"Imagining the Delta" for 11th annual
Delta Blues Symposium April 7 - 9
March 9, 2005--“Imagining the Delta” is the theme for the 11th annual Delta Blues Symposium, sponsored by the Department of English and Philosophy at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

The three-day event begins on Thursday, April 7, and continues through Saturday, April 9. Scholars, students, artists, and performers will gather to examine and celebrate the Delta’s rich cultural resources.  All symposium events are free and open to the public.

The symposium begins on Thursday, April 7, at 10:30 a.m. in the Mockingbird Room of the new ASU Student Union, when undergraduate students will present research on “Placemaking Through Arkansas Folklife.”

At 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, concurrent sessions in the Mockingbird and Pine Tree Rooms will examine “From the Mekong Delta to the Mississippi Delta: The Vietnam War and the American South” and “Southern Literature Revised: Placing the Delta.”

At 4 p.m. the symposium will move to the Black Box Theatre in Fowler Center, where the Department of Theatre will present “Delta Playwrights: Scenes from Plays by Tennessee Williams and Beth Henley.”

Thursday’s activities will conclude with a concert by Little Milton at the Student Union auditorium, as part of the Lecture-Concert Series.

The symposium resumes Friday, April 8, at 8:30 a.m. with concurrent sessions on “The Hoxie 21–Stories, New Voices, New Perspectives: Imagining Race in the Arkansas Delta” and “Religion and Literature in the Delta” in the Mockingbird and Pine Tree Rooms. Meanwhile a screening of the film “West Memphis Blues: Clides ‘Bo Pete’ Fleming” will occur in the auditorium.

At 10:15 a.m., sessions in the Pine Tree and Mockingbird Rooms and the auditorium will consider “Delta Literature and Culture: ASU Heritage Studies Graduate Students,” “Folklore, Myth, and the Blues,” and “Documenting and Interpreting the Delta.”

Beginning at 2 p.m., sessions on Delta literature and creative writing will convene in the Pine Tree and Mockingbird Rooms.

At 4:15 p.m., Henry Glassie of Indiana University will deliver the symposium’s keynote lecture on “Sweet Home in the Delta: Imagining the Other Side of the World” in the Student Union auditorium.

The symposium will move to the Grand Hall of Fowler Center at 7 p.m. for a reading by poet Jo McDougall and novelist John Dufresne. A reception will follow this event.

Saturday morning begins at 8:30 a.m. with sessions on Delta literature and “Blues Beyond the Delta” in the Mockingbird and Pine Tree Rooms.

At 10:45 a.m. these rooms will provide the sites for sessions on “Tennessee Williams” and “Land of the Blues.” Meanwhile, the film “West Memphis Blues: Clides ‘Bo Pete’ Fleming” will be shown in the Auditorium.

Saturday afternoon’s activities will take place in the Fowler Center: a panel featuring photographers Maude Schuyler Clay, David Rae Morris, and West Freeman in the Grand Hall at 1:30 p.m.; a presentation “Fannie Lou Hamer: This Little Light. . .” by poet/actor Billie Jean Young at 4 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre; and the annual Delta Composers Concert sponsored by the Department of Music at 5 p.m. in Riceland Hall. A reception will follow the concert.

For further information on Delta Blues Symposium XI, contact the ASU Department of English and Philosophy at 870-972-3043 or visit the symposium website at www.clt.astate.edu/blues.

Funding and other assistance has been provided by the Department of Art, Department of History, Department of Theatre, Department of Music, Heritage Studies Ph.D. Program, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Office of Diversity Initiatives, and Lecture~Concert Series.

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