Approximately 40 students, faculty, alumni, and researchers from the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts participated in The Interdisciplinary Nineteenth Century Studies (INCS) annual conference April 16-19, hosted by Georgia Tech.

The INCS is an international group of scholars dedicated to interdisciplinary discussion and research, encouraging scholarly work that transcends disciplinary boundaries in its approach to cultural studies. This year’s 30th anniversary conference has been in the works for almost two years, assembled by a planning committee consisting of faculty members from the School of Literature, Media, and Communication, including Associate Professor Narin Hassan, Professor Carol Senf, and Brittain Fellow Nicole Lobdell, among others.

This year’s conference theme was “Mobilities,” investigating the various mobilities and exchanges of the nineteenth century by exploring mobility vs. immobility; the exchange of political, scientific, and cultural ideas; the maintenance and creation of new affiliations; and the effect new notions of a more mobile network might affect our understanding of this era. Hosted in Atlanta, a city originally named “Terminus” and home to one of the busiest airports in the world, the conference was ideally situated to explore the concept of mobilities in the “capital of the New South.”

Assisting the planning committee was a group of other representatives from the School of Literature, Media, and Communication and the School of History, Technology, and Society (HTS), including faculty members and graduate students, who presented papers, moderated panels, worked registration tables, and offered hospitality to 320 participants, who came from the U.S., Canada, Spain, France, Colombia, Australia, Germany, Denmark, and the U.K.

Conference attendees were welcomed by Ivan Allen College Dean Jacqueline Royster, LMC Chair Richard Utz, and Georgia Tech Executive Vice President for Research Steve Cross.

LMC faculty members Rebecca Burnett, Carol Colatrella, Hugh Crawford, Nihad Farooq, Narin Hassan, along with Richard Utz and Dean Jacqueline Royster presented papers and moderated panels at the30th annual conference.

Brittain Fellows past and present presenting papers and moderating panels included current fellows Stephen Addcox, Kristin Allukian, Joy Bracewell, John Browning, Mauro Carassai, Annalee Edmondson, Amanda Golden, Liz Hutter, Valerie Johnson, Caitlin Kelly, Nicole Lobdell, Olga Menagarishvilli, Lauren Neefe, Sarah O’Brien, and Iuliu Ratiu and previous fellows Mollie Barnes (University of South Carolina – Beaufort), Katie Crowther (Georgia Perimeter College), Lauren Curtright (Georgia Perimeter College), Lisa Hagar (University of Wisconsin – Waukesha), Reshmi Hebbar (Oglethorpe), Leeann Hunter (Washington State University), and Roger Whitson (Washington State University).

In addition to the strong showing by LMC faculty, representatives from HTS and the School of Modern Languages also participated, including Christophe Ippolito, Lawrence Foster, John Tone, and Carla Gerona. Gerona’s exhibit, “Game Changer: The Evolution of Nineteenth-Century Sports,”a class project for HTS 3823: “Introduction to Museum Studies,” is currently on exhibit in the Clough Gallery Space.  

Alongside faculty and fellows, undergraduate students and alumni presented current research and assisted in conference planning, including Bryn Gravitt (LMC alum and PhD student at Tufts), Annete Malagon Almonte (alum), Veronica Rubinsztain, Daniel Kang, and additional undergraduate student attendees.