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Charles B. Qualia Chair in Romance Languages, Texas Tech University

Altman Symposium Faculty and Geoffrion Student Presentations

Friday, April 6, 2018
9:00 am
Marcum Center

Thursday, April 05:

Opening Keynote, 5:00PM

Miguel Robles-Durán, Associate Professor of Urbanism, The New School, New York City

“A Theory of Parallel Urbanization”

Miguel Robles-Duran is a co-founder of Cohabitation Strategies, an organization that advocates for social justice in the city and has developed transdisciplinary projects around the world that aim to catalyze grassroots transformations in housing, urban policy, urban economy, environmental justice, architecture, and the arts. Robles-Duran is co-author and co-editor of Urban Asymmetries: Studies and Projects on Neoliberal Urbanization (2011).

Opening Reception to Follow

Friday, April 06:

9:00AM-10:15AM Geoffrion Scholars Panel: "Changing Cities: Represention and Participation in Urban Spaces"

  • Jacob Bruggeman, "Becoming Homeless: How We've Talked About People We Don't Want to See"
  •  Abby Culpepper, "Toward an Ecopoetics of Urban Dwelling"
  • Samuel Hunter, "Heaven is a Place in NYC: Queer Urbanity and the Resistance of a Heterosexist Public"
  • Phoebe Myers, "Smitty's Men's and Boys' Wear: Reflections on Progress in Over-the-Rhine"
  • Rachel Wydra, "Ticas Take Charge: Urban Dynamics of Costa Rican Women's Activism"

10:30AM -12:30PM Altman Scholars Panel: "Art, Power and the Urban"

  • Jana Braziel, "O Bazilo! Rara from Kafoufey to the USA"
  • Tammy Brown, "Dystopia, Utopia & Spiritual Transcendence in the Music of Jimi Hendrix & Prince"
  • Annie Dell'Aria, "Illuminating the City: Examining the Urban Light Art Festival"
  • Jordan Fenton, "The Nkonib Day Festival: Art and Economic Sustainability in a Nigerian City"
  • Cathy Wagner, "The City Has Sex with Everything"

1:30PM-3:30PM Altman Scholars Panel: "Rethinking Urban Spaces"

  • Diane Fellows, "Stateless?! Youth with an iPhone" 
  • Nishani Frazier, "Black Power and the Remaking of the Urban Landscape"
  • Luis I. Pradanos, "Energy Humanities and Urban Cultural Studies: A Call for a Radical Convergence"
  • Damon Scott, "Perverse Land Uses: Discourses of Blight and Urban Vice in Postwar San Francisco"

Closing Keynote, 4:00PM

Susan Larson, Charles B. Qualia Chair in Romance Languages, Texas Tech University

“Trash, Recycling, and Urban Culture in Contemporary Madrid”

Susan Larson writes about the  intersections of Spanish literature, film, and urban studies. Her work twentieth century Spain traces the cultural implications of urban planning and architecture. She is the author of Constructing and Resisting Modernity: Madrid 1900-1936 (2011) and the co-editor of two volumes, Visualizing Spanish Modernity (2005) and Kiosk Literature of Silver Age Spain (2016).

Closing Reception to Follow