ANN ARBOR—The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan has developed a new program to encourage faculty and student interaction on issues of international diversity.

The Global Ethnic Literatures Seminar (GELS) encourages the study of ethnic literature, art, music, and culture at the global level by providing resources for the professional development of faculty and graduate students thereby enhancing teaching on issues of diversity and globality.

Last fall GELS co-sponsored a production of Athol Fugard’s “The Island” on the U-M campus. The program will continue with a free public conference, “Globalism in its Place,” March 15 and 16. The conference will consider such topics as the historical migration of ethnic groups, hunger, food supplies, economic and trade issues, and art and literature, and how they relate to images of people near and afar.

“Over the next few years GELS will be bringing major thinkers on international diversity to campus and putting them in contact with our faculty and students,” commented Tobin Siebers, the new director of GELS. “This inaugural conference sets the tone we want—one of both precise and experimental thinking on diversity and new conceptions of globalism. It is somehow right that the conference also celebrates Ross Chambers, one of the most wide-ranging and innovative scholars we have on campus.”

Homi Bhabha, the Chester D. Tripp Distinguished Service Professor of the Humanities at the University of Chicago, will give the conference’s keynote address, “Looking Global” at 5 p.m.
[Central Campus map, Rackham Building left center]

Conference sessions will begin at 9:30 a.m. March16 at the same location with coffee followed by a panel discussion titled “Migrations” at 10 a.m. before a lunch break at noon.

The afternoon sessions will begin at 1 p.m. with a panel discussion titled “Returns,” a coffee break at 3 p.m. and the concluding session at 3:30 p.m. with a panel discussion titled “Departures.” An open reception will begin at 5:30 p.m.

Among the participating panelists are Carole Boyce Davies of Northwestern University; Ali Behdad and Francoise Lionnet of the University of California at Los Angeles; Joan Dayan of the University of Arizona; and David Porter, Frieda Ekotto, Derrick Cogburn, Simon Gikandi, and Scott Spector of U-M.

The conference is sponsored by the Program in Comparative Literature, the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Asian Languages and Cultures, the Department of English Language and Literature, the International Institute, and the King-Parks-Chavez Visiting Professors Program.

For more information on the program or the conference, contact U-M’s Program in Comparative Literature at (734) 763-2351 or through e-mail at [email protected].

College of Literature, Science, and the ArtsGlobal Ethnic Literatures SeminarTobin SiebersHomi BhabhaCentral Campus mapof Northwestern UniversityProgram in Comparative Literature