Latest Conference Updates 1/31

We want to thank everyone who submitted abstracts and proposals for the 2015 Humanities Conference, "Speculative Humanities: Steampunk to Afrofuturism," scheduled for March 11-12, 2015. Many outstanding proposals came in from all over the country as well as overseas, and we have made notifications to those individuals whose abstracts have been accepted.

We are extremely excited by the number of proposals that focus on the works, legacy, and influence of the late, great science fiction writer, Octavia E. Butler. Ayana E. Jamieson, founder of the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network, and Natalie Russell, project curator of the Butler Archives (housed at The Huntington Library in California), are scheduled to participate via Skype. We will be posting the conference schedule later this week, along with recommended readings, related links, and biographies of our conference participants.

In addition to the daytime panels scheduled for Wednesday, March 11 and Thursday, March 12, there will be a special presentation of playwright Joslyn Housley-McLaughlin's "The Silver Thread," performed by the New York City-based Liberation Theatre Company on Thursday evening at 7:00 pm in the Mary Burch Theater. This performance, which is being co-sponsored by the Student Life and Activities Office, is free and open to the public, and will feature a "talk-back" session with the actors after the show. Please contact this year's conference co-chairs, Prof. Jennifer Wager (jwager@essex.edu) and/or Prof. Rebecca Williams (wrebecca@essex.edu) for more information.