The Eleventh Annual Red River Conference on World Literature
April 4-6, 2008

North Dakota State University
Fargo North Dakota

Tentative Conference Program

All sessions, with the exception of the Keynote Address, will be held in the Alumni Center.

Click on session title for links to the abstracts in that session.

Friday, 4 April 2008

8:00-8:30 Registration / Coffee and Muffins - Alumni Center Atrium

8:30-10:30 : Session One - Alumni Center – Reimers

Infinite Divisions and Transformations

Moderator: Gary Totten (North Dakota State University)

James Wojtaszek (University of Minnesota, Morris): “Anarchist (,) Woman (,) Writer: Soledad Gustavo and the Cultural Canon”

Gretchen Ronnow (Wayne State College, Nebraska): “ScotsIndians: American Indians as Scottish Highlanders… and Vice Versa”

Jonathan Steinwand (Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota): “Indigenous, Transnational and Local: Hawaiian Identity after the Apology and Federal Recognition”

 

10:30- 10:45: Break : Coffee and Muffins - Alumni Center Atrium

10:45-12:45 : Session Two - Alumni Center – Reimers

Gender and Intersections/Revisions/Transgressions

Moderator: Michele Willman (North Dakota State University)

Juli Kroll (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota): “Between the ‘Sacred’ and the ‘Profane’: Cultural Fantasy in Madeinus by Claudia Llosa”

CeCe Rohwedder (North Dakota State University): “The Men in Their Lives: Female Writers of the Harlem Renaissance Speak”

Claudia Routon (University of North Dakota): “Underworld Exile and Transformation in La Reina del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte”

10:45-12:45 : Session Two A - Alumni Center – Klefstad

Creation and Contestation of Cultural Identities

Moderator: Andrew Trump (North Dakota State University)

Amber Jensen (South Dakota State University): “The Migration of Masculinity in Victor Villaseñor’s Macho!

Mary Carlson (South Dakota State University): “’Get Your Ass to Mars’: The Clash of Middle East Values and Cosmopolitan Ideals in Total Recall

Nancy Preteau (South Dakota State University): “Unmixing the Melting Pot: Exploring White-Ethnic Enclaves in Spring Came on Forever

12:45-2:00: Lunch - Alumni Center Atrium

2:00-4:00 : Session Three - Alumni Center – Reimers

Fluid Identities

Moderator: Carlos Hawley (North Dakota State University)

Jason Owens (South Dakota State University): “German Identities in Southern Africa”

Jennie Enger (North Dakota State University): “Black, White and Biracial: Identity Issues in Nella Larsen’s Passing

Benjamin Smith (Minnesota State University, Moorhead): “Fluid Identities: The Case for Galician-Portuguese in Spain”

4:00- 4:15: Break - Alumni Center Atrium

4:15 - 6:00 p.m.
Alumni Center - Reimers
PLENARY ADDRESS

Double Trauma: Albanian Society in the Shadow of Nationalism and Communism

John Cox

North Dakota State University
Department of History



 

CONFERENCE BANQUET/BUFFET

Alumni Center Atrium

6:00 p.m.


Saturday, 5 April 2008

8:30 - 9:00 : Registration - Coffee and Rolls - Alumni Center Atrium

9:00-11:00 : Session Four - Alumni Center - Reimers

Identities and (Un)happily Ever After

Moderator: Jeanne Hageman (North Dakota State University)

Katherine Stevenson (Jamestown College, North Dakota): “Death and Alienation in Irene Nemirovsky’s David Golder

Thomas Stokes (Wabash College, Indiana): “Tickling Lazarus: Narrative and Witness in Dora Bruder and La Monte

Rachel McCoppin (University of Minnesota, Crookston): “Decentering the Self: Resolution from Accepting the ‘Other’ in J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace

9:00-11:00 : Session Four A - Alumni Center – Klefstad Room

FLARR I
(Special Session)
Foreign Language Association of the Red River

Innovations in Teaching

Cecilia Mafla Bustamantes (Minnesota State University Moorhead): Using Songs to Teach Grammar and Generate Discussion in the Classroom.

Brittney Rehm and Krisanne Emch (Moorhead High School): Spanish Commercials: Lesson Plans and Projects in the High School Spanish Classroom.

Elena Atitsogbui (Visiting Faculty, Concordia College, Minnesota): Culture, History and Human Values Trough Film Course.

Tom Turner (University of Minnesota - Morris): Murder and Mayhem... and the Tools to Teach Them.

11:00-12:00 : Lunch - Alumni Center Atrium

12:00 - 2:00 : Session Five - Alumni Center - Reimers

Identity and Sexuality: Norms and Taboos

Moderator: Muriel Brown (North Dakota State University)

Christine Grossman (Baxter, Minnesota): “Staging Compulsory Heterosexuality: Dramatic Depictions of Cultural Treason Against the Homosexual Gender”

Surapeepan Chatraporn (Chulalongkorn University, Thailand): “From Whore to Heroine: Deconstructing the Myth of the Fallen Woman and Redefining Female Sexuality in Contemporary Popular Fiction”

Xochitl Shuru (Ursinus College, Pennsylvania): “Parteras, curanderas, brujas: estorias hispanas”

12:00 - 2:00 : Session Five A - Alumni Center – Klefstad Room

FLARR Foreign Language Association of the Red River

Changing Cultures, Changing Countries, Changing Our Students

Sessions preceded by a Short Business Meeting

Milda Ostrauskaite (Concordia College - Minnesota): Fresh from the Graduate School: Adventures of a New Language Teacher.

Mary Thrond (Minnesota State University Moorhead): The Travel Portfolio: Portfolio Assessment as a Tool to Ensure Student Learning While Traveling Abroad.

Igor Babikov (Concordia College, Minnesota): Different Countries, Different Cultures, Same Ideas.

Zacharie Petnkeu Nzepa (Concordia College, Minnesota): Classroom and Other Challenges for Non-Citizen Teachers of Foreign Languages.

2:00 - 2:15 : Break: Coffee and Cookies - Alumni Center Atrium

2:15-4:15 : Session Six - Alumni Center: Reimers

Transnational and Indigenous Identities in Poetry

Moderator: Benjamin Smith (Minnesota State University Moorhead)

Viktor Berberi (University of Minnesota, Morris): “Transnationalism/Non-Belonging in the Poetry of Gezim Hajdari”

Miranda Zhang (Bemidji State University): “Idyllist and Hermit: Tao Yuanming”

John Peacock (Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore): “Story of Dakota Origins, Imprisonment and Exile”

4:30 p.m.

Keynote Session
Beckwith Auditorium
Reineke Fine Arts Building
North Dakota State University Campus

Beyond Infinite Divisions: Recovering the Past, Expressing the Future in Chicana Literature and Art

Dr. Tey Diana Rebolledo
University of New Mexico

Reception following presentation.

Click here for a link to a Campus Map.

6:30: Open dinner

 

Sunday, 6 April 2008

8:00 - 8:30 : Coffee, Bagels and Fruit - Alumni Center Atrium

8:30 - 10:30 : Session Seven - Alumni Center : Reimers

Decentering Voices

Moderator: Paul Homan (North Dakota State University)

Jamie Sullivan (Mt. Marty, South Dakota): “Riddles of Identity in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children

Kevin Brooks (North Dakota State University): “Season of Migration to the West: Sudanese Literature and the Call for Domestic Peace”

Ammar Naji (University of North Dakota): The Making of 'Epico-Mythico-Tragico-Comico-Super-Sexy-High-Masala-Art': Re-imaging India Through Art in The Moor's Last Sigh.

 

8:30 - 10:30 : Session Seven A - Alumni Center: Klefstad

Culture, Crime and Commercialization: Fluid Identities in the Atlantic Area

Moderator: Gwen Stickney (North Dakota State University)

Kathleen Grode (South Dakota State University): “Indian-Atlantic Currents: Examining the Undertow”

Bridget Nordquist (South Dakota State University): “’A Pirate’s Life for Me’: Pirate Societies as Liberal Transnational Communities”

Colleen Poindexter (South Dakota State University): “The Black Diaspora: Jamaica Kincaid’s Search for Identity”

10:30-10:45: Break: Coffee, Bagels & Fruit - Alumni Center Atrium

10:45 - 12:45 : Session Eight - Alumni Center: Reimers

World Views and Alternative Texts

Moderator: David Martinson (North Dakota State University)

Benjamin Barandeau (South Dakota State University): “Human Rights Advocate or Anachronistic Monarch?: Transnational Interpretations of the XIV Dalai Lama”

Jessica Eikmeier (South Dakota State University): “Monumental Memorialization: The Idea of an ‘American’ National Monument”

Steve Binkley (South Dakota State University): “Same-Sex Marriage as a Site of Heteronormative Contagion”

 

Acknowledgments


The Eleventh Annual Red River Conference on World Literature could not have happened without the wonderful support, the enormous efforts and the unfailing time commitment from many people at North Dakota State University and in the Fargo community.

We would like to thank the following groups and people for their generous financial support:

Dr. R. Craig Schnell, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Philip Boudjouk, Vice President for Research, Creative Activities and Technology Transfer
Dr. David Wittrock, Dean, Graduate School
Dr. Thomas Riley, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

We would like to thank the following people for their suggestions, creativity, effort and, above all, the generous gift of their time and support.

Conference Committee

Muriel Brown
Kristina Caton
Jeanne Hageman
Carlos Hawley
Paul Homan
RS Krishnan
David Martinson

Carol Pearson
Ronda Portmann
Gwen Stickney
Gary Totten
Andy Trump
Michele Willman

Staff:

Margaret Skolness
Michele Sherman

Poster and Program design by: Lourdes Hawley