ýƵƹۿ’s Humanities Institute will bring together regional historians and leading humanities scholars for the “Imagining the Coast” symposium at Mystic Seaport, Sept. 14-16.
A key objective of the Humanities Institute is to create programming that engages public audiences and civic institutions while illustrating the importance of...emergent humanities research.
— Nels Pearson, PhD, director of ýƵƹۿ’s Humanities Institute
As part of an ongoing effort to promote the role of the humanities in issues of civic and public concern, ýƵƹۿ’s Humanities Institute in the College of Arts and Sciences is presenting “ Imagining the Coast: A Public Symposium on the Humanities and the Sea” Sept. 14-16, 2018, at Mystic Seaport and Enders Island. The three-day symposium, sponsored in part by Connecticut Humanities and the Mystic Seaport Museum, will bring together writers, public historians, museums, scholars, and community members to discuss the importance of Connecticut’s coastline in relation to our region’s history, culture, ecology, and identity.
“A key objective of the Humanities Institute is to create programming that engages public audiences and civic institutions while illustrating the importance of advanced and emergent humanities research,” said Nels Pearson, PhD, director of ýƵƹۿ’s Humanities Institute. “By exposing audiences to the interdisciplinary fields of Blue Humanities and Oceanic Studies, this event gives us the opportunity to focus on what we can learn about human societies when we put water -- rather than land -- at the center of the conversation.”
Through a series of interactive panel discussions, historic exhibits, and presentations by leading scholars, symposium attendees will explore the many ways in which Connecticut’s maritime history tells the story of our region and its global connections via Long Island Sound and the sea.
The event’s roster of prestigious speakers includes Hester Blum, PhD , associate professor of English at Penn State University, who will give a talk entitled “From Qikiqtaaluk to Groton: Inuit in Connecticut," as part of a panel on transatlantic historical and environmental issues. Additional presenters include Glenn S. Gordinier, PhD, associate professor of history for the Williams-Mystic Maritime Studies Program, who will frame Connecticut’s transnational and labor history from a maritime perspective, and Steven Mentz, PhD, professor of English at St. John’s University, whose talk entitled “Global Storms and the New England Coast: From the Great Colonial Hurricane to Superstorm Sandy,” will examine the coastline in terms of global climate change and social ecology.
The symposium will conclude with a keynote address by four-time Pushcart Prize-winning author Barbara Hurd, who will read excerpts from her critically-acclaimed book Walking the Wrack Line: On Tidal Shifts and What Remains. Hurd is the author of numerous books and journal publications, including Entering the Stone, a Library Journal “Best Natural History Book of the Year,” and Stirring the Mud, a Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2001.
Additional presentations will also be offered by the Mystic Seaport Museum, Fairfield Museum, Stonington Historical Society, and the New London Maritime Society, to name a few.
“By bringing together museums, historical societies, and higher education professionals with humanities scholars, this event encourages collaboration and a sense of community between creative and scholarly work,” Dr. Pearson said. “It also demonstrates how an emergent research paradigm in the humanities can have immediate and local impact.”
Registration for the symposium, which includes complimentary coffee and entrance to the event’s evening receptions, is $35 and available online at . For a complete schedule of events, visit , or contact Dr. Nels Pearson at npearson@fairfield.edu.
“Imaging the Coast” is presented in collaboration with Mystic Seaport Museum, Connecticut Humanities, the Willson Center for the Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia, the Maritime Studies Program of the University of Connecticut, the Connecticut Sea Grant, and the Atlantic Archipelagos Research Consortium.
