Presented by the American Studies Program
The series focuses on urgent issues in American Studies, and it features BU faculty and prominent outside speakers in both workshops and public lectures. The program ends every year with Keynote Address by a senior scholar at BU.
Stay tuned for our 2026/2027 schedule!
Previous Programs:
2025-2026
October 29, 2025
2:00 PM: A works-in-progress seminar with Jilene Chua (BU, History) with a response from Neferti Xina Tadiar (Barnard College). Prof. Chua’s paper was entitled “Minor Daughters, Merchants’ Wives, and Single Women, 1916-1939.”
5:00 PM: A public talk with Neferti Xina Tadiar: “This Bridge of Earth.”
April 8, 2026
2:00 PM (226 Bay State Road, Room 100): A Seminar with Prof. Hunziker’s pre-circulated paper entitled “Playing Indian: Filipino and Puerto Rican Students at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.” Prof. Lisa Lowe (Yale) responded and guided discussion.
5:00 PM (BU Hillel, 213 Bay State Road, Room 426): A public talk by Lisa Lowe: “American Studies and Colonial Histories of the Present.”
April 29, 2026
Koritha Mitchell (BU, English) delivered a keynote address: readings from Blissfully Childfree: A Memoir in Letters. All attendees of this event were invited to the American Studies end-of-year reception in 226 Bay State Road.
2023-2024
November 9, 2023
5:00 PM: A public talk with Victoria E. Johnson, “If You Build It…”: The Sports Experience Economy and “Flyover” Dreams.”
February 28, 2024
2:00 PM: A seminar with Takeo Rivera (BU, English), who discussed a pre-circulated chapter, “Another Joke is Possible: Kristina Wong and Mutual Aid Carnivalesque,” with Diana Taylor (New York University) responding.
5:00 PM: Public talk with Diana Taylor, “Zuckerberg’s Smile; or Presence in the Age of Digital Technologies.”
May 1, 2024
4:00 PM: Keynote lecture by Nazli Kibria (BU, Sociology), “Model Minority and Brown Threat: South Asians in the U.S. Racial Landscape.”
2022-2023
November 8, 2022
2:00 PM, Seminar with Andrew Robichaud (BU History), who discussed a pre-circulated chapter, “Frozen Time: Ice and the Political Economy of Dead Meat,” with Walter Johnson (Harvard University) responding.
5:00 PM, Public talk with Walter Johnson, “John Brown’s Economy.”
February 9, 2023
2:00 PM: Seminar with Ianna Hawkins Owen (BU, English) and Christina Sharpe (York University), responding. In this seminar, we discussed a pre-circulated paper by Prof. Owen entitled “Sweating Diaspora.”
5:00 PM: Public talk with Christina Sharpe, “Ordinary Notes.”
April 20, 2023
4:00 PM: Keynote with Anita Patterson (BU English)
2021-2022
February 10
2:00 PM: Seminar with Ross Barrett (BU, History of Art), and Alan Braddock (William & Mary) responded. In this seminar, we discussed a pre-circulated paper by Prof. Barrett entitled “Painting and Property on Prout’s Neck.”
5:00 PM: public lecture by Alan Braddock, “Black Landscapes: Artistic Origins of Environmental Justice and Dilemmas of Decolonization.”
March 3
2:00 PM; Seminar with Paula Austin (BU, History & Af-Am Studies), and Cheryl Hicks (University of Delaware) responded. In this seminar, we discussed a pre-circulated paper by Prof. Austin entitled “‘Thugs in Uniform or Why Must Such Extreme and Fatal Force Be Used’: Black DC’s Campaign to End Police Violence 1919 – 1970.”
5:00 PM; public lecture by Cheryl Hicks, “‘A Woman of This Stamp’: Sexual Politics and Black Progressive-Era Activism.”
April 21
4:00pm; Keynote Address by André de Quadros (BU, Music), “The Exilic Condition in America: A Personal Encounter with Power, Asymmetry, and Border Crossings.”