PUSHing Boundaries, PUSHing Art

A Symposium on the Works of Sapphire

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Schedule (All video in RealVideo format)

8:15-8:40  Registration and Welcome (Language and Literature Building 316)
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8:40-9:30  "Push: Overview and Undergraduate Student Presentations " (UCLUB)

Moderator: Elizabeth McNeil

Presenters: Caryn Bird, Katherine Giovacchini, Monica Van Steenberg
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9:40-10:30  Vernacular and Literacy: Transforming the Self with the Word (UCLUB)

Chair: Angelita D. Reyes

“Locating Sites for Writing and Personal Transformation in Sapphire's Push.”
Lynette Myles, Arizona State University
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“‘He my shiny brown boy:’ African American Maternal Vernacular in Sapphire’s Push”
Terri Pantuso, The University of Texas at San Antonio
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10:30-10:45  Break
10:45-11:30  Rhythm, Challenge and Change in Sapphire’s Poetry and Short Stories (UCLUB)

Chair: Richard Mook

“Some of Sapphire’s Blues Notes”
Michael Pfister, Arizona State University
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“Uncollected, Dedicated, and Contributed: Sapphire’s earlier work”
Steven Reigns, Poet and Independent Scholar
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Download the annotated bibliography in PDF

11:40-12:30  Motherhood and Trauma: Understanding the Self by Moving Past the Pain (UCLUB)

Chair: Egyirba High

“Explaining Ourselves: A Rewriting and Recollection of Personhood”
Nina R. Candia, University of Maryland, College Park
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“Dysfunctional Sex: Social and Familial Isolation in Contemporary Victimization Narratives"
Erin Vonnahme, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
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12:30-1:30   Lunch (on your own)
1:40-2:30     The Body and Space: Environmental and Ecofeminist Approaches to PUSH (UCLUB)

Chair: Peter Goggin

“125th Street Transcendentalism"
Dan Shilling, Sharlot Hall Museum and Arizona State University
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"Sapphire's Literary Freak Show: The Ecofeminist Landscape of Push"
Elizabeth McNeil, Arizona State University
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“Teaching Environmental Justice Themes in Push”
Joni Adamson, Arizona State University at the Polytechnic Campus
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2:40-3:30  Age and the Page: Young Adult Literature and Secondary Education (UCLUB)

Chair: Alleen Pace Nilsen

“Pushing the Envelope in Young Adult Literature”
James Blasingame, Arizona State University
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3:30-3:45    Break
3:45-5:00  Pedagogy and the Academy (UCLUB)

Teaching and Writing on Sapphire’s Works, A Roundtable Discussion
Neal Lester, Arizona State University
DoVeanna S. Fulton, Arizona State University
Elizabeth McNeil, Arizona State University

5:00-6:00  Reception (by invitation only)

7:00-9:00  Sapphire lecture and Q & A (Lyceum Theatre)

Watch the Video in RealVideo - Lecture/Reading - Q & A

The ASU Department of English
with the

This project is funded in part by a grant from the Arizona Humanities Council.  Through AHC’s support for programs like this one, the people of Arizona benefit from federal funds allocated through the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Additional support from the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, ASU School of Social Work, ASU-West Department of Languages, Cultures, and History, Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, ASU Intergroup Relations Center, ASU Barrett Honors College, ASU African and African American Studies Program, ASU School of Theatre and Film, and ASU Women and Gender Studies Program.