MATERIALIZING RACE: Objects and Identity in #VastEarlyAmerica

****IF YOU HAVE REGISTERED, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS EVENT IS BEING BROADCAST VIA ZOOM. A ZOOM LINK HAS BEEN SENT TO YOU VIA EVENTBRITE***

In a commitment to fostering nuanced interpretations of early American objects and meaningful dialogue on historical constructions of race and their legacies, we are pleased to offer series of virtual “unconferences” on the intersections of identity and material culture in #VastEarlyAmerica. These open sessions seek to promote a diverse cross-section of scholarship energized by Dr. Karin Wulf’s call for broader, more inclusive histories of early America.

The beauty of material culture is that it often takes non-verbal forms, in the process bearing witness to the lives and experiences of those absent from or written out of traditional archival records. As a participant-driven, virtual conference, we are committed to recovering those stories through object-centered scholarship and interdisciplinary discussion.

We invite you to join us for one or both days of our inaugural unconference, with a schedule below. This two-day event features four lightning round-style panels. Presentations will each last ten minutes, followed by a moderated discussion and time for questions. Thanks to generous support from the Society of Winterthur Fellows, both sessions will be offered as Zoom webinars.

For more information about us and to learn about future events, please visit our website.

Monday, August 24, 2020 at 1 PM EST

Both panels moderated by Zara Anishanslin (University of Delaware)

Panel 1: Adornment, Agency and the Body

• "The Deerskin as Signifier of Timucuan Racial Identity in Theodor de Bry’s Brevis narratio eorum quæ in Florida (1591)," Thomas Balfe, University of Edinburgh
• “‘They are greatlye Diligted with puppets’: The Materiality of Wax and the Body in Atlantic Encounters,” Laura Earls, University of Delaware
• “Dispossession in Lace: Jacobean Ruffs and Materializing White Authority in Jamestown,” Lauren Working, University of Oxford
• "Beads of Resistance: Trans-Atlanticism, Abolition and Anti-Blackness," Kerry Sinanan, University of Texas at San Antonio
• "The Racecraft of Early American Jewish Miniatures," Laura Arnold Leibman, Reed College
• “Indigeneity, Disability, and Metalsmithing in Sequoyah’s Silver Medal," Natalie Wright, University of Wisconsin-Madison

5-minute break, resume at 2:35 PM EST

Panel 2: Resistance, Ritual, and Performativity

• “Black Sanctity,” Miguel A. Valerio, Washington University in St. Louis
• “Hiding Places and Living Spaces: An Archaeology of Building Deposits in Plural Contexts,” Rebekah Planto, the College of William and Mary
• “Pentecostal Dance and Proto-Abolitionist Noise on the Appalachian Watersheds: The Case of Cane Ridge,” Christopher Smith, Texas Tech University School of Music
• “Enslaved People’s Concealment of Objects at Stagville Plantation,” Whitney Nell Stewart, University of Texas at Dallas
• “Slavery in Paper and Polychrome: Temporality and Materiality in the Dioramas of Gerrit Schouten,” Nicholas Rinehart, Dartmouth College

Tuesday, August 25, 2020 at 1 PM EST

Both panels moderated by Janine Yorimoto Boldt (American Philosophical Society)

Panel 3: [Dis]Possession and Personhood

• “Creole Conversation Pieces: Philip Wickstead in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica,” Chloe Northrop, Tarrant County College
• “A Seraglio in Connecticut: Race, Slavery, and Feminine Virtue in New England Schoolgirl Art,” Emily Wells, the College of William and Mary
• “The Bag My Kunsi Made: ‘Settlement,’ Indigeneity, and the Narrative Erasure of Slavery in Wisconsin’s History," Kai Pyle, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• “Colonizing Taste: A Mesoamerican Staple in Casta and Contemporary Art,” Sheila Scoville, Florida State University
• “What the Sub-Floor Pit Holds: Musical Instruments as a Missing Artifact in the Archaeological Record,” Luke J. Pecoraro, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
• “A Colony in Birch Bark: Exploring the Indigenous Materialities of Elizabeth Simcoe’s Picturesque Landscapes,” Mairead Horton

5-minute break, resume at 2:35 PM EST

Panel 4: Revolution and Sovereignty

• "Spirit Bottles," Jeremy Dennis, Shinnecock Indian Nation, New York, and On This Site: Indigenous Long Island
• “ Forging Freedom: Enslaved African Americans at James Hunter’s Iron Works,” Kate Gruber, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
• “Representations of Race and Identity in Jonathas Granville’s Portrait,” Bethânia Santos Pereira, Universidade Estadual de Campinas
• “The Myth of the Tignon and the Invention of New Orleans,” Jonathan M. Square, Harvard University
• “Ultima Ratio: Confronting the Power of Haitian Artillery in Northern New York” Matthew Keagle, Fort Ticonderoga

Please note that conference presentations will be made in English. Questions posed by the audience will be moderated. For additional information and any other questions, please email materializingrace@gmail.com.

This event is co-convened by Cynthia Chin (The Washington Library) and Philippe Halbert (Yale University).