American Studies Center Aarhus

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America in the 1950s

Danish Association of Teachers of English Seminar

Friday 28 February 1997

Mødelokale 1, Studenternes Hus

Program

09:00 - 09:20 Welcome:
Mette Weisberg, DATE
Dale Carter, Introduction to American Studies Center Aarhus
Bruce Leslie, Introduction to the 1950s: 'Ed Sullivan and Elvis'
   
09:20 - 10:35 Jody Pennington, 'Dancing in the Spirit: Southern Culture, Southern Images, and Fifties Rock 'n' Roll'
10:35 - 10:50 Coffee, books and music
10:50 - 12:00 Dale Carter, 'Waging Peace: American Culture in the 1950s'
   
12:00 - 13:00 Lunch buffet in Horningstuen, Studenternes Hus
   
13:00 - 14:15 Elsebeth Hurup, 'From Juvenile Delinquency to Mating Rituals: Fifties Teens in Movies, Then and Now'
14:15 - 14:30 Coffee, books and music
14:30 - 15:30 Bruce Leslie, 'Richie, not Fonzie: The Real 1950s'
15:30 - 16:00 Panel Discussion



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Preparatory Readings

Truman Capote, A Capote Reader: 'New Orleans' (1946)
Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: Ch. 4: 'Racial Beliefs' pp. 98-112
Timothy White, Rock Lives: 'Shadows and Light: An Introduction'
W.T. Lhamon, Jr., Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s: 'Material Differences'
Robert Griffith (ed), Major Problems in American History Since 1945: five documents from the 1950s
Robert Griswold, Fatherhood in America: Ch. 9: 'Fatherhood and the Great American Barbecue,' pp. 185-210
Dale Carter, 'America in the 1950s: A World Wide Web Guide'



Web Documents

In association with this seminar, a number of resources on the 1950s are available in DATE's on-line magazine, AngloFiles: 1950s websites; 1950s bibliography; 1950s filmography.



The Speakers

Jody Pennington

Jody Pennington, a native of Albany, Georgia, holds degrees in English from Georgia Southwestern College and Aarhus University. He has taught at both Aarhus University and the Aarhus School of Business and has published work on the growth of rock 'n' roll in the United States. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the Department of English, Aarhus University, working on aspects of American popular music and film.

Dale Carter

Dale Carter is Associate Professor of American Studies at the Department of English, Aarhus University. He is the author of The Final Frontier: The Rise and Fall of the American Rocket State (1988) and has edited Cracking the Ike Age: Aspects of Fifties America (1993) andBlood on the Nash Ambassador: Explorations in American Culture (1989). He is currently co-editing a collection of essays on the theme of American exceptionalism.

Elsebeth Hurup

Elsebeth Hurup holds a master's degree in English and Art History from the University of Aarhus. The author of Milk and Honey (1985) and The Great Gatsby: En Analyse (1985) and editor of The Lost Decade: America in the 1970s (1996), she was Lecturer in Danish at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, between 1985 and 1987. More recently she has taught English language and American Studies at the universities of Odense and Aarhus. She is currently teaching at the Department of English, Aarhus University, and researching manifestations of nostalgia in American film and television during the Carter presidency.

Bruce Leslie

Bruce Leslie is Professor of History at the State University of New York, Brockport. During the 1996/97 academic year he is Visiting Fulbright Professor of American History at the Department of English, Aarhus University. His publications include Gentlemen and Scholars: College and Community in the 'Age of the University,' 1865-1917 (1993) and 'When Professors had Servants: Prestige, Pay and Professionalization, 1865-1917,' in History of Higher Education Annual 10 (1990)



The American Studies Center Aarhus is grateful to the Danish Association of Teachers of English for sponsoring this seminar

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