In the United States, recent months have seen widespread protests and debates over the presence of monuments to Confederate leaders and to other historical agents of slavery, colonialism, and racial exclusion. In The Reaper’s Garden, Vincent Brown presents such disputes over the public commemoration of the slaveholding past within the frame of “mortuary politics,” in which the rituals, practices, and remembrance of death both uphold and challenge the social order. This panel seeks to generate a conversation between graduate students and Brown’s work, focusing on the role of death in (1) structures of authority, (2) popular political action, and (3) community formation and disruption. Drawing on a variety of different local contexts, from the nineteenth-century Caribbean to contemporary Africa and Latin America, the panelists will incorporate evidence from their own research in order to respond to central questions about the generative power and the long afterlife of death in the Atlantic world.

Panelists:
Jamie Andreson, PhD Candidate, Anthropology and History, University of Michigan
Christine Chalifoux, PhD Student, Anthropology, University of Michigan
Ana Maria Silva, PhD Candidate, History, University of Michigan
Andrew Walker, PhD Candidate, History, University of Michigan
William Calvo-Quirós (chair), Assistant Professor, American Culture, University of Michigan
Vincent Brown (respondent), Charles Warren Professor of American History; Professor, African and African-American Studies; Harvard University

Free and open to the public. Lunch provided.

This event is part of the Friday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.