EMU Today

YPSILANTI -  How often do you feel the place you are in affects the person you are? Have you ever noticed the sharp social contexts attached to the physical or even virtual place you are in? Have you ever felt that behaving the way you do shaped the space around you?

A place, whether physical, social, or metaphorical, can tell you many things –  things such as emerging power relations, evoking memories, conforming to social norms, and more. In addition, your behavior can influence the place around you. That is how identity is created.

With such questions in mind, the Eastern Michigan University School of Art and Design will hold a two-day seminar Jan. 25-26 at the Student Center on the theme of Place, Performance and Identity.

The symposium will host 12 presenters from across the humanities and social sciences, including three EMU professors and one EMU undergraduate student, and it will feature two keynote lectures.

 “How place, performance, and identity relate has important implications for everyone,” said Leslie Atzmon, a professor of graphic design at Eastern and one of the event coordinators. “But it is especially telling for how underrepresented groups make their way in this world.”

The keynote speakers are Aimee Meredith Cox and Allie Terry-Fritsch. Cox is an associate professor at Yale University in anthropology and African American studies. Her lecture is entitled “Vulnerable Bodies, Inaccessible Cities and The Will to transform.”

Terry-Fritsch is an associate professor at Bowling Green State University in art history. Her lecture will discuss identity politics at the Sacro Monte of Varallo, a Renaissance shrine.

The symposium also coincides with the opening of 2018-2019 EMU McAndless Distinguished Chair Corine Vermeulen's photo exhibition “CIRKADIA.” Vermeulen is a distinguished Dutch photographer and a professor photography at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit.

The McAndless Distinguished Chair was established with the help of a bequest from the late M. Thelma McAndless, a professor in the Department of English Language and Literature. The McAndless Scholar usually holds a one-semester appointment and is a nationally prominent figure in the arts or humanities.

As the outward-facing portion of Vermeulen’s residency, Place/Performance/Identity is designed to set her work in meaningful conversation with diverse disciplines and with the community at large.

“We are so excited to hold this event on such a timely topic at EMU, and to offer our students an opportunity to interact with presenters from around the country,” Atzmon said.

“We hope that this symposium will further strengthen EMU's role as a hub for scholarly and artistic activity in southeast Michigan,” said Pamela Stewart, an event co-organizer and an art history professor from the School of Art and Design. “Bringing exciting scholars to campus and highlighting the achievements of EMU faculty can help build relationships with area institutions and further EMU’s educational mission.”  

More information about the event can be found at the conference site.

Attendees should register at the Eventbrite website. 

EMU gallery program director Gregory Tom is also helping organize the event.

About Eastern Michigan University

Founded in 1849, Eastern is the second oldest public university in Michigan. It currently serves more than 19,000 students pursuing undergraduate, graduate, specialist, doctoral and certificate degrees in the arts, sciences and professions. In all, more than 300 majors, minors and concentrations are delivered through the University's Colleges of Arts and Sciences; Business; Education; Health and Human Services; Technology, and its graduate school. EMU is regularly recognized by national publications for its excellence, diversity, and commitment to applied education. For more information about Eastern Michigan University, visit the University's website.