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Transitions: Transience, Subversion, and (Im)permanence in Contemporary American Culture

An American Studies Online Student Conference

Friday, May 20, 2022

9:00-9:30 Opening (Chair: Assoc. Prof. Mihaela Precup, Conference Organizer, University of Bucharest)

Dragoș Manea (Assist. Prof., Director of the American Studies Center, University of Bucharest)

Mihai Moroiu (Program Director, Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission)

William O’Connor (Cultural Affairs Officer, United States Embassy, Bucharest)

9:30-10:15 Opening Talk by William O’Connor (Cultural Affairs Officer, United States Embassy, Bucharest) on Transitions: Transience, Subversion, and (Im)permanence in Contemporary American Culture (Chair: Assoc. Prof. Mihaela Precup)

10:15-10:30 Coffee Break

10:30-12:00 Panel 1. Chair: Prof. Roxana Oltean (American Studies Program, University of Bucharest)

Mihaela Tone (American Studies MA Program, University of Bucharest). “Female Perpetration and  Gender Treachery in Bruce Miller’s The Handmaid’s Tale”

Ștefan Ionescu Ambrosie (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen). “Billingsgate, Bodily Fluids, and Millennial Socialism: The Dialogic Impasse of the Dirtbag Left”

Cristina Botîlcă (PhD student, The Doctoral School for Literary and Cultural Studies, University of Bucharest). “Transitioning from Tradition. Human Composting and Water Cremation in Contemporary America”

Andreea Moise (British Studies MA Program, University of Bucharest). “Death in the Making: Gendered Mourning in Sigrid Nunez’s What Are You Going Through”

12:00-12:45 Lunch Break

12:45-14.15 Panel 2. Chair: Assoc. Prof. Mihaela Precup (American Studies Program, University of Bucharest)

Ionuț-Laurențiu Cazan (American Studies MA Program, University of Bucharest). “Theorizing Animal Exploitation in The Flintstones as a Question of Reform”

Cristina-Maria Mihai (American Studies MA Program, University of Bucharest). “Transition and Adaptation in Gene Luen Yang’s Graphic Novel American Born Chinese (2006)”

Raul Săran (PhD Student, Doctoral School of Humanities, West University of Timișoara). ”From Meaninglessness to Irrelevancy – Chris Fogle and the “New” Heroism in David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King”

Andreea-Alexandra Călin (University of Bucharest (CESI), University of Leuven (Faculty of Arts). “Fragmentation and (Post)modern Society in Speedboat”

14:15-14.30 Coffee Break

14.30-16.10 Panel 3. Chair: Assist. Prof. Diana Benea (American Studies Program, University of Bucharest)

Andrada Stănei (American Studies BA Program, “Ovidius” University, Constanța). “Subverting Dracula: The Transition from a European Myth to an American Pop Culture Icon”

Viorel Samuel Tajkuna Teleagă (Modern Languages and Literatures, Faculty of Letters, History and Theology,  University of the West, Timișoara). ”From Angel to Androgynous Vamp: Greta Garbo’s Challenging and Subversion of Stereotypes about Femininity in Early American Film”

Oana Condurache (American Studies MA Program, University of the West, Timișoara). ”Chicano Literature—A Subversive Approach to the American Studies Curriculum”

Sefora Geantă (American Studies MA Program, University of Bucharest).  “Romanian Migration to the United States: Analyzing Spaces of Transition”

Denisa Aron (American Studies MA Program, University of Bucharest). “The Movie Trial of the Chicago 7 as a Subversive Mirror of the Past”

16.10-16.40 Coffee break / Jury Deliberation

16.40-17.00 “Dan Grigorescu” prize award ceremony. Closing remarks.

Jury:

Dr. Bri Ard, Director, International Education & Study Abroad, University of South Alabama, Fulbright fellow, American Studies Program, University of Bucharest

Dr. Ruxandra Rădulescu, Educational adviser, The Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission

Organizers:

The American Studies Program at the University of Bucharest

The Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission

The organizers would like to thank the U.S.

Embassy for their support.

Conference poster:

Andreea Moise

The American Studies Program at the University of Bucharest

invites proposals for its annual student conference on the topic

Transitions: Transience, Subversion, and (Im)permanence in Contemporary American Culture

to be held online

 on May 20, 2022.

We invite proposals for 15-minute presentations from undergraduate and MA students whose research is relevant to the topic of the conference. PhD students are also welcome to submit proposals, but should note that their presentations cannot be assessed for the “Dan Grigorescu” prize (please see more information below). Papers may come from the fields of literature, film, theater and performance arts, popular culture, visual culture and the media, history, politics, intercultural and interdisciplinary communication, transatlantic relations, as well as other academic areas that are relevant to the subject, and may address issues such as (but not necessarily limited to): cultural, economic and political transitions in American history; representations of transience, subversion, and impermanence in American culture; gender, sexuality, and transition; subversions of the status quo; war, conflict, and transitional spaces; transnational relations and transitional geographies; democracy, autocracy, and transition; transitional episodes and processes in American literary and cultural spaces. The best presentation will be awarded the “Dan Grigorescu” Prize (US$ 200).

Submission Guidelines

Please submit the following:

1. a 250-word abstract attached as an MS Word file. Your abstract must include the title of your paper and the name of the academic coordinator who has agreed to supervise your paper. Please note that, considering that each presentation will be 15 minutes long, final papers should be approximately 5-6 pages long (Times New Roman, font 12, double-spaced). However, we strongly encourage participants to present and not simply read their papers.

2. 3-5 keywords from your essay;

3. Contact information (name, affiliation, phone number, and email address).

Please email your submissions to mihaela.precup@lls.unibuc.ro.

Deadline for submissions: May 8, 2022.

Notifications of acceptance: May 12, 2022.

For any questions, please contact Dr. Mihaela Precup (mihaela.precup@lls.unibuc.ro).

Our partners: US Embassy | Fulbright Commission in Romania | English Department, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest

Toți candidații se vor conecta la începutul sesiunii. Dacă aveți vreo întrebare, vă rugăm să ne scrieți la adresa dragos.manea@lls.unibuc.ro.

Nr. crt.	Nume şi prenume	ORA
1.	Cătuneanu F. Adela Miruna	16:00
2.	Dinu A. Eric	16:15
3,	Maxim F. Jenifer-Simona	16:30
4,	Neagu C. Dan-Mihai	16:45
5.	Passamonte M. Claudia	17:00

Studenții și masteranzii vor primi invitația pe adresele lor de e-mail. Ambele întâlniri vor avea loc pe Zoom.

Licență:

1. 10:00 – 10:15 Pîrvu, Elena: Hip-hopul ca modalitate de reducere a stigmatizării sănătății mintale în comunitatea afro-americană, profesor coordonator Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru; (Studii Americane-Rusă)
2. 10:15 – 10:30 Maxim, Jenifer-Simona: Teenage Representation through Teen Television Series: Gender Identity and Sexuality in  Sex Education (2019) and Euphoria (2019), profesor coordonator Dragoş Manea; (Studii Americane-Coreeană)
3. 10:30 – 10:45 Voju, Alexandru: O Glumă Proastă: Traumă și Realism în Watchmen, profesor coordonator Dragoş Manea; (Spaniolă-Engleză)

Masterat:

14:00 – 14:15 Ciobanu, Oana Adina: Contemporary Media Representations of Mental Illnesses in Split and Joker, profesor coordonator Mihaela Precup

CALL FOR PAPERS
The 9th International Conference
Synergies in Communication (SiC 2021)
28 – 29 October 2021

The Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), Romania, is organizing the 9th annual international conference Synergies in Communication (SiC 2021), to be held online on 28-29 October 2021. The event will be organized under the auspices of the Faculty of International Business and Economics in partnership with Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), University of Hyogo, University of Zaragoza, Quest Romania, PROSPER-ASE Language Centre and The Romanian Society for English and American Studies (RSEAS), a member of The European Society for the Study of English (ESSE). The conference will be dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the European Day of Languages and will be included in the EDL data base of the Council of Europe and the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML/CELV).

For more information, please see:

Susținerile pentru disertații la masteratul de studii americane vor avea loc online pe 30 iunie 2021, de la ora 12.00. Programarea este afișată mai jos (masteranzii vor fi invitați și de către secretarul comisiei).

Militaru	Valentina Ana Maria	Conf. Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru	12:00
Hîngu	Ioana	Lect. Diana Benea	12:15
Radhouani	Assila	Prof. Mădălina Nicolaescu	12:30
Alupoae	Diana Daniela	Prof. Roxana Oltean	12:45

Preşedinte:

Prof. dr. Roxana Elena Oltean

Membri:

Conf. dr. Dana Mihăilescu

Conf. dr. Anca Peiu

Secretar: Asist. dr. Alexandra Bacalu

Supleant: Lect. dr. Dragoș Manea

INVITAȚIE DE PRESĂ 

Ambasada S.U.A. și Universitatea din București, Facultatea de Limbi și Literaturi Străine anunță inaugurarea Amfiteatrului Martin Luther King, Jr. renovat și modernizat printr-un proiect comun. Evenimentul va avea loc vineri, 18 iunie, ora 11:00, la sediul Facultății de Limbi și Literaturi Străine, str. Pitar Moș nr. 7-13, cu participarea Chargé d’Affaires al S.U.A, David Muniz și a Rectorului Universității din București, Prof. Marian Preda. 

Proiectul sprijină Programul de Studii Americane prin crearea unui spațiu atractiv si multifuncțional dotat cu echipamente de ultimă generație, care permit predarea cursurilor într-un mod interactiv, inclusiv online, și accesul rapid al studenților la multiple resurse academice. Echipamentele și mobilierul au fost oferite de Ambasada S.U.A, iar Universitatea a acoperit costurile aferente renovării spațiului și modernizării sistemului electric. 

Înființat în 1996, Programul de Studii Americane al Universității din București a fost primul demers academic multidisciplinar din Romania dedicat spațiului cultural american. Programa de studii include cursuri de istorie, guvernare si instituții democratice, filozofie politică și economică, literatură, media, antropologie culturală, discurs public, relații internaționale în context global.  Programul de Studii Americane desfășurat atât la nivel de licență, cât și la nivel masteral și doctoral, se bucură de sprijinul Ambasadei S.U.A. si al Comisiei Fulbright din România. 

The Concept of Crisis in American Culture

American Studies Student Conference

Friday, May 21, 2021

online at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83419677084?pwd=Y2FCUU5yTFNCTy9iMVM4L0grSng3QT09

(Meeting ID: 834 1967 7084, Passcode: 505841)

9:00-9:30 Opening of the Conference (Chair: Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, Conference Organizer, University of Bucharest)

Octavian Roske (Assoc. Prof., Head of the English Department, University of Bucharest)

Mircea Dumitru (Executive Director, Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission)

William O’Connor (Cultural Affairs Officer, United States Embassy, Bucharest)

9:30-10:15 A Conversation with William O’Connor (Cultural Affairs Officer, United States Embassy, Bucharest) on the Concept of Crisis in American Culture (Chair: Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, Conference Organizer, University of Bucharest)

10:15-12:15 Panel 1: Crises in the Media, Old and New. Chair: Dana Mihăilescu (University of Bucharest

1. Alexandra-Petruta Borjog (American Studies BA student, University of Bucharest), “The Apocalypse and the Indian: Two Video Games”
2. Flavia Ciontu (PhD candidate, University of Paris 8), “Identities in Crisis: Coming of Age as an Immigrant in Little Odessa (1994)and An American Rhapsody (2001)”
3. Mihaela-Adriana Tone (English BA student, University of Bucharest), “Gilead’s Color Blindness: Contradictory Representations of Diversity in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale”
4. Elena-Patricia Cătănoiu (American Studies BA student, University of Bucharest), “Reimagining African American Identity in Afrofuturist Film: Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther (2018)”
5. Sânziana-Miruna Popa (American Studies MA student, University of Bucharest), “Portrayals of the African American Community in The Birth of a Nation (2016)”
6. Tudor Constantin Truță (English BA student, University of Bucharest), “Beyond the Humanity of Cyberpunk”

12:15-13:00 Lunch break

13:00-14:40 Panel 2: Theorizing on Crises in Society/ Politics/ History. Chair: Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru (University of Bucharest)

1. Anca Georgiana Dugaiasu (American Studies BA, “Ovidius” University of Constanța), “The Crisis of Residential Segregation: Disproportionate Opportunity Gaps in The U.S.”
2. Sean Muller (Anthropology MA, The New School for Social Research, New York), “Hyperreality, Identity, and the Crisis of Presence: An Anthropology of Impotent Revolution”
3. Remo Verdickt (PhD candidate, University of Leuven), “Frost/Baldwin: Go Tell It in the White House”
4. Maria-Alexandra Netbai (American Studies BA, University of Bucharest), “Translating the ‘Forgotten War’: Don Mee Choi’s Poems Rediscovering the Past of Korean-American Relations”
5. Ștefan Capmare (Letters BA student, University of Bucharest), “The Simulation Hypothesis and the Crisis of Reality”

14:40-15:00 Coffee break

15:00-17:00 Panel 3: Writing, Identity and the World. Chair: Diana Benea (University of Bucharest)

1. Andreea G. Moise (English BA, University of Bucharest), “‘A Soul in Physical Stress’: The Feminised Queer Body in Nightwood”
2. Carina Iulia Chereji (Literary Studies MA, University of Bucharest), “‘And so it goes’: A Close Encounter with Crisis in Kurt Vonnegut’s Fiction”
3. Teodora Florea (Letters BA, University of Bucharest), “From Signs on the Bathroom Wall to the Storming of the Capitol: American Paranoia as a Crisis of Interpretation”
4. Ionelia Sandu (Anglo-American Studies MA student, “Ovidius” University of Constanța), “The Concept of Identity in Sandra Cisneros’sThe House on Mango Street”
5. Raluca-Rebeca Rădulescu (British Cultural Studies MA, University of Bucharest), “The Crisis of Hyphenated Identity in America: Tensions between Language, Identity, and Integration in Yiyun Li’s To Speak is to Blunder”
6. Garima Singh (English BA, DIT University, Dehradun, India), “The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Revelation of Cultural Crises”

17:00-17:30 Break / Jury Deliberation

17:30-18:00 “Dan Grigorescu” prize award ceremony. Closing remarks.

Jury:

Dana Bădulescu, “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iași

Ludmila Martanovschi, “Ovidius” University of Constanța

Karina Pătrășcanu, University of Bucharest

Organizers:

The American Studies Program at the University of Bucharest

The Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission

The organizers thank the U.S.

Embassy for their support.

Program Graphics:

Laura Rusu

The Center for American Studies at the University of Bucharest

and the Romanian-U.S. Fulbright Commission

invite proposals for their annual student conference on the topic

The Concept of Crisis in American Culture

to be held online

on Friday, May 21, 2021

We invite proposals for 15-minute presentations from undergraduate and MA students whose research is relevant to the topic of the conference. Papers may come from the fields of literature, film, theater and performance arts, popular culture, visual culture and the media, history, politics, intercultural and interdisciplinary communication, and transatlantic relations and may address issues such as (but not necessarily limited to): cultural, economic and political crises in American history; epidemics as crisis; the environment in crisis; American ways of dealing with crisis; crisis, minorities and otherness in American culture; democracy and crisis; the United States and world crises; crises of literary and cultural canons. The best presentation will be awarded the “Dan Grigorescu” prize (US$ 200). Doctoral students are welcome to present outside the competition for the “Dan Grigorescu” prize.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit the following:

1. a 250-word abstract attached as an MS Word file. Your abstract must include the paper title and the name of the academic coordinator who has agreed to supervise your paper. Please note that, considering that each presentation will be 15 minutes long, final papers should be approximately 5-6 pages (Times New Roman, font 12, double-spaced). However, we strongly encourage participants to present and not simply read their papers.

2. 3-5 keywords from your essay;

3. Contact information (name, affiliation, phone number, and email address).

Please email your submissions to sabina.draga.alexandru@lls.unibuc.ro.

Deadline for submissions: Friday, May 14, 2021.

Notifications of proposal acceptance: Monday, May 17, 2021 (earlier notifications available upon request).

For any questions, please contact dr. Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru (sabina.draga.alexandru@lls.unibuc.ro).

The U.S. Embassy in Italy will host an online discussion on Activism and Citizen Participation: U.S. Elections 2020 on Thursday, October 22, 15:00 CEST (16:00 Bucharest time), featuring Dr. Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins.  If interested and available, please join the event via https://www.facebook.com/AmbasciataUSA.

Carolyn Jefferson-Jenkins is the first African American woman to serve as President of the League of Women Voters, where she focused on increasing voter participation, campaign finance reform, and health care for underserved populations.  Jefferson-Jenkins continues to be an advocate and activist for civil rights, social justice, educational excellence, and stronger citizen participation in the electoral process.  She serves on numerous boards and advises community-based organizations including Howard University’s Women Ambassadors Program.  She also has contributed to numerous journals and books on election reform.

Also, please find below a list of recorded webinars on U.S. Elections-related topics.  They were organized throughout the year by various U.S. embassies.  As you will notice, the U.S. speakers are experienced professionals, who presented and discussed with their audiences on subjects relevant to the 2020 U.S. Elections.  We hope you will find these resources helpful for a better understanding of the U.S. election process.

Understanding the American Election Process
U.S. Speaker: Professor Brian Brox is an Associate Professor of political science at Tulane University in New Orleans,Louisiana.  He also acts as head of political science undergraduate studies at the University and directs the U.S. Public Policy Program.  Professor Brox also serves as a Political Consultant both in Louisiana and nationally.  His company, Brox Research, conducts market research and public opinion polling for a variety of clients.  Dr. Brox received his PHD in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and his BA degree in Political Science from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. https://vimeo.com/396021556
Password: egy-vote2020

Women Running for Office U.S. Speaker: Susannah Wellford, who is the CEO and founder of Running Start, a nonpartisan, non profit organization dedicated to training young women to run for political office.  Running Start trains approximately 2500 young women every year in the United States and around the world.  She is also a co-founder and past President of the nonpartisan Political Action Committee (PAC) Woman Under Forty, an organization which helps young American woman get elected to the United States Congress.  Ms. Wellford has experience working as a lobbyist and as both a congressional and White House staffer. https://vimeo.com/438541221

Youth & Election
U.S. Speaker: Adrienne Lever, who has over a decade of experience in political organizing, civic technology, and electoral campaigns. She is an alumnus of both the Obama and Clinton campaigns, and a founding member of Swing Left, a national grassroots organization that formed in the wake of the 2016 loss and went on to mobilize over half a million volunteers to take back the house in 2018. https://vimeo.com/461095547/c2968d2a9a

Presidential Debates U.S. Speaker: Frank Fahrenkopf, who is Co-Chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates.  He was previously Chairman of the Republican Party for six years.  When Fahrenkopf retired, he had served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee longer than any person in the 20th century.  He co-founded the Commission on Presidential Debates in 1986 with Democratic National Committee chairman Paul Kirk.  He also founded the National Endowment for Democracy, where he served as Vice Chairman and a board member.  Additionally, he was President and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA) until he retired in 2013.
https://vimeo.com/429782716