Conferences and Events
Forthcoming events at the Institute for the Study of the Americas
No events currently listed.
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The Liverpool Film Seminar
Session 2
Monday, 9 December 2013
Venue: Rendall Building, Lecture Theatre 8, University of Liverpool
Time: 5:30pm
Filmed History: Spielberg’s Lincoln
Professor Frederick Wasser
City University of New York (Brooklyn College)
ABSTRACT
The recent release of Lincoln, directed by Steven Spielberg, is a breakthrough for the director and an old-time Hollywood revival for the audience. Spielberg has been making historical films since 1985 both to extend and to break free of the blockbuster genre he helped pioneer in the 1970s. Hitherto his historical films have suffered from his own timidity. I argue that finally with Lincoln he found a subject appropriate for the times. His collaborator Tony Kushner writes a revisionist version of Lincoln even as Spielberg’s camera worships the 16th President of the United States. The synthesis provides a consensual yet important history that the American audience has not seen since the days of Classic Hollywood.
BIO DETAILS
Frederick Wasser is a professor and the chair of the Department of Television and Radio at Brooklyn College CUNY. His scholarly interests lie primarily in media industries, contemporary Hollywood and the culture industries, and his work focuses on synthesizing cultural and economic approaches. Such interests come in part from his experiences as a working professional in the film and television industries in Los Angeles during the 1980s. His first research publication, the influential Veni, Vidi, Video (University of Texas Press, 2001) discussed the effects of home video on film and television and has become part of the historical understanding of the creation of trans-national media companies. In more recent work he has turned towards the actual changes in story-telling in the era of the blockbuster. His most recent book, Steven Spielberg’s America (Polity Press, 2011) is one result of this research as is his contribution to The Time of Our Lives: Dirty Dancing and Popular Culture (Wayne State University Press, 2012). His talk on “Spielberg’s Lincoln,” is based on his article in the current online edition of E-Jump Cut (no. 55). Professor Wasser is currently the Fulbright Bicentennial Chair in American Studies in the University of Helsinki for the 2013-14 academic year.
Dr Yannis Tzioumakis
Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
School of the Arts
University of Liverpool
19 Abercromby Square
Liverpool
L69 7ZQ
tel: 0151 7942897
e-mail: y.tzioumakis@liverpool.ac.uk
Please visit my website: www.yannistzioumakis.com
Institute for the Study of the Americas
School of Advanced Study
University of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU
E: americas@sas.ac.uk
W: www.americas.sas.ac.uk
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Forthcoming events and exhibitions at the Terra Foundation for American Art
TERRA FOUNDATION FOR AMERICAN ART
29 rue des Pyramides, 75001 Paris, France
w: www.terraamericanart.org
e: information@terraamericanart.eu
t: +33 1 43 20 67 01
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The Long Road to Peekskill: Will Kaufman sings Woody Guthrie’s Freedom Songs
Saturday 5th April 2014, 8:00 p.m. (doors open 7:30)
St. Anthony of Padua Parish Centre, Queens Drive Mossley Hill, Liverpool L18
THE LONG ROAD TO PEEKSKILL presents the story of Woody Guthrie’s personal transformation from a youthful Oklahoma racist to the ardent anti-racist champion who, along with many others, risked his life holding the line against American fascism during the notorious Peekskill riots of 1949. Conventionally known for his championing of the poor white Dust Bowl migrants, Guthrie also left an extensive body of songs condemning Jim Crow segregation, lynching and race hatred. Most of these songs were never recorded, but they are the legacy of this remarkable journey that eventually brought Guthrie into the fellowship of Lead Belly, Josh White, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and Paul Robeson. The Long Road to Peekskill is both a harrowing and uplifting presentation, showing through the example of Woody Guthrie that racists are not born, but made – and that they can be unmade.
Tickets £10.00 or £6:00 for students and benefit claimants available from wegottickets.com
in aid of Windows for Peace (UK) registered charity no.1108358.
helping towards dialogue and understanding in the Middle East
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Conference Reports
The Depression, Roosevelt and the New Deal. A one-day conference for A-Level and Access students of American Government and Politics, American History and Media Studies. Wednesday 24th January 2007.
History, Politics and the Presidential Election of 1996. A major student conference took place at the Merseyside Maritime Museum on 16th October 1996. Speakers included representatives from both the Republican and Democrat Parties.
American Foreign Policy and The Cold War A one day conference for A-Level and Access students was held on Wednesday, October 22nd 1997 at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
Teaching American History in Schools a one-day conference on Teaching American History in Schools held at the University of Nottingham on July 15, 1998
An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of American Government and Politics, held at the Maritime Museum in Liverpool on October 21st, featured lectures by Niall Palmer (Brunel University) on the Presidency, Esther Jubb (Liverpool John Moores University) on the Supreme Court and Ian Scott (University of Manchester) on the Congress.
Muhammad Ali: Living Mythically; the American Hero A one-day conference for lecturers, teachers and under/postgraduate students Venue: Central London, jointly organised with the University of Westminster Monday March 29th, 1999.
American Studies Teachers’ Conference Puritanism and The Crucible
School of American and Canadian Studies University of Nottingham Wednesday, June 21, 2000
American Classic Film
A one-day conference at the London University Institute of United States Studies on Tuesday 22nd May 2001, reviewed four landmarks of American Cinema: Raging Bull; Chinatown; Dr Strangelove; On the Waterfront.
American Studies Resource Centre 