Graduate-Faculty Working Groups

Colloquium on American Literature and Culture (CALC)
The Colloquium on American Literature and Culture (CALC) is a forum for the presentation and discussion of new Americanist scholarship by both junior and senior researchers. CALC encourages paper proposals by graduate students and faculty that focus on any subject or period relevant to American literature and culture. A typical CALC event features two presentations of 20-25 minutes, followed by audience questions and discussion. Past speakers have presented on such diverse topics as early twentieth-century suffrage cookbooks, antebellum children's literature, and early American structures of feeling. We invite the attendance of all faculty and graduate students, regardless of specialty, to CALC events. Please visit our website at: http://nyucalc.com/.

Conveners:

The Modern Working Group
The Modern Working Group offers a collegial environment for graduate students working primarily in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to meet and share their work with each other and with faculty. The Modern Working Group is an interdisciplinary forum dedicated to offering the opportunity for graduate students to interact with their peers and with faculty in various fields and disciplines that engage with the study of modern and contemporary literature and culture. Our sessions take the form of open discussions of key texts in modern literature, culture, and theory, panel presentations of MA and Doctoral students' work with faculty and student respondents, and the presentation and discussion of longer papers by graduate students, NYU faculty, and visiting speakers. Each session is typically followed by informal conversation, wine and cheese.

We welcome suggestions for future topics, sessions, and speakers. Please contact our conveners to be added to our listserv and visit our website at: http://nyumodernworkinggroup.wordpress.com/.

Conveners:

The Colloquium for Early Literatures and Cultures in English (CELCE)
The Colloquium for Early Literatures and Cultures in English (CELCE) works to promote scholarship and conversations in medieval and early modern literary studies. The group sponsors graduate and faculty seminars and roundtables, invited speakers, and an annual conference. If there is enough interest, CELCE could involve workshops or an occasional informal reading group to discuss important primary and critical works.

CELCE has traditionally also encompassed work on the eighteenth century and the early Americas. This year we wish to focus our energies particularly on the Medieval and Renaissance periods (so as to distinguish ourselves from the American and long eighteenth century groups), although in the spirit of retaining CELCE's trans-period and trans-Atlantic emphasis, we have opened dialog with other colloquia on the possibility of overlapping events. For the coming year, we plan a variety of events, both inviting current students and faculty to share their work with one another, as well as bringing in speakers from outside the university.

Subgroups:
The Medieval Forum meets in parallel with CELCE (which often co-sponsors its talks) and the Early Modern Forum (which meets on alternate Thursdays), sponsoring talks and roundtables on topics in medieval English. Its primary aim is to bring innovative scholars and their work to NYU, particularly those working at other institutions in the New York area. It was founded for the benefit of NYU's growing population of graduate students working in the medieval period, but its meetings are open to all and it is therefore hoped that the forum will become another part of the rich and broad and ongoing conversation among all medievalists in the city.

The Early Modern Forum meets in parallel with CELCE (which often co-sponsors its talks) and the Medieval Forum (which meets on alternate Thursdays), sponsoring talks and workshops on topics in early modern English. Drawing particularly on the strong early modern community in New York City, it spotlights innovative research and fresh methodologies. The forum aims to foster conversations among Renaissance graduate students and faculty within the English department and beyond.

Conveners:

The Long 18th Century Colloquium
Eighteenth-century studies is an important locus of intellectual activity in the NYU English department for a significant and still increasing number of faculty members and graduate students. As an expansive field of inquiry, the long eighteenth century colloquium serves as a vital commons at NYU which joins professors and students of numerous periods and interests, ranging from transatlantic studies, Restoration, Enlightenment, Romanticism, print culture, literary history, and poetics, to name just a few focal points of study.

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Postcolonial Seminar
The Postcolonial Seminar aims to foster conversation amongst graduate students and faculty across NYU disciplines and schools, and from the wider NYC area. Our speakers and discussion series will address issues of empire, the cultures of postcolonialism and the global south, gender, diaspora, and globalization. In addition to being a forum in which established scholars can share their work, the colloquium is an opportunity for graduate students to benefit from more informal presentations of their works-in-progress. Please visit our website at: http://www.nyupoco.com/.

Conveners:

The Nineteenth-Century Graduate-Faculty Colloquium
The Nineteenth-Century Colloquium brings together graduate students and faculty working in the nineteenth century––British, American, and trans-Atlantic. Meetings range from discussions on recent critical work, to outside guest speakers, to feedback forums for work-in-progress conference papers, articles, and dissertation chapters. We are also committed to fostering a cross-institutional community of nineteenth-century scholars at other universities in the greater New York region.

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Evening Papers (M.A. Colloquium)
Evening Papers is a forum for Masters students in literature to present and receive feedback on their work. The forum convenes semi-monthly on Thursdays, from 9:00 to 10:00pm; two MA students present per forum, and the forums are held in the evenings so that students who work and/or enroll in night classes may participate. Information regarding the forum is regularly updated at http://eveningpapers.wordpress.com. Students interested in presenting may contact conveners at eveningpapers@gmail.com. All periods, fields, and disciplines are welcomed.

Conveners:

Digital Experiments
“EXPERIMENT. The trial of anything; something done in order to discover an uncertain or unknown effect.” – Johnson’s Dictionary, 1755

This spring semester we are working to build a topic modeling project that investigates the language of literary experimentation across fields and periods. Using digital tools that we began exploring in the fall, we are tracking the correlation between scientific and literary language about experimentation and innovation. We have begun to compile large corpora about literary experimentation such as literary magazines, reviews, and correspondence, and we are comparing it with discussions of experiments found in The Philosophical Investigations of the Royal Society in order pose questions regarding the relationship between languages of experimentation and disciplinary boundaries. Our meetings this semester will focus on learning important digital tools and sharing our work on different bodies of text. For the April 25 meeting, we will present the group’s findings along with the new questions and possibilities that emerge during the semester. If you think this type of work may interest you, feel free to email us or come to one of our meetings! We always welcome new contributors and fresh perspectives!

Follow our progress at our blog: nyudigitalexperiments.wordpress.com

Conveners:

The Lucrece Project
The Lucrece Project is a graduate working research group sponsored by the NYU Humanities Initiative and English Department. We are a collective of artists and academics from different fields, universities, and institutions across New York who are exploring and challenging the borders between “creative” and “critical” work and thought. By experimenting with innovative working methods and collaborating on new, cross-disciplinary projects, The Lucrece Project investigates the productive overlaps and meeting points between seemingly disparate research-oriented and creative processes.

For more information, please contact:

Sarah Ostendorf and Johanna Devereaux at lucreceproject@gmail.com

Workshop in Archival Practice
The Workshop in Archival Practice provides an intimate forum for exchange between academic analysis and archival practice by blending presentation and critique with extended Q&A sessions and hands-on training in theoretical and practical questions of archival work. The designated workshop leaders—archivists, faculty and students— present work and lead seminar-style discussions on the particular challenges of their projects and how they relate to the research and concerns of the workshop participants. As a workshop, this group has two distinguishing features: a focus on topics generated by graduate students currently using archives in their own scholarship and a devotion to foregrounding the intellectual interests of academic scholars and practicing archivists alike. By thinking more broadly to conceptualize archival practice as knowledge production and cultural mediation, this Workshop offers students in the English Department the opportunity to direct and participate in discussions about the possibilities of archival process and product as scholarly tools and more.

Visit our blog and follow us on Twitter @NYUArchiveWork.

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GRADUATE COLLOQUIA MEETING SCHEDULE Fall 2010
GRADUATE COLLOQUIA MEETING SCHEDULE Spring 2010
GRADUATE COLLOQUIA MEETING SCHEDULE Fall 2009
GRADUATE COLLOQUIA MEETING SCHEDULE SPRING 2009