Brownbag Seminar with David Wayne Thomas

Welcome back! The BMG kicks off the fall semester with a brown bag seminar with Prof. David Wayne Thomas on Wednesday, September 2, from 12 – 1:30 in the Senate room of the English Building.

Prof. Thomas is Associate Professor of English at the University of Notre Dame and the author of Cultivating Victorians. His current research is focused on themes of law, legal administration, and liberal reformism in imperial settings, especially in British India. For the brownbag we will read Prof. Thomas’s essay “Liberal Legitimation and Communicative Action in British India: Reading Flora Annie Steel's On the Face of the Waters.” In Prof. Thomas’s words, the essay engages a wide variety of critical touchstones in mainstream theory and Victorian studies and offers his reflection on how a Habermasian literary reading might operate.

Please let us know if you are interested in attending the brownbag, and we will send you a .pdf of the reading. A copy of the reading will also be in a folder near the copier in 211.

If you would like to receive our emails regularly, or if you have any questions, please email us or check out our website.

We hope to see you at the brownbag and at future BMG events.

photo by sir watkyn

Meeting: February 12

On Thursday, February 12, at 8 PM, we'll meet to discuss the following readings. These selected chapters are available in hard copy in EB 211, in the folder "BMG" by the door, and in electronic format, under "IPRH 2008 - Elizabeth Hoiem" on e-reserve. For your convenience, here are the direct links:

Pecora, Vincent P.. "Ch. 4: Arnoldian Ethnology: nation between religion and race." Secularization and cultural criticism : religion, nation, & modernity. University of Chicago Press, 2006. 131-156.

Taylor, Charles. "Ch. 11: Nineteenth-century trajectories." Secular age. Harvard UP, 2007. 377-419,813-815.

Last fall's readings were background on our year's topic, "Religion, Secularization, and British Nationhood," while these two spring readings address literature more directly.

Directions to the meeting have been distributed by email. If you would like to join the BMG listserv, please contact our webmaster.

pic by true2source

October 2 Meeting

On Thursday, October 2, at 8 PM, we'll meet to discuss the following texts. These articles are available in hard copy in EB 211, in the folder "BMG" by the door, and in electronic format, under "IPRH 2008 - Elizabeth Hoiem" on e-reserves. For your convenience, we enclose direct links below:

Viswanathan, Gauri. "Secularism in the framework of heterodoxy." PMLA 123.2 (Mar 2008): 466-476. (.pdf)

Kumar, Krishan. "Ch. 2: Nations and nationalism: civic, ethnic and imperial." The making of English national identity. Cambridge UP, 2008. 18-38,276-279. (.pdf)

A third, optional reading, offers a solid overview of this year's theme: Casanova, Jose. "Ch. 1: Secularization, enlightenment, and modern religion." Public Religions in the Modern World. University of Chicago Press, 1994. 11-39, 235-247. (.pdf)

Directions to the meeting will follow by email. If you would like to join the BMG listserv, please contact our webmaster.

cc photo by Dr John2005