OEB: Celebrating Life, Legacy, and Letters
February 26-28, 2016
Spelman College
Sponsored by:
The Octavia E. Butler Society, The Spelman College Office of the President, the Office of the Provost, The UNCF/Mellon Programs, and the Department of English.
Friday, February 26
Highlights from Sandra Govan, Professor Emeritus UNC Charlotte
Highlights from Saturday, February 27
Saturday, February 27
Session 1-A 8:00-9:15am
(Cosby Academic Center Lower Level 32)
Butler, Disability, and Difference
Chair: Matthew Mullins
“Discussing Disability Studies as a Third Space in Octavia Butler’s Fledgling,” Tamara I. Kelley-Jones, University of Alabama in Huntsville
“Enabling the World through Disability in Octavia Butler’s Parable Series,” Anna Hinton, Southern Methodist University
Session 1-B 8:00-9:15am
(cosby ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 31)
The Erotics of Butler and the Limits of the Human
Chair: Alexandria Ayala
“‘There is Risk, Gatoi, in Dealing with a Partner’”: Octavia Butler’s BDSM Power Dynamics,” Kirin Wachter-Grene, New York University
“The Erotics of Masochistic Time in Kindred,” Nicole McCleese, Central Michigan University
Session 2-A 9:30-10:45am
(cosby ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 32)
Violence, Identity, Ethics
Chair: Anna Hinton
“‘Watching the Violence’: How the Environment Affects Identity in Butler’s Kindred,” Alexandria Ayala, The Johns Hopkins University
“Unassuming Heroines: Exploring Violent Journeys in Wild Seed and A Mercy,” Ashely B. Tisdale, Florida Atlantic University
“A Way Forward: Butler’s Public Legacy,” Tarshia L. Stanley, Spelman College
Session 2-B 9:30-10:45am
(cosby ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 31)
Kindred, Race, and Power
Chair: Kirin Wachter-Grene
“Observations of the Panopticon Plantation and Kindred’s Female Modes of Escape,” Crystal Harris, University of Memphis
“Race, Reconciliation, and Atonement: Cause and Effect—Collective Trauma and False Perceptions in the Utopian Rhetoric of Octavia Butler’s Kindred,” Clarence W. Tweedy III, University of Mary Washington
“Contesting the Post-Civil Rights United States: Post-Realistic Reconfigurations of Contemporary Racism in Octavia Butler’s Kindred,” Myungsung Kim, Arizona State University
Session 3-A 11:00-12:15pm
(cosby ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 31)
The Promise and Limits of the Human
Chair: Matthew Mullins
“Embodied Cognition in Octavia Butler,” Laurel Bollinger, University of Alabama in Huntsville
“Troubling Ecology: Octavia Butler & Black Feminist Interventions in Environmentalism,” Chelsea M. Frazier, Northwestern University
“‘Gambling with History’: Time Travel in Octavia Butler’s Kindred and the Legend of the Flying Africans,” Joni L. Johnson Williams, Atlanta Technical College
Session 3-B 11:00-12:15pm
(cosby ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 32)
Teaching Difficult Topics through Octavia Butler’s Texts: A Roundtable
Chair: Kristen Lillvis
Kristen Lillvis, Marshall University
David Robinson, Marshall University
Walter Squire, Marshall University
LUNCH – 12:30-1:50pm
(Registered Participants Only)
Place: The Beverly Daniel Tatum Suites Private Dining Room
Special guest speaker: Marleen S. Barr, Ph.D.
Session 4-A 2:00-3:30pm
(cosby ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 32)
The Materiality of Octavia E. Butler: An Intergenerational Conversation
Chair: Valerie Ann Johnson
Karima Jeffrey, Hampton University
Debra Elaine Johnson, Spelman College
Valerie Ann Johnson, Bennett College
Kamaria A. Kaalund, JF Webb School of Health and Life Sciences
Session 4-B 2:00-3:30pm
(cosby ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 31)
Teaching Kindred
Chair: Brittny Crowell
“Teaching Kindred on a (Former) Slave Plantation, or Ms. Butler at Mr. Jefferson’s University,” Lisa Woolfork, University of Virginia
“‘Unsettling Questions’: Teaching Kindred in a Course on the Literature of Slavery,” Laurie Leach, Hawai’i Pacific University
Session 4-C 2:00-3:30pm
(Cosby ACADEMIC CENTER 103)
Fledgling, Identity, Difference
Chair: Matthew Mullins
“Super-Human Survival Strategies: The Power of Black Culture in Octavia Butler’s Fledgling,” Rewa Burnham, Trinity Washington University
“Octavia Butler’s Fledgling: On the Limitations of Human Freedom,” Adriane L. Ivey, Oxford College of Emory University
“Race and the Dynamics of Power in Octavia Butler’s Fledgling,” KaToya Fleming, Independent Scholar
Session 5-A 3:30-6:30pm
(Cosby ACADEMIC CENTER 330)
Octavia E. Butler/Patternmaster Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (No cost for this event, but you must pre-register)
Join Ximena Gallardo, Ph.D., LaGuardia Community College, and Ann Matsuuchi, Ph.D. LaGuardia Community College as they lead participants in editing the Patternmaster entry in Wikipedia. No prior knowledge of Butler or editing Wikipedia is necessary. We especially encourage high school and college English instructors to attend. Please email tstanley@spelman.edu if you want to participate.
Sunday, February 28
REGISTRATION OPENS AT 9:00am
Camille Cosby Academic Center
3rd Floor, Room 328
OEB Society Business Meeting 8:30-9:20am
(Cosby Academic center 329)
Session 6-A 9:30-10:45am
(COSBY ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 32)
Teaching Butler Across Media and Contexts
Chair: Laurel Bollinger
“Wikifying Science Fiction’s ‘Grand Dame’: The LaGuardia WikiProject Octavia E. Butler,” Ximena Gallardo C. and Ann Matsuuchi, LaGuardia Community College
“Teaching Butler’s Parable of the Sower in an Online, Accelerated Environment,” Jonathan P. Lewis, Troy University
“To Accept Change, to Embrace Change, and to Invite Change: A Workshop,” Whitney French, Independent Scholar
Session 6-B 9:30-10:45am
(COSBY ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 31)
How Do We Read Butler?
Chair: Rewa Burnham
“Signifyin’ on Myself: The Intricate Design of Octavia Butler’s Patternist Series, Briana Whiteside, University of Alabama
“Butler Beyond Critique,” Matthew Mullins, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Genre in Bloodchild and Other Stories,” Heather Humann, Florida Gulf Coast University
Session 7-A 11:00-12:15pm
(COSBY ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 32)
Witnessing Kindred in the Classroom and Beyond
Chair: Rebecca Fullan
“Time Traveling to Teach Each Other: A Conversation and Assignment Workshop,” Rebecca Fullan, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“To Experience Nonfictional Slavery: Perceptions of Intimate Interracial Relationships in Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred,” Monique Clarke, John Jay College
“Redefining Family: How Race Creates and Destroys Kinship in Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred,” Saleena Gulmohamad, John Jay College
Session 7-B 11:00-12:15pm
(COSBY ACADEMIC CENTER LOWER LEVEL 31)
Teaching Butler in Various Contexts
Chair: Matthew Mullins
“‘Accept the Risk’: Octavia Butler’s ‘Bloodchild’ and Institutional Power,” Beth McCoy, State University of New York at Geneseo
“Considering Identity: An Integrative Approach to Teaching Fledgling,” Sha-shonda Porter, Richland College
“‘We have Lived Before. We will Live Again’: Octavia Butler’s The Parable of the Sower as a Cultural and Spiritual Archetypical Framework within the Curriculum of Dystopian Literature,” Brittny Ray Crowell, Texas A & M University-Texarkana
3:00pm The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art
(COSBY ACADEMIC CENTER 1st Floor)
The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art will host a panel discussion and screening of John Akomfrah’s The Last Angel of History (1996).
The Octavia E. Butler Society 