Conference on the Sympathetic Imagination: Literature, Film, and Writing of Sympathy and Empathy

Co-hosted by the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama and the English Department of Troy University

February 23 and 24, 2018

Troy University

Troy, Alabama

Schedule of Conference Events

FRIDAY, FEBRAURY 23

1:30-2:45 pm

Registration Hawkins Hall Lobby

3:00-4:15 pm

Hawkins Hall Auditorium

Welcome

ACETA President Bryan Johnson, Director of University Fellows, Samford University

Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs/Provost, Dr. Earl Ingram, Troy University

Presentation of Award-Winning Papers

● James Woodall Award -- “Let Go and Give Students Control: The Modified Flip” by Christy Burns, Jacksonville State University

● Mary Evelyn McMillan Award – ○ “Disrespected, Unprotected, but Not Dejected: An Examination of Black

Women’s Resistance in Antebellum Literature” by Madison Ogletree, Auburn University, nominated by Dr. Julia Charles

○ Honorable Mention: “Meanwhile Back at the Ranch: Menippean Satire in The Crying of Lot 49” by Maggie Sanderson, Montevallo University, nominated by Dr. Alexander Beringer

4:30-5:45 pm

The Poetics of Empathy Hawkins Hall Room 107

Moderator: Michael Orlofsky, Troy University

● “Speaking the Unspeakable: The Articulation of Suffering in Fraser’s Strange Pieta” by Bailey Bridgeman, Samford University

● “A Study in Empathy” by Michael Orlofsky, Troy University ● “‘Surpassed by Her Beauty’: The Patriarchal Readership, the Sympathetic

Imagination, and the Complication of Marie de France’s Proto-Feminism” by Stephen G. Melvin, University of North Alabama

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23 (CONT’D)

4:30-5:45 pm

Imagining the Experiences of Women in World War II Hawkins Hall Room 111

Moderator: Eric Sterling, Auburn University Montgomery

● “Sympathy for Women in Exile” by Anna Taylor and Carly Niswander, Jefferson State Community College

● “Aharon Megged’s Hanna Senesh and Empathy for ‘The Other’” by Eric Sterling, Auburn University Montgomery

5:45-6:30 pm

Reception International Art Center

6:45-8:00 pm International Art Center

Dinner

Entertainment: Pendulum, Student Spoken Word Group, Troy University

Keynote Speaker: Martin Puchner, General Editor, The Norton Anthology of World Literature and author of The Written World: How Literature Shaped Civilization

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24

9:00-9:45 am

Registration & Breakfast Hawkins Hall Lobby

10:00 - 11:15 am

Eugene Current-Garcia Address Hawkins Hall 119

Dr. Kirk Curnutt, Professor and Chair of the English Department, Troy University,

“Night Fever: A Literary Soundtrack to the 1970s”

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 (CONT’D)

11:15-11:30 am

Coffee Break Hawkins Hall Lobby

11:30 am-12:45 pm

Expressions of Female Empathy Hawkins Hall Room 119

Moderator: Rebecca Duncan, Lawson State Community College

● “Double-layer of ‘Sympathetic Imagination’” by Christy Burns, Jacksonville State University

● “‘Telling the Truth About My Own Experiences as a Body’: Virginia Woolf as Both a Writer and a Survivor of Sexual Violence” by Donovan Cleckley, University of Montevallo

● “Daughter-Mother Understanding: The Sympathetic Imagination in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club” by Taten Shirley, Faulkner University

Breaking Barriers through Empathy Hawkins Hall Room 117

Moderator: Ben Robertson, Troy University

● “Technology and Identity Theory: Cultural Considerations in FYC” by Brandon Burrell, Auburn University at Montgomery

● “The Evolution of Cross-cultural Empathy as Depicted through Language Contact in Film” by Catherine E. Davies, The University of Alabama

● “The Sympathetic Imagination and Racial Difference in The Lost Virgin of the South” by Ben P. Robertson, Troy University

1:00 -2:15 pm

Lunch and Business Meeting Trojan Dining Hall

Parking

Hawkins Hall lot on John M. Long Blvd. (across the street from Hawkins Hall)

About Our Speakers

Martin Puchner

Noted for his work in promoting the humanities, Martin Puchner is the Byron and Anita Wien Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. His publications range from books and anthologies to over sixty articles and essays on topics in philosophy, theater, and world literature. Through HarvardX, his MOOC (massive open online course), Masterpieces of World Literature, encouraged the exploration of the texts typically taught in world literature survey courses as expressions not only of a single time and place but as part of an interconnected web. His new book, The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization, tells the story of how literature has shaped the world we inhabit using “sixteen foundational texts” drawn from works as varied as The Iliad to Harry Potter.

Kirk Curnutt

Kirk Curnutt earned his Ph.D. in English from Louisiana State University in 1993 and began work at Troy University later that year. Currently serving as the Chair of English across Troy’s campuses (Montgomery, Online, and Troy), Dr. Curnutt’s recent work includes editing Cambridge University Press’ American Literature in Transition: 1970-1980 as well as texts centered on William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Brian Wilson. In addition to scholarly work, he has published five works of fiction including the mystery novel, Dixie Noir. Dr. Curnutt has been an active supporter of the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery and the Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.

January 29, 2018

Bryan Johnson, President Association of College English Teachers of Alabama

Anissa Graham, Executive Secretary Association of College English Teachers of Alabama

Dear Association of College English Teachers of Alabama:

We send greetings from the National Council of Teachers of English to you and to all conference attendees on February 23-24, 2018! NCTE affirms the creation and offering of this Conference by the Association of College English Teachers of Alabama. Equally, we applaud each participant’s contribution to the event and to the profession.

Teachers benefit from ongoing learning opportunities as they improve teaching of English, English language arts, and literacy at all grade levels. Research shows that all students can achieve at high levels when their teachers are continuing learners, especially in teams with colleagues across disciplines. At this conference, teachers can share new ideas and work together with colleagues to better support their students’ learning.

NCTE provides professional learning in multiple ways through professional learning programs; books, journals, and position statements; conventions and meetings; and participation in the National Center for Literacy Education. In addition, NCTE alerts policymakers at the local, state, and national level about effective teaching and learning practices to consider as they institute new policies.

Just as your affiliate sparks your learning, NCTE can nourish your pedagogical knowledge, access to colleagues across the country, and love for your profession. We invite you to join us.

Sincerely,

Emily Kirkpatrick Millie Davis NCTE Executive Director Senior Developer, NCTE

Affiliates Director, Intellectual Freedom Center

Thanks to Sponsors

ACETA would like to thank Troy University for sponsoring and hosting the conference.

Special Thanks

Dr. Kirk Curnutt, Chair, Department of English, Troy University

and to

Michael Orlofsky, Local Arrangements Coordinator, Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing Program, Troy University

ACETA Steering Committee

President – Bryan Johnson, Director of University Fellows, Samford University Vice-President – Rebecca Duncan, Department Chairperson, Arts &

Humanities, Lawson State Community College Executive Secretary – Anissa Graham, Instructor of English, University of

North Alabama NCTE Liaison – Steve Hubbard, English and Literature Professor, Lurleen B.

Wallace Community College Past-President – Gloria Horton, Instructor Emerita, Jacksonville State

University Members at Large -- Christy Hutcheson, English Instructor, Lurleen B.

Wallace Community College; Loretta Burns, Professor & Chair Emerita, Department of English, Tuskegee University; Pamela J. Horn, English Faculty, Southern Union State Community College; Peter B. Green, Assistant Professor of English, Alabama A & M University

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