Keynote: Mary N. Layoun, Professor of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Movement and stasis. Routes to and from home. Boundaries and belonging. Local places and global spaces. The possibilities for and barriers to mobility shape the way that communities, cultures, and individuals communicate with one another. Mobility influences interconnectivity across time and space as well as the formation of hierarchies of domination and subordination. 

In today’s global landscape, the category of the “human” has assumed a principal position not simply in terms of its ontological centrality but also in relation to surrounding nonhuman worlds. At stake are questions ranging from the impact of humans on the biosphere (the Anthropocene) to their involvement in the virtual world (Knowledge Commons and Ergodicity) to their experiences of the “inner life” of things (Object-oriented ontology and Affect Theory) to the ethical politics over the Other (the terrorist, the refugee, the queer).

The theme of this issue, Tours and Detours, is intended to provoke a wide variety of topics and approaches.  For some, it seeks to examine the interplay between identity, space, history, and memory, exploring the ways in which identities and communities are created, formed, and informed by spatial and temporal contexts.  For others, it conjures up ideas of travel, tourism, and critical heritage, seeking to actively exchange, share, and challenge ideas on information technologies, place-making, and digital economy.  Yet another group of scholars and artists might interpret the topic as rhetorical strategies around impasses of knowledge (what Barthes called the punctum and the situationists referred to as détournement).

For only the second time in its history, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society will gather in the author’s hometown of Saint Paul, Minnesota, for a week-long celebration of his Midwestern roots and the importance of regionalism, home, and youth in his writing (June 25-July 1, 2017). Fitzgerald was, of course, born in Saint Paul and spent most of his formative years there. The conference theme, Was student – am now writer, comes from Fitzgerald’s military discharge interview, and marks the acknowledgement of his emergence in Saint Paul as a writer.

Revisiting C. H. Sisson: Modernist, Classicist, Translator

London, 28-29 April 2017

Film & History Conference - 26-30 October 2016, Milwaukee Hilton, Milwaukee, WI