American Studies Consortium (ASC) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The American Studies Consortium aims to connect scholars and students and provide public forums for research in American Studies. Taking inspiration from Sylvia Wynter's seminal 2003 essay "Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom: Towards the Human, After Man, Its Overrepresentation—An Argument," ASC’s thematic focus for the 2022–2023 year will be “ Unsettling American Studies” Accordingly, we plan to study and cultivate scholarship that addresses the multiply raced and gendered legacies of American empire and culture. This capacious programming theme will allow us to explore and produce exciting work that attends to the varied layers of American Studies. 

Like last year, ASC will offer space for collaboration and collegiality between faculty and graduate students, and facilitate lively discussion about both research and teaching. We are proud of the ways in which ASC has become central to the intellectual life of the humanities community at UM, and we look forward to fostering robust interdisciplinary dialogue around campus in 2022–2023.