"THE END(S) OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES?"a talk and workshop by Kenneth W. Warren, University of Chicago

Department: Culture and Theory

Date and Time: May 19, 2011 | 12:00 PM-2:00 PM

Event Location: HIB 135

Event Details


Kenneth Warren is one of the leading figures in American and African American literary and cultural studies. Since the publication of Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism in the early 1990s, he has helped to shape these fields with his provocative books and articles. Warren’s most recent book, What Was African American Literature?, derived from his W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures at Harvard, contends that African American literature ended with the passing of the Jim Crow era because without legal, state-imposed segregation against which to define itself, the category of African American literature fell apart.

Prof. Warren will present the development of his controversial argument about the historical construction and collapse of African American literature and facilitate a conversation about the disciplinary and institutional implications of his work.

This event is free and open to the public. Feel free to bring lunch; desserts (including fruit) and drinks will be served. Please join us.