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CFP: Monumental Narratives: Revisiting New England’s Public Memorials, Deadline 10 Nov 2017

Type: Calls For Papers [View all]
Posted by: Wellesley College
Deadline: Fri, November 10th, 2017

CALL FOR PAPERS

Monumental Narratives: Revisiting New England’s Public Memorials

A one-day symposium sponsored by the Grace Slack McNeil Program for Studies in American Art at Wellesley College and Historic Deerfield, Inc.  

Date: Saturday, March 10th, 2018

Location: Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

As southern Civil War memorials have become a flashpoint for politics and protest, it is vital that we turn the same critical gaze to New England’s public monuments.  This day-long symposium will explore commemorations of people, places, and events in New England’s past, with attention to design, construction, naming/renaming, reception, preservation, destruction, and/or reconfiguration.   How do these public acts of memory tell a particular story of New England?  What histories might they celebrate or, whether explicitly or implicitly, conceal, devalue, or erase? How can historians recast these monumental narratives without simultaneously sweeping aside uncomfortable histories of colonialism and discrimination?

We invite papers that critically examine memorials in New England from the 17th century to the present. We look for explorations of a diverse range of media including (but not limited to) sculpture, mural programs, buildings, and landscapes.  Discussions of proposals for contemporary commemoration or for interventions in existing monuments should explicitly address the ways in which these activities fit into a broader historical context. 

Papers should be theoretical or analytical in nature rather than descriptive and take approximately 20 minutes to present.  Speakers invited to present papers are expected to participate fully in the symposium program. The symposium offers speakers overnight accommodation.

Please submit 250-word proposals and a two-page c.v. via electronic mail to Martha McNamara mmcnamar@wellesley.edu and Barbara Mathews bmathews@historic-deerfield.org. Proposals should include the title of the paper and the presenter’s name.

For further information, please contact Martha McNamara (mmcnamar@wellesley.edu) or Barbara Mathews bmathews@historic-deerfield.org. The deadline for submissions is November 10th, 2017.

 

Martha J. McNamara

Director, New England Arts & Architecture Program

Department of Art, Wellesley College 

106 Central Street

Wellesley, MA 02481

781-283-2961

mmcnamar@wellesley.edu

 

 

Posted on Fri, October 13th, 2017
Expires on Fri, November 10th, 2017

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