Creating and Resisting Meaning: Recalibrating the Identity and Agency of the Textual Consumer - University of Alaska Anchorage March 7-8 2014
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Pacific Rim Conference
on literature and rhetoric
Creating and Resisting Meaning:
Recalibrating the Identity and
Agency of the Textual Consumer
University of Alaska Anchorage
March 7-8 2014Welcome and Introduction Welcome to the 19th annual Pacific Rim Conference on Linguistics and Rhetoric. UAA graduate students and faculty from the Department of English started the Pacific Rim Conference in 1996 as a forum to present their work and ideas to their peers, faculty, visiting scholars, and the wider Alaskan community. What began as a small project has grown to be a major event sponsored by a number of organizations and enthusiastically supported by many UAA departments. Remaining true to its roots, however, the conference is still run by graduate students. This year’s conference asks presenters and speakers to consider the role of the contemporary textual consumer as well as the challenges associated with locating oneself in and traversing through the landscapes of technology and synchronicity. Nearly 30 years after the fictional events of George Orwell’s 1984, many scholars continue to ponder how the politics of technology shape both our identities and our capacities to create or resist meaning. In an age when information is becoming more present—textual experiences replacing and overlapping each other with almost no time to digest them— the identity and agency of the textual consumer have never been more at stake. As Brooke Gladstone puts it, “The media landscape is so cluttered with mirrors facing mirrors that we can’t tell where an image begins or ends” (The Influencing Machine, p. xxi). Through various modes of communication, ranging from those speculated in literature to the myriad offered by our booming digital economy, many textual consumers have responded to this challenge in innovative and captivating ways. This year’s theme seeks to examine not only these responses but also the ways in which they define the textual consumer. We are extremely grateful to everyone who has helped to make this year’s conference possible, and we hope you enjoy the event. Jathan Day 2014 Pac Rim Director
Keynote Speakers We would like to welcome out keynote speakers for this year’s conference, Mark Trahant and Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor. Mark Trahant is the 20th Atwood Chair of Journalism at University of Alaska Anchorage. Trahant is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the former president of the Native American Journalists Association, reporting on issues related to Native Americans since the 1970s. His most recent book is called The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars (2010). Most notably, Trahant reported for the PBS Frontline series in a program called “The Silence,” which looks at sexual abuse committed by priests in an Alaskan Native village. He was recently awarded a fellowship to the Rockefeller Bellagio Center in Italy. Trahant is also a self-published author and a composer of daily poems about the news via Twitter. Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor is an associate professor of English and Women’s Studies at Penn State University. Wagner-Lawlor is the author of four books and a number of articles on nineteenth and twentieth century literature. Her most recent book is Postmodern Utopias and Feminist Fictions (2013), which looks at contemporary feminist speculative fiction through a utopian theoretical lens. She also co-edited The Scandal of Susan Sontag (2009) with Barbara Ching. Her current research examines the literature of climate change and creative theory in terms of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) model.
The Dru Whitaker Prize The Dru Whitaker Prize was created in 2007 in memory of Dru Whitaker, a graduate student in the UAA English Department’s Masters Program. The Prize recognizes a graduate student essay of outstanding scholarship delivered at the annual Pacific Rim Conference. At the 2007 Conference, UAA graduate student and conference director Trygve Sandvik memorialized Dru on the occasion of awarding the first prize: In 2006, UAA graduate student Dru Whitaker passed away. Her family, friends, teachers, and fellow students remember Dru for her wit, insight, and kindness. As a classmate, I remember Dru as a person with the courage to ask the questions I was afraid to ask and with the intellectual integrity to demand that we pay attention to the connections between our studies and the world that gives our studies meaning. She brought joy to the classroom. Moreover, she was a natural leader, who demonstrated compassion for the faculty and students with whom she celebrated learning for the love of learning. The 2014 Conference organizers look forward to continuing the tradition of honoring a student-presenter who exemplifies the spirit of connecting scholarship to humanity. We would like to express our gratitude to the Whitaker family as we share in the memory of Dru’s lasting impact on our lives. We are especially grateful to the Whitaker family, whose generous support has made it possible to award the prize again this year and for years to come. To be eligible, students must be currently enrolled in UAA’s Masters in English program and must present at the 2010 Conference. The winning paper will be selected by a panel of English Department faculty following the conference, and the recipient will receive $500.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
ADM 101 Graduate Student Workshop 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor, Penn State University
Friday, March 7, 2014
All events will take place in the Administration Building.
Registration Administration Lobby 9:00am - 9:30am
Breakfast available in room 143B
Invocation Dr. Jeane Breinig, Room 148 9:30am - 9:45am
Associate Dean for Humanities, CAS
University of Alaska Anchorage
Silent Auction Room 102 9:30am - 5:00pm
Session One 10:00am - 11:15am
Panel I (Room 146): “Personal Journeys: Shaping Identities Through
Pedagogy and Conflict Resolution”
Pam Simmons, University of Alaska Anchorage
Shiosha McDonald, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Constructing Cinderella: Conflict Resolution Across Cultures”
Jessie Nixon and Heather Caldwell, University of Alaska Anchorage
“ Remixing the Self: Don’t Tell Me Who I Am”
Panel II (Room 145): “A New Era of Textual Consumption”
Chair TBD
Brice Ezell, George Fox University
“A (Singular) Concept Wrapped in Skin and Chemicals: A
Kolakian Reading of The Raw Shark Texts”
Kate Partridge, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Consumption as Creation: Collage and Inter-textual Forms in
Contemporary Poetry”
Alyse Knorr, University of Alaska Anchorage
“POETRY REMIXED: Innovations in Hybrid and Multi-Modal
Poetry”Panel III (Room 142): “Considering the Power of Natural Resources,
Online Conceptualizations of Nature, and Portrayals of Race and
Gender”
Cameron Nay, Chair
Jathan Day, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Transforming the Water Cycle: An Ecocritical Examination of
Water as Power in Frank Herber’s Dune”
Laine Parish, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Voices from the Mountain: Online Discourse, Nature, and
Experience”
Thomas McIntyre, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Wrestling with Morality: A Narrative Analysis of the WWE’s
Portrayal of Race and Gender”
Lunch Food provided in 143B 11:30am - 12:30pm
Room 148 Workshop 12:45pm - 1:45pm
Mark Trahant, UAA Atwood Chair
Roundtable Discussion (Room 148) 2:00pm - 3:15pm
“Breadth and Depth: The Place of Writing in General
Education and Throughout the Curriculum”
Session Two 3:30pm - 4:45pm
Panel I (Room 146): “Where has all the Tekhné Gone, and Can
Utopians Find it?”
Toby Widdicombe, Chair
Featuring Graduate Students from English 636: Utopianism
University of Alaska Anchorage
Panel II (Room 145): “The Role of Social Media in Forming the
Textual Consumer: Identity and Social Meaning-Making in Digital
Spaces”
Jim Rudkin, Chair
Featuring: Shanna Allen, September V. Reynaga, LaVon Shearer-Ihrig
University of Alaska AnchoragePanel III (Room 142): “Examining the Discourses of Textual
Consumers”
Suzanne Forster, Chair
Heather Adams, University of Alaska Anchorage
“What is Our #femfuture?: Discourses of Sexual Shame in
Digital Environments”
Anna Keefe, University of British Columbia
“Dominant Discourse and Aboriginal Counter-Narrative in
Canada: (Re)defining Identities Through Text and Digital
Multimedia”
Room 143B Reception 5:00pm - 5:30pm
Room 141 Keynote Presentation 5:30pm - 6:45pm
Mark Trahant, UAA Atwood Chair
Saturday, March 8, 2014
All events will take place in the Administration Building.
Breakfast Room 143B 9:30am - 10:00am
Silent Auction Room 102 9:30am - 1:45pm
Session One 10:00am - 11:15am
Panel I (Room 148): “Unpacking Alaskan Experiences”
Jennifer Stone, Chair
Beth Waetjen, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Educational Spaces: A Comparison Study of Three Alaskan
Women and their Educational Experiences”
LaVon Shearer-Ihrig, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Women on the Slope: Pathways to Economic Opportunity”
Jennifer Stone, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Language Ideologies in Action: A Case Comparison of Two
Alaska Native Men”Panel II (Room 145): “Utopian Vision of Textual Consumption”
Toby Widdicombe, Chair
Toby Widdicombe, University of Alaska Anchorage
“The Death of the Reader on the Operating Table: Technology,
Textual Consumption, and Utopia”
Megan Kolendo, University of Alaska Anchorage
“The Birth of Utopia: The ‘Moment of Truth’ in Cormac
McCarthy’s The Road”
Rachelle Branstetter, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Louis Althusser and Reality Television: An Application of
Neo-Marxism to The Hunger Games”
Panel III (Room 142): “Mass Media Tendencies in 19th Century
Periodicals”
Jackie Cason, Chair
Featuring: Craig Sanders, Eric Notaro, Regan Campbell
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Session Two 11:30am - 12:45pm
Panel I (Room 148): “Observations of Language in Context?”
Clare Dannenberg, Chair
David Bowie, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Sampling Strategies for a Low-Density Population:
The Case of Alaska”
Brianna Dym, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Peer Review Goes Public: Meaning-Making Through Online
Communities”
Panel II (Room 142): “‘Busy World’ Print Periodicals”
Heather Caldwell, Chair
Featuring: Danny Dyer, Ann Lewis, Victoria Avery, Jonnell Liebl
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Lunch Food provided in 143B 12:45pm - 1:45pmRoundtable Discussion (Room 148) 2:00pm - 3:15pm
“Considering Recent Changes to Placement: What’s Working?
What’s Not?”
Session Three 3:30pm - 4:45pm
Panel I (Room 148): “New Interpretations of Narrative Structures”
Dan Kline, Chair
Zebadiah Kraft, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Rethinking the Paradox of Narrative Structure in Gulliver’s
Travels”
Hannah Johnson, University of Alaska Anchorage
“‘This Face With That Mask’: Jane Eyre, Bertha, and the Mirror”
Jacklyn Elizabeth Martin, University of Memphis
“The Archaeology of Incest: How Authorship and
Intersectional Identities Preface the Narrative of Trauma”
Panel II (Room 145): “Creating Identity: Early American Literature
and Beyond”
Jervette Ward, Chair
Jay Baldwin, University of Alaska Anchorage
“Huckleberry Finn: The Question of Morality through an
Emersonian Lens”
Beth Kronz, University of Alaska Anchroage
“Six Degrees of Mark Twain”
Molly Bailey, University of Alaska Anchroage
“Healing a Nation: Walt Whitman’s Roles as Healer and Poet”
Iris Chong, University of Alaska Anchroage
“Edgar Allan Poe: He Who Saw Death with Different Eyes”
Room 143B Reception 4:45pm - 5:30pm
Room 141 Awards Ceremony 5:00pm - 5:30pm
Room 141 Keynote Presentation 5:30pm - 6:45pm
Jennifer Wagner-Lawlor, Penn State UniversityDonors and Sponsors
We are extremely grateful for the support of the following individuals
and organizations, and also for the support of our other donors who
wish to remain anonymous (listed alphabetically):
Alaska Aces Kate Partridge
Aleutian Housing Authority Kris Keays-Gant
Alyse Knorr Leah Rawlins
Andrea Miller Mark Trahant
Anna Martin Mark Weber
Bear Tooth/Moose’s Tooth Plastic Pollution Coalition
Café Amsterdam Rebecca Baker
Clay Nunnaly Sabrina Haverfield
College of Arts and Sciences Seward Windsong Lodge
Dan Kline Shannon Huber
Deborah Bryner Shannon Reynaga
Dr. Pairmore Shiosha McDonald
Emily Brackman Suzanne Forster
Galina Houston/The UAA Bookstore Teresa Kimmel
Harry Need c/o University The Look
Advancement
Toby Widdicombe
Heather Adams
Trish Jenkins
Heather Caldwell
UAA Athletics
Jackie Cason
UAA Culinary ARts
Jennifer Stone
UAA Parking Services
Jessie Nixon
University AdvancementAcknowledgements*
The 2014 Pacific Rim Conference would not have been possible without
the help of the following people (in alphabetical order):
Heather Adams Harry Need
Melissa Boyce Jessie Nixon
Dianna Cohen Jim Rudkin
Brianna Dym Maria Steele
Rachel Epstein Sigma Tau Delta
Paula Feldhacker Christina Talbott-Clark
Deb Ginsburg UAA Emglish Graduate Students
Brenda Henderson Julie Varee
Trish Jenkins Beth Waetjen
Kris Keays-Gant Jervette Ward
Michael Lamb Toby Widdicome
Kathleen McCoy/KRUA Kathy Woodhead
If there is anyone who has donated to or assisted the Pacific Rim Conference
and is not on the list, we apologize for not including you, and we extend our
greatest thanks for your support.
Committee
Director: Jathan Day
Assistant Director: September V. Reynaga
Communications Director: Shanna Allen
Faculty Advisors: Trish Jenkins and Jessie Nixon
Poster Design: Brianna Dym
Sigma Tau Delta President: Shiosha McDonaldFundraising in the Humanities: Securing
the Future of the Pacific Rim Conference
It is becoming harder and harder to secure funding
for events such as the Pacific Rim Conference, as
more and more organizations in the humanities
pursue ever-decreasing amounts of money.
Conference directors have worked together with
UAA University Advancement to create financial
sustainability for Pacific Rim.
They created the UAA Foundation Account, which
is dedicated to the Pacific Rim Conference. If you
would like to help us secure the financial future of the
Conference, gift forms are available at the registration
table. Alternatively, you can donate online by going
to www.uaa.alaska.edu/giving. If you donate online,
please be sure to specify “Pacific Rim Conference
Foundation Account” in the “other” box when asked
where you would like your money to go.
We would like to thank UAA University Advancement
for their help with the Foundation Account.
Department of English
University of Alaska Anchorage
3211 Providence Drive
Anchorage, AK 99508
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