It gives me great pleasure to be able to share with you the Fall 2022 American Culture Newsletter, with a focus on performance.
Between the dynamic cover image of a skateboarder in mid-air and the list of our 2022 graduates and scholarship and award winners, you will find engaging pieces about the nature of performance and its relation to our department (“What is American Culture? Letter from the Chair”), an experiential walk through our main office located at 3700 Haven Hall by Associate Professor John Cheney-Lippold (Associate Chair of AC), two interviews with Arab and Muslim American studies alumni (Devin Batish and Jenna Chammi) by graduating student Hiba Dagher, an account of Asian American and Pacific Islander history at U-M by Associate Professor Manan Desai (Director of A/PIA Studies), an engaging overview of Latina/o Studies programming by Professor Ashley Lucas (Director of Latina/o Studies), a conversation between Professor Amy Stillman (Director of Native American Studies) and Assistant Professor Bethany Hughes on the topic of indigenous performance, a list of new staff, work study students, graduate students, fellows (including LSA Collegiate Fellow Sara Awartani and Michigan Society of Fellows fellow Dmitri Brown), student visitors, and new faculty in our department, including Professor Juan Cole (new director of Arab and Muslim American Studies), Professor Matthew L.M. Fletcher (jointly appointed with the Law School), LEO Lecturer I Doo Jae Park (jointly appointed with the School of Kinesiology), Assistant Professor Yarden Katz (jointly appointed with the Digital Studies Institute), and Assistant Professor Cherry Meyer (jointly appointed with the Department of Linguistics).
Our newsletter concludes with a list of the students who graduated with majors in American Culture, Ethnic Studies, and Latina/o Studies, and students who received minors in American Culture, Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies, Arab and Muslim American Studies, Latina/o Studies, and Native American Studies, as well as the recipients of the Joel S. Siegel Scholarship and the Richard Meisler Writing Award.
Yours,
Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes
Chair
