American foreign policy, iconic poet topics of humanities lectures at OSU
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The impact of religious identity on U.S. foreign policy in 1899 and the works of American
poetry icon Amiri Baraka will be the topics of public lectures hosted April 12 – 13
by OSU’s English department.
Susan Harris, Hall Distinguished Professor of American literature and culture at the
University of Kansas, will present “Imperialism, American Identity and the National
Christian: The Crisis of 1899” April 12 at 7:30 p.m. in 313 Classroom Building. Harris
is visiting Oklahoma as part of the Kirkpatrick Lecture Series in the Arts and Humanities,
an OSU College of Arts and Sciences scholarly exchange program funded in fall 2006
by Oklahoma’s Kirkpatrick Foundation.
William Harris, Jimmy Rushing Distinguished Scholar and associate professor of English
at KU, will present “The Jazz Life of Amiri Baraka,” April 13 at 4 p.m. in 412 OSU
Student Union. His presentation is sponsored by OSU’s American Studies Program, Center
for Africana Studies and Development, music department and English department
Summarizing the theme her lecture, Susan Harris cites a statement by Sen. Alfred Beveridge
during the 1900 U.S. Senate vote to annex the Philippines: “We will not renounce our
part in the mission of our race, trustee of God, of the civilization of the world.”
In detailing how the nation presented itself during the annexation, Harris will explore
the role religion played and how 19th century schoolbooks fused Enlightenment and
Protestant histories to teach children that specifically “American” values could only
be achieved by white Protestants. She will explain how representation of the “typical
American” as white and Protestant was used by both expansionists and anti-expansionists
in the national debate on the annexation’s legitimacy.
“There are some telling similarities between today’s events and the national discourse
that took place in the late 19th century that she will describe,” said Ed Walkiewicz,
OSU English professor and director of literature, who was instrumental in bringing
the Harrises to OSU. “She is someone whose work I have admired for a long time, and
I think she has an extremely significant message.”
Susan Harris is the author of “Annie Adams Fields, Mary Gladstone Drew, and The Work
of the Late 19th-Century Hostess,” “The Courtship of Olivia Langdon and Mark Twain,”
“19th-Century American Women’s Novels: Interpretive Strategies” and “Mark Twain’s
Escape from Time: A Study of Patterns and Images.”
For his lecture on Amiri Baraka, the founder of the 1960s Black Arts Movement in Harlem,
William Harris will demonstrate how in both written and performance poems, Baraka
embodies the cadences, movements and musical ideas of contemporary jazz, bebop and
free jazz. Harris’ will explore jazz in Baraka’s poetry by reading his poems, playing
his performances pieces and comparing them to works by favorite musicians and composers.
“Jazz has been an essential part of African American poetry going back to the Harlem
Renaissance,” Walkiewicz said. “Prof. Harris’ lecture and accompanying jazz performances
will be a delightful event for anyone interested in poetry or music.”
William Harris is the author of “The Poetry and Poetics of Amiri Baraka: The Jazz
Aesthetic,” “Hey Fella Would You Mind Holding This Piano a Moment” and “In My Own
Dark Way.” He has edited or co-edited “The LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader,” “Call
and Response: The Riverside Anthology of African American Literary Tradition” and
a double issue of “The African American Review” on Amiri Baraka. Harris also is a
member of the jazz study group at Columbia University’s Center for Jazz Studies.
Walkiewicz said scholarly exchange is important to stimulating creativity and the
overall higher learning experience and credited the Kirkpatrick Foundation for support
that has increased interaction for OSU faculty and students with peers off- as well
as on campus.
“College of Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Sherwood was instrumental in getting the
Kirkpatrick Foundation to provide the funding, and the foundation is dedicated to
sponsoring a full series of events and programs,” Walkiewicz said. “Departments in
the college have had great collaboration working to bring in such great speakers this
past year, and it’s been an enriching experience for us all.”