Fall 2016 Graduate Symposium September 30 2016 (All day) - October 1 2016 (All day) Carnegie Mseum of Art Theater, 4400 Forbes Ave.

Identity studies, as an interdisciplinary constellation within the humanities, involves methods of inquiry constructed around subjectivity, positionality, intersectionality, humanness, and modes or forms of identification. In studying artistic and cultural history, production, and theory, we apply these methods in the interest of advancing our understanding of certain subject matter, and the stakes of identity for these subjects.

To call identity operational is to acknowledge the agency of representations and signifiers of identity in such spheres. This symposium aims to critically consider the construction of identities and identifiers within art history, literature, philosophy, film, and social thought, and the trafficking of identity studies as a method or orientation within the humanities. We want to reflect upon orientations to scholarship that are determined by interests in identity, and consider the terms and assumptions we use in making academic arguments about identity and art.

The symposium will take place from Friday, September 30 at 12:30 pm to October 1 at 12:30 pm in the Carnegie Museum of Art Theater. The keynote event, featuring Dr. Kobena Mercer of Yale University and Dr. Terry Smith of the University of Pittsburgh, is September 30 at 5pm. All guests are welcome for coffee at 4:30.