Heyman Center, 74 Morningside Dr, New York, NY 10027
"Abolitionism and the Arts in the Long Eighteenth Century" will be held at Columbia University on 6 May 2023. This interdisciplinary symposium and concert will bring together musicologists, literary and theater scholars, art historians, and historians to think through the connections between the arts and the history of abolitionism in the Atlantic world. The daytime symposium will take place at the Heyman Center for the Humanities and on Zoom (10 am - 5 pm) and the evening concert, panel discussion, and reception will take place at the Maison Française (5:30-8:30 pm).
The interdisciplinary symposium (10 am, Heyman Center) will feature opening remarks by Atesede Makonnen (literature, Columbia University), two interdisciplinary panels of read papers, and a plenary dialogue between Adrienne L. Childs (art history, The Phillips Collection) and Patricia A. Matthew (literature, Montclair State University). The day will conclude with a concert (5:30 pm, Maison Française) of rarely-heard abolitionist songs from the long eighteenth century. The concert will feature Awet Andemicael (soprano, Yale University) and Magdalena Stern-Baczewska (piano, Columbia University).
"Abolitionism and the Arts in the Long Eighteenth Century" is being organized by members of the Columbia University Seminar in Eighteenth-Century European Culture (Julia Hamilton, Stephanie Insley Hershinow, and Patricia A. Matthew), in collaboration with the Department of Music at Goldsmiths, University of London (represented by Berta Joncus). The event is co-sponsored by the Columbia University Seminar in Eighteenth-Century European Culture, the Columbia Center for Ethnomusicology, the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities., the Columbia Maison Française, the Columbia Department of Music, the Music Department of Goldsmiths, University of London, the Royal Musical Association, and Music & Letters.
You can register for the symposium (on zoom and in-person at the Heyman Center) here and for the concert (in-person at the Maison Française) here. For more information about the conference, please see the conference website.
