this November
The votes are in, and among the six early-American-flavored panels on this November’s program, the one that our Caucus is sponsoring is “KEYWORDS IN EARLY AMERICAN STUDIES”
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Looking to provide Early-American Content for the 2010 A.S.A.
Let’s see HOW MANY FIRST-RATE PANEL PROPOSALS we can get to the 2010 Program Committee by their January 26 deadline! Toward that end, Peter Reed, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), has generously offered to help MATCH UP colleagues who are considering proposing an early-American-flavored panel (or paper) with colleagues who are also considering proposing a paper!
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“Early America, Asia, and the Pacific”
Confirming that we’re designating this session—which Michelle Burnham and Jim Egan cooked up and got onto the program for the ‘009 conference—as the one our Caucus is Sponsoring this time around.
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our Session, our Business Meeting, and Reception we’re co-sponsoring
On behalf of my 297 colleagues in the EARLY AMERICAN MATTERS Caucus, it’s a pleasure to call your attention to these events at this week’s Albuquerque conference:
FRIDAY, noon to 1:45
(in the Albuquerque Convention Center, NAVAJO):
“RELIGIOUS TRANSFORMATIONS
IN THE EARLY MODERN AMERICAS”
FRIDAY, 3:00 to 4:00
(in the Albuquerque Convention Center, NAMBE):
Our Caucus’s Business Meeting, where we’ll
discuss topic(s) to propose for the ‘009 ASA,
possibly in conjunction with another ASA Caucus
SATURDAY, 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.:
INDIAN PUEBLO CULTURAL CENTER MUSEUM AND
RECEPTION, which our Caucus is co- sponsoring
with the Environment and Culture Caucus AND
this year’s Site Resource Committee
Looking forward,
—Dennis Moore
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Thanks, Dan Richter and the McNeil Center
following up to last night’s reception at the McNeil Center
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Events
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