M E R I C A T U D I E S R I T A I N NO. 110 WINTER 2014 ISSN 1465-9956 N ASINB BAAS.AC.UK 6 0 Special Anniversary Issue EDITOR’S ASIB 110 Winter 2014 LETTER ‘Neurolysis’ and Wilka Hudson ext year is the 60th anniversary of BAAS. To mark the address as Chair of the Association is reprinted from occasion, this special issue of ASIB pays homage to page 4. (Sue reviewed many of the recent activities Nsome of the beautiful architecture of next year’s and achievements across the community at the 59th conference host city, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The BAAS conference in Birmingham organised by Sara image above is a wide-angle shot of the Newcastle Wood.) This issue of ASIB also includes a piece by Quayside. The cover shows the Sage Gateshead and Hannah Murray (p. 11) on the transatlantic legacy of Tyne Bridge at dusk. More details about the the civil rights activist and author Frederick Douglass. conference, including the website and Twitter handle Finally, postgraduate students in the community are supplied by Northumbria University, can be found on encouraged to get in touch with the BAAS PG the next page. A preliminary programme is expected representative, Rachael Alexander (p. 12). in March on baas.ac.uk. I hope you enjoy this issue of ASIB. As ever, this issue of ASIB is brimming with report writing by the Association’s travel/research Warm regards, award recipients. There is certainly enough to ignite any Americanist’s wanderlust, with articles (starting p. – Kal A!raf. 13) on research visits to Colorado, New Haven and Albuquerque, to name just a few. Sue Currell’s annual 2 I N S I D E ASIB N O. 1 1 0 The 60th Annual BAAS Conference takes place at Northumbria University, Thursday April 9th to Sunday April 12th 2015. The plenary speakers are: • Gary Younge. Author, broadcaster and award-winning columnist for The Guardian and The Nation. • Dana Nelson. Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English, Vanderbilt University. • Sarah Churchwell. Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities, University of East Anglia The call for papers is now closed. A preliminary draft of the conference programme will be available in March at baas.ac.uk. You can follow the conference on Twitter @BAASconf2015 (#BAAS2015). For more information see the conference website. W I N T E R 2 0 1 4 The Chair’s Annual Articles From BAAS Award Recipients ON THE COVER Celebrating the architecture of Newcastle Report Colorado, New Haven, as the 60th BAAS annual conference 5 13 Albuquerque...Just some of the locations Sue Currell outlines the heads to Northumbria University. An community’s visited by BAAS travel and research evening view of the Sage Gateshead and achievements in the award winners. Tyne Bridge. With full attribution and thanks past year. to George Gastin. Image used under the Publishing Your Book? Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Hosted at the BAAS Paperbacks Series Editors Martin 21 Wikimedia Commons (http:// Frederick Douglass & Halliwell and Emily West invite your commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ His Transatlantic proposals. File:Sageandbridge.jpg). Date of access: 11 06.11.14. For attribution of all further Legacy imagery contained herein, see CREDITS & Hannah Murray on the Articles From Eccles Centre CONTACTS (p. 51). great writer, orator and 22 Postgraduate Fellows activist Frederick Eccles Fellows on recent work. CONTRIBUTE Douglass. To contribute an article or feature to ASIB, Saying Hello contact the Editor, Kal Ashraf. Editorial guidelines and contact details appear in Profiling new members of the BAAS Can You Host The CREDITS & CONTACTS (p. 51). BAAS Annual 30 community. 12 Postgraduate Articles From Eccles Centre Fellows DISCLAIMER Conference? ASIB is an official publication of the British Research inspired by the British Library’s An invitation to host one 33 Association for American Studies, but the of the most important world famous Eccles Centre. opinions expressed in its pages are those events in BAAS’s annual of the contributors alone and do not calendar. necessarily reflect the policies or beliefs of the Association as a whole. MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR AMERICAN STUDIES 3 ASIB S U P P O R T I N G 110 CONGRESS TO CAMPUS UK Winter 2014 AT THE ECCLES CENTRE BAAS has consistently provided support for the Eccles students the conference on US politics – it was brilliant Centre’s Congress to Campus UK programme, the latest and I would like to express a big thank you to both the episode of which took place in November 2014. This fantastic group of academics and the two very informative support goes directly towards two conferences hosted at the former House Representatives…’. British Library, aimed specifically at students undertaking A level US Politics, and is explicitly acknowledged at The recent US mid-term elections formed the back-drop those events. The full Congress to Campus week also for the week, and audiences of about 100 interested includes the BAAS-supported American Politics Group/ members of the public, MPs, peers and diplomats attended BAAS colloquium, convened by Dr Clodagh Harrington one evening panel session that was hosted in a House of and hosted at the US Embassy. There are a further five Commons Meeting Room, and another hosted in Leicester events and a number of smaller meetings during the very by De Montfort University. A full day conference was also busy week, and while BAAS does not directly support these hosted by De Montfort, attended by more than 200 A-level the programme team take every opportunity throughout the and undergraduate students. The speaking team was also week to recognise BAAS as a co-sponsor of the activities. hosted for events at Leicester University and at the ancestral home of the George Washington family, Sulgrave This year the conferences on 10th and 11th November in Manor. Admiral Stephen Oswald also generously offered London attracted a total audience approaching 500, his time, and Eccles Centre colleagues found an including dozens of schools primarily from the south and enthusiastic audience for the input of a three-time space east, but from as far from London as Bradford. Five shuttle pilot and commander. When not at his fiancé’s side, distinguished UK lecturers each day were joined by the Admiral Oswald undertook a parallel programme of Honorable Mary Bono and the Honorable Brian Baird, school visits and a full day speaking with student parties and on November 10th by NASA astronaut Admiral at the National Space Centre in Leicester. Stephen Oswald (Mary Bono’s fiancé) who took part in informal discussions with the students. One teacher – Phil Davie emailed: ‘Yesterday I attended with my small group of Director, Eccle Centre The November Congress to Campus UK programme is led by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in co- operation with the US Association of Former Members of Congress, and supported by the US Embassy, London. Elements of the programme are supported by De Montfort University Leicester, the Europe-Atlantic Group, Leicester University, Sulgrave Manor, the American Politics Group, and the British Association for American Studies. 4 ASIB 110 Winter 2014 THE CHAIR’S ANNUAL REPORT Sue Currell spoke at the BAAS Annual General Meeting of April 2014 at the University of Birmingham Kal Ashraf would like to begin by thanking the conference team here at to be in Birmingham–the place that supported this the University of Birmingham for a wonderful welcome and important work in cultural studies. I for generously hosting this year’s conference. In particular, many thanks to this year’s organiser–Sara Wood–who has BAAS and this conference have also received generous worked tirelessly for BAAS. support for its activities from the US Embassy in London throughout the year. So thank you also to the Embassy for As the home of British Cultural Studies, I first heard about the support they’ve given and for inviting me to so many of Birmingham while studying for my MA in American their cultural activities. There are too many to list here but I Studies at the University of Maryland. I was surprised to do want to note my pleasure at being invited to the find that Americanists in the US paid particularly close reception for new Ambassador Matthew Barzun, who took attention to the school of work developed here and came to up his position last Autumn following his work as realise then that Birmingham had registered a big impact on businessman and democratic fundraiser for President the development of a particular style of American Studies Obama. It’s relevant for us that Ambassador Barzun is a that influenced my own research work. It is the place which history and literature graduate of Harvard and also the provided an intellectual home to Stuart Hall, who passed grandson of Jacques Barzun, the celebrated American away this February. Stuart worked on theories of Black intellectual historian. So, it’s with pleasure that I welcome diasporic identities, media, politics and race; theories that Tom Leary, the US Embassy’s Minister Counselor for still resonate with the intellectual pursuits of many here Public Affairs, and Sue Wedlake, the Senior Cultural today. It was also home to Richard Hoggart who I have Specialist at the Embassy, among us at the conference this learned passed away this morning. It is a great honour for us year. Tom will be presenting the Ambassador’s awards tomorrow night at the banquet. 5 ASIB 110 Winter 2014 Thanks also must go to Professor Phil Davies of the British RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS Library’s Eccles Centre for American Studies: for • Andrew Warnes (Leeds) was awarded a Donald C.