Associate Professor James Thomas Stevens of the Department of English and coordinator of American Indian Studies at SUNY Fredonia will present a lecture entitled, “The Shock of the Other: The New World?” as part of the Brown Bag Lecture series.
The lecture is slated for Wednesday, Nov. 7, at noon in Williams Center Room G-144 on the SUNY Fredonia campus. The location is a change from the usual lecture venue. The event is free, refreshments will be served, and it is open to all campus and community members. Professor Stevens will be introduced by colleague and chair Dr. Adrienne McCormick of the English department.
The poetry of Mr. Stevens explores post-colonialism and orientalism through historical texts. These texts are often merged into Mr. Stevens' modern-day lyrics that speak to love, politics and war. Professor Stevens’ lecture will examine how and why people exocitize the other, even or especially those they love. He will be reading his own poetry, and also discussing how his research is incorporated into his poetry. Through 1993, Professor Stevens was an instructor of poetry at Brown University, and also taught at Haskell Indian Nations University from 1997 to 2001. Since 2001, he has taught a wide range of courses on gender studies, poetics, and post-colonial literatures as well as directing the American Indian Studies program at SUNY Fredonia.
The Brown Bag Lecture series, sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities, offers informal talks on the first Wednesday of each month featuring new creative and scholarly work by members of the SUNY Fredonia faculty. Each 30-minute talk and/or presentation is followed by a brief discussion.
For more information on the lecture series, persons should contact through e-mail series directors Dr. David Kinkela or Dr. Natalie Gerber. They can also be reached by phone at 716-673-3876 or 716-673-3855.
