The Rice University Americas Colloquium is dedicated to grappling with the question of how interdisciplinary conversation, critique, and collaboration can enrich and transform humanities graduate education among Americanists. Comprised of faculty and graduate students from across the humanities, this colloquium considers the present and future practice of American cultural analysis in a post-national and global studies context. Accused of being both ‘too small’ because it equates the United States with America and ‘too large’ because it overlooks local subcultures within the U.S., American Studies is in a state of conceptual transformation. Considering the parameters and futures of American cultural practice from a number of different vantage points—including American History, Literature, and Religious Studies—our Americas initiative adopts a comparative approach to the hemisphere and is interested in developing an interdisciplinary inter-Americas program.

The Americas Colloquium is co-sponsored by the Humanities Research Center and the Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life.