Initiated in 1993 by Bill Cosgrove, the Seminars feature scholarly papers, literary readings, and pedagogical presentations of broad interest. We regard these to be friendly gatherings open to all instructors, students, and staff at NDSU as well as the F/M community. Our hope is that the Seminars contribute to a vibrant intellectual life in English, the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and indeed across campus.

For further information or to propose a Seminar topic, contact
Cindy.Nichols@ndsu.edu or Michele.Sherman@ndsu.edu

Current Schedule, Spring 2008

Wed. May 7^th

Geetha Vivekanandhan on the work of William Inge, TBA

Wednesday, April 30^th, 2008, Weber Reading Room, Main Library, 3:30-5:00 pm

Presenter: Northern Eclecta (Staff and Contributors)

Release of Volume 2

Northern Eclecta , NDSU’s literary journal, is scheduled for release in May, 2008.

Northern Eclecta features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, photography, and art created by NDSU undergraduates. Additionally, the current edition will include the best work submitted by Cass County high school students.

Students in English 213, 313 and 413 classes were responsible for putting out the call for submissions, selecting the content, designing and producing the journal.

This seminar will discuss the process of producing a literary journal. Many contributors will also be present to read and talk about their works.

For more information about Northern Eclecta , visit www.ndsu.edu/instruct/ejohnsto/WriteStuff/eclecta.htm

Friday, March 14^th, 2008, Minard 136, 3:00

Presenter: Dr. Kevin Brooks and Joseph Akol Makeer

African Soul, American Heart: The Presentation

This last December, 2007, Joseph Akol Makeer, a Sudanese Lost Boy and Fargo émigré, traveled to his native village of Duk Payuel for the first time in twenty years.  He is working to repair that community, devastated by 22 years of civil war and now struggling, like much of South Sudan , to rebuild its basic human resources and traditional culture.

Accompanied by Kevin Brooks, Associate Professor of English at NDSU, Makeer documented his African trip, which included investigations into the lives of Duk Payuel's orphans and plans for a desperately needed orphanage. 

This multi-media talk will include a short history of Sudan and its civil war, a brief account of Joseph's life as a refugee in Ethiopia then Kenya , stories about adapting to life in the US , and an overview of the orphanage he plans to build.  

Makeer is one of the growing ranks of Sudanese refugees in Fargo , having arrived and settled here with his family in 2003.   Fargo couldn't be more different from his home terrain, where he lived in grass shelters, experienced the genocidal aggression of northern Muslims, and became, at age 10, one of the 20-30,000 young boys who walked out of the Sudan to Ethiopia .

Past Schedule,

Jan. 24^th, Weber Reading Room, 3:30 pm

Carol Pearson, Associate Professor of Modern Languages

Title: "Infinite Divisions: Mexican-American Women's Voices in the Northern Plains"

March 22^nd, Beckwith Recital Hall, 7:30 pm

Linda Helstern, Assistant Professor of English

Title: "Within Living Memory: Gerald Vizenor's Hiroshima Bugi and Japanese-American Cultural Exchange after World War II"

Helstern will examine the forgotten aspects of Japanese-American cultural exchange through a study of Gerald Vizenor's novel, Hiroshima Bugi: Atomu 57. She will discuss the implications and images of the aftermath of the atomic bombings in Japan with those of the Japanese people that appeared in popular American magazines in the postwar.

Helstern's presentation is jointly sponsored by the Department of English Cosgrove Seminars and the North Dakota Humanities Council Remele Fellowship Lecture Series.

March 29^th, Beckwith Recital Hall, 7:30 pm

Mark Aune, Assistant Professor of English

Title: “A British Invasion?  Shakespeare, the Guthrie and American Regional Theater"

Aune will discuss how many former British colonies continue to wrestle with the legacy of colonialism and England’s use of Shakespeare as an instrument of that colonialism. Examining two historic performances of Hamlet at Tyrone Guthrie’s historic theater in Minneapolis (1963 and 2006), Aune uncovered Shakespeare as an element of British colonialism in post-war American culture. His discovery raises the question, “Is the United States a post-colonial nation?”

Aune's presentation is jointly sponsored by the Department of English Cosgrove Seminars and the North Dakota Humanities Council Remele Fellowship Lecture Series.

Prepared by Cindy Nichols Last modified April 29, 2008