American Identities & Global Crises An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference Saturday, May 14th, 2005 Centennial House, UC Santa Barbara Click here to download the conference program.
The 2005 American Cultures and Global Contexts Graduate Conference, an interdisciplinary forum at UCSB, will explore the ways that identities in the U.S. and the Americas shape and are shaped by global crises, whether they are historical or contemporary.  This year we are pleased to host distinguished keynote speaker George Lipsitz, Professor and Chair of the Department of American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz and author of American Studies in a Moment of Danger, a provocative book about changes in culture, social movements, and the state prompted by the increasing power of transnational capital.
This year’s one-day conference will explore the construction of various identities in the Americas, including those associated with, but not limited to, gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, politics, religion, and profession. In particular, we seek to consider these identities in the context of various kinds of global crisis, including the exceptionally charged global environment of recent years.

What critical insights are gained when we “globalize” American identities and examine how these identities have frequently drawn on debates and intellectual trends developing both within and outside the national framework? At the same time, we will consider analyses (from the U.S. and abroad) regarding the impact and significance of American identities as they circulate in other countries during times of crisis.

Up and coming scholars from various humanities and fine arts departments in the UC system and across the nation are presenting papers on topics as diverse as the Lebanese superstar Fairouz, identities of Korean American adoptees in children’s books, and the social construction of terror. In addition, artists from our university community will show selected works in Centennial House that day.