April 1-2: Visit of Doris Sommer, Harvard Cultural Agents Initiative

On April 1st and 2nd, Emory will welcome Dr. Doris Sommer, Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Professor Sommer is the founding director of the Cultural Agents Initiative at Harvard, and the designer of Pre-Texts, a train-the-trainers program that distills theoretical approaches to literature and community-based engagement strategies into a simple protocol that fosters close reading of texts and creativity.

Events

“The Work of Art in the World Creates Pre-Texts for Teaching and Learning”

Public Talk by Professor Sommer

Friday, April 1 | 4:00 pm | Jones Room of Woodruff Library

Emory Storytelling

Following the format of previous CoLA (Coalition of the Liberal Arts) Emory Storytelling events, this session will feature a conversation with Professor Sommer and story circles in which participants will share a meal and tell their own stories related to the “work of art in the world.” Open to students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni.

Friday, April 1 | 6:00pm – 8:00pm, with dinner included.

Pre-Texts Workshops

Several simultaneous workshops using the Pre-Texts pedagogy will be held under Professor Sommer’s guidance. Open to students, faculty, staff, administrators, alumni, and community partners.

Saturday April 2 | 10:00am – 2:00pm, with lunch included.

Among Professor Sommer’s books are Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America (1991) about novels that helped to consolidate new republics; Proceed with Caution when Engaged by Minority Literature (1999) on a rhetoric of particularism; Bilingual Aesthetics: A New Sentimental Education (2004); and The Work of Art in the World: Civic Agency and Public Humanities (2014).

Dr. Sommer’s visit is made possible through co-sponsorship with the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Hightower Fund, the Center for Ethics, the Office of Residence Life in the Division of Campus Life, the Emory College Language Center, the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program, the American Studies Program, and the IDEAS Fellows in the Institute for Liberal Arts.