The American Dream Reconsidered Conference, 2023
Mind, Body and the American Dream
Day 1 – Monday, Oct. 16
11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Ganz Hall
Carrying the Light:
Mary McLeod Bethune and Black Women’s Activism
The Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Distinguished
Program Sponsored by the Center for New Deal Studies
Panelists:
Ashley Robertson Preston, Assistant Professor of History, Howard University
Nikki Brown, Associate Professor of History and African American and Africana Studies, University of Kentucky
Moderator:
Linda Perkins, University Professor and Director, Applied Gender Studies, Claremont Graduate University
5:00 pm
Ganz Hall
The Embodied Performer
Actors, singers, dancers, and instrumentalists merge mental acuity with physical prowess to interpret and perform complex material and to convey emotion and storytelling through their performances. Actors and opera singers bring complex characters and text to life through physical gesture, expression, and movement perfectly synthesized with elements of rhythm, language, phrasing, and technique. The chamber musician’s mind is also sharply tuned, utilizing keen listening, clear bodily cues, eye contact, and aligned breathing as synergistic means to bring the music into alignment, not only from the perspective of the notes stacking in the right places at the right times, but also from the perspective of the subjective interpretive shape of the performance. In each discipline, the body becomes the instrument through which artistic and dramatic intentions are realized. The coordination of mind and body finds its apotheosis in collaborative performances, serving as inspiration for a cooperative and harmonious society.
7:00 pm
Gage Gallery
New Deal America: Photographs by Arthur Rothstein
Opening Reception and Gallery Talk:
In commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the New Deal, the Gage Gallery is hosting an exhibition of photographs by Arthur Rothstein, who worked for the Farm Security Administration during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Along with 40 other photographers, Rothstein traveled across the nation documenting the Great Depression and New Deal programs for potential publication in periodicals, books, government reports, and elsewhere. His lens revealed not only the destruction of the Dust Bowl and extreme deprivation of rural Americans but also the hope and inspiration they found in national public works projects, federal health care initiatives and other New Deal programs.
Gallery Talk: Ann Rothstein Segan and Brodie Hefner, The Arthur Rothstein Legacy Project
Day 2 – Tuesday, Oct. 17
12:30-1:45 p.m.
Ganz Hall
The State and the Body: Reproductive Justice and the American Dream
Panelists:
Natalie Lira, Associate Professor, Latina/Latino Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Qudsiyyah Shariyf, Deputy Director, Chicago Abortion Fund
Deborah Tuerkheimer, Class of 1967 James B. Haddad Professor, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Moderator:
Marjorie Jolles, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Associate Provost for Professional Development, Assessment and Honors
7:00 p.m. CDT
Virtual
Curriculum Wars: The Battle to Control our Schools
Panelists:
Anthony Chen, Associate Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University
Emily Knox, Associate Professor, School of Information Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Jonathan Zimmerman, Judy and Howard Berkowitz Professor in Education and Professor of History of Education, University of Pennsylvania
Moderator:
Margaret Policastro, Professor of Language and Literacy and Chair, Department of Education
Day 3 – Wednesday, Oct. 18
12:30 p.m.
Ganz Hall
Our Bodies, Our Performance.
Moderator:
David Kjar, Associate Professor of Core Studies and Music History
7 p.m.
Ganz Hall
The Loyola Project
Join us for a screening of the sports documentary, The Loyola Project, which tells the riveting story of the 1962-1963 Loyola Ramblers basketball team, a group of Black and white athletes fighting for an equal playing field in an unequal and segregated America. The film is narrated by Lucas Williamson, a recent player and co-captain of the Loyola Ramblers.
RSVP Today
When: October 16 - 19, 2023 | 430 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605. Join the conversation about what it means to be an American in these challenging times. All events are free and open to the public, but registration is requested.