2108 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052

Thursday, February 6, 2025

1918 - Great Britain grants women over the age of 30 the right to vote.

1935 - The board game “Monopoly” goes on sale for the first time.

1974 - US House of Representatives begins determining grounds for impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

2014 - Jay Leno hosts his final show of “The Tonight Show”.

We the People: Three Plays on D.C.-Area Stages Take on Democracy, Power, and the Constitution. Washington City Paper.

Tracing the Peacock Chair’s History From Manila to Nashville. Hyperallergic.

Judge to hear federal worker lawsuit, with buyout offer set to expire tonight. The Washington Post.

Photo credit: Aryn Kelly

In this week’s newsletter edition, we spotlight current American Studies PhD candidate Aryn Kelly! Aryn is currently working to complete their dissertation on the cultural politics of jazz dance in the 1930s and 1940s. The dissertation follows the transnational circuits of lindy hop—the partnered jazz dance developed by Black dancers in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s—during the interwar years and World War II. Its conflicting racial signification, fraught sexual politics, and ambiguous placement within nationalist projects make lindy hop a contested site of social signification. This research cuts across different media including moving image, theater, and print in order to reveal the different cultural work—centering on claims to citizenship and racialized American identity—the dance does across cultural and representational forms.

In addition to an academic interest in dance, Aryn has been dancing since childhood. They fell in love with social dancing in 2007, and are an enthusiastic practitioner of jazz dance—particularly lindy hop and Balboa. Aryn teaches jazz dance to DMV residents with New Columbia Swing, and is currently co-teaching this iteration of the recurring series called Rhythm & Musicality.

Prior to GW, Aryn received their MA in Liberal Arts (American Studies concentration) from the University of South Florida, and their BA in Psychology from the same institution. When not dancing or writing about dancing, they enjoy taking long walks around DC, crafting, and playing with their dog!

Open House: Washington’s Historic Homes
The George Washington University Museum and
The Textile Museum.

Join GW/Textile Museum for a tour of the exhibition A Tale of Two Houses, which explores two historic homes in Washington, D.C., central to the museum’s history. After the tour, enjoy special access to the Albert H. Small Center for National Capital Area Studies, where you can see artifacts that relate to the White House, George Washington's home at Mount Vernon and other historic homes in the D.C. area. 

When: Saturday, February 8, 2025; 11:00 AM EST
Where: GW/Textile Museum, 701 21st St. NW

Register here!

Pleasures in the City: Enslaved Women and the Fight Against Enclosure - Prof. Jessica Marie Johnson
GW History Department

What lessons does the history of slavery have for this moment and beyond? This talk explores Black women's strategies for finding value in themselves that rejects the logic of slavery and the principles of empire. Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson is a distinguished scholar of gender, Atlantic Slavery, and the Atlantic Africa diaspora at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of the award-winning book Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World.

When: Wednesday, February 12, 2025; 10:00 AM EST
Where: Gelman Library, Teamsters Room (7th Floor)

THE INTERNAL COLONY:
Race and the American Politics of Global Decolonization
A Conversation with Author Sam Klug, Ph.D.

Join us for a conversation with author Sam Klug, Assistant Teaching Professor of History at Loyola University Maryland, about his book, The Internal Colony. Conversation will be moderated by Dr. Dwayne Wright, GW Assistant Professor of Higher Education Administration.

In The Internal Colony, Dr. Sam Klug reveals the central but underappreciated importance of global decolonization to the divergence between mainstream liberalism and the Black freedom movement in postwar America. Klug reconsiders what has long been seen as a matter of primarily domestic policy in light of a series of debates concerning self-determination, postcolonial economic development, and the meanings of colonialism and decolonization. These debates deeply influenced the discord between Black activists and state policymakers and formed a crucial dividing line in national politics in the 1960s and 1970s.

This event is co-sponsored by Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the Elliott School of International Affairs (ESIA) and the ESIA Leadership, Ethics, and Practice Initiative.

When: Wednesday, February 12, 2025; 1:00 PM EST
Where: 1957 E Street NW, Room 602

Register here!

The Memory Error Error - Prof. Sarah Robins
GW Philosophy Department

It is common practice in cognitive science—and science more generally—to investigate a system by exploring how it errs, breaks down, or malfunctions. This method has had a particularly forceful grip on the study of memory. The aim of this talk is to highlight ways that this focus on errors has skewed research and theorizing about memory. Robins introduce a range of cases that illustrate this ‘memory error error’ and discuss the issues raised for the study of memory in philosophy and the cognitive sciences. Robins concludes with reflection on how this error shapes how each of us understands our own capacity to remember, and the influence this may have on our perceived similarities to and differences from current AI systems.

When: Friday, February 21, 2025; 4:00 PM EST
Where: Duques Hall, Room 359

Caribbean Music, Politics and Cultural Insurgency -
Prof. Quito Swan
CCAS Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Please join us for a book launch hosted by CCAS-DEI for our colleague Prof. Quito J. Swan (Professor of History and Africana Studies and Director of the Africana Studies Program) to celebrate his latest monograph, Born a Sufferah Dancehall Music's Insurgent Soundscapes (Bloomsbury, 2025).

When: Wednesday, February 26, 2025; 11:30 AM EST
Where: Phillips Hall, Room 411

Register here!

Off-Duty Laudatory Conduct and Employment
Dr. Vikram Bhargava
GW Philosophy Department

When an employee's off-duty misconduct generates mass social media outrage, it excites vigorous debate about the ethics of firing the employee. Some have argued that firing the employee would subject them to excessive, undeserved, blame. Others claim that firing the employee is required to show that the employer does not condone the wrongdoing. Whatever one thinks about the ethics of these firings, a parallel issue has largely been overlooked: Should an employee's off-duty laudatory conduct be considered in employment decisions about bonuses, promotions, and hiring? For example, should the fact that an employee volunteers at a soup kitchen or donates their income to charity matter in decisions about whom to award a bonus or to promote? This question has significant implications for our understanding of the nature of employment. Answering it affirmatively would yield a radically revisionary view of employment, while answering it negatively suggests an asymmetry that demands explanation. Bhargava defend the view that it is permissible for employers to consider off-duty laudatory conduct in decisions about bonuses, promotions, and hiring.

When: Friday, February 28, 2025; 12:30 PM EST
Where: TBA

Register here!

Juana María Rodríguez
“Seeing, Sensing, Feeling: Representing Puta Life”
GW English Department

Drawing on the publication of her recent book, Puta Life: Seeing Latinas, Working Sex (Duke UP, 2023), this talk explores how different genres of representation–from graphic narratives and oral histories to documentary films and social-media selfies–shape the life stories we consume. As a rumination on the limits and possibilities of representation, it probes the queer things that words do to images and that images do to words in order to confront the ethical quandaries posed by our role as authors and academics in representing the sexual lives of others.

When: Wednesday, March 26, 2025; 3:00 PM EST
Where: Myers Room, GW/Textile Museum, 701 21st NW

Prof. Libby Anker was quoted by USA Today in the article “All eyes are on Barron Trump as Inauguration nears. Here's why people can't get enough of him.’’

Emeritus Prof. Richard Longstreth was quoted by USA Today in the article “Are holiday department store displays becoming a ghost of Christmas past?’’

Call for Applications: The Swann Foundation seeks to award one fellowship annually (with a stipend of up to $5,000) to assist the fellow in their ongoing scholarly research and writing projects in the field of caricature and cartoon. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Feb. 16, 2025

Call for Proposals: The Department of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame is accepting proposals for a symposium on Critical Screen Literacy and Youth Media Production. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Mar. 1, 2025

Call for Applications: The Johns Hopkins Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism is accepting applications for a postdoctoral fellowship. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Mar. 1, 2025

Call for Applications: The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is now accepting fellowship applications. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Mar. 12, 2025

Call for Proposals: ASAP/16 is currently accepting proposals for their 2025 conference, which will be held in Houston, TX. Click here to learn more // Deadline: Mar. 28, 2025

Call for Submissions: GW's University Writing Program is currently accepting submissions for The Julian Clement Chase Prize for Research Writing on the District of Columbia. Click here to learn more// Deadline: May 15, 2025

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Like what you see? Have spotlights, kudos, events, or opportunities that you would like to share? We want to hear from you! Navigate to our feedback form using the link below, or more simply, forward your tip to amst@gwu.edu.