Homeland Insecurity:
Civil Liberties, Repression, and Citizenship
in the 1950s
a conference
Thursday January 23, 2003-Sunday January 26, 2003
Smith College ~ Northampton, Massachusetts

CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

All events will be in Wright Hall auditorium unless otherwise indicated.

Thursday, January 23, 2003

4:30-6:00 pm Newton Arvin’s Scholarly Legacy

• "Welcome," Dan Horowitz, American studies, Smith College

• "Remarks," Marjorie Hess, Northampton Human Rights Commission

• “Newton Arvin’s American Literature,” Samuel Otter, English, University of California, Berkeley

• “Newton Arvin, Pornography, and the Natural Security State,” Robert K. Martin, Professor and Chair, Département d'études anglaises, Université de Montréal

7:30 pm  Naming Names

• Welcome to Smith College: Carol T. Christ, president, Smith College

• Introduction to “Homeland Insecurity,” Marilyn R. Schuster, women’s studies

• Selected on-camera interviews with Joel Dorius, Ned Spofford and Daniel Aaron, from the forthcoming film The Great Pink Scare by Powderhouse Productions

• Barry Werth, author of The Scarlet Professor, Introduction by Peter Rowe, Professor emeritus, government, Smith College

• “The Trials of Bayard Rustin” Keynote: John D’Emilio, gender and women’s studies, University of  Illinois at Chicago, Introduction by Gary Lehring, government, Smith College

• Concluding remarks: Susan C. Bourque, provost, Smith College

• Reception at Sophia Smith Collection /Archives

Friday, January 24, 2003

10:00 am-noon Insecurities: The National Context

• Marc Lendler, government, Smith College, moderator

• "'Deviates, Traitors, and Other Undesirables’: Legislative Investigations of Florida’s Universities in the Early 1960’s,” Stacy Braukman, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

• “The Cold War on Labor and Civil Rights,” Robert Korstad, public policy studies and history, Duke University

• “‘Identity Not Proven”: Chinese Illegal Aliens during the Cold War and the INS Confession Cases,” Mae Ngai, history, University of Chicago

2:00-4:00 pm The Chilling Effect of the Cold War: The Limits of Resistance

• John Davis, Alice Pratt Brown Professor of Art, Smith College, moderator

• “Redefining Academic Freedom: Smith College and Anti-communism,” Shane Landrum, Smith ’98, independent scholar

• "'Archive Fever' or Lost in the Records of the FBI” Jacquelyn Hall, history, University of North Carolina

• “Resistance to Gender Prescription in the 1950’s and 1960s: Two Women’s Lives,” Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy, women’s studies, University of Arizona

4:30-5:30 pm “Opening Closet Doors,” a video statement by Joel Dorius

• Joel Dorius and Ned Spofford, Teachers and Mentors, a conversation among former students, Wright Hall Common Room

8:00 pm Screening of Shane (1953), introduction by Alexandra Keller, film studies, Smith College

Saturday, January 25, 2003

10:00 am-noon Popular Culture: Projecting Insecurities

• Susan Van Dyne, women’s studies, Smith College, moderator

• “Subverting Femininity in All About Eve,” Robert Corber, lesbian and gay studies, Trinity College

• “Deviant Teaching,” David Halperin, English and women’s studies, University of Michigan

• “Fiends, Fairies, Politics: Projecting the Paradox of Cold War Masculinity,” Andrea Friedman,  history and women and gender studies, Washington University

2:00-4:00 pm The Cops at the Door: Surveillance, Repression and Resistance

• Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz, Sylvia D. Bauman Professor of American Studies, Smith College, moderator

• “The Price of Political Repression,” Ellen Schrecker, history, Yeshiva University

• "Hollywood Habits: Censorship and Cooptation, Francis Couvares, history and American studies, Amherst College

• “Thinking about Political Repression,” Gerald Horne, African and Afro-American studies, University of North Carolina

4:30-5:30 Final comments

• "There’s No Place Like Home(land): Insecurity, Crisis, and Ordinariness,” Lauren Berlant, English and gender studies, University of Chicago

Sunday, January 26, 2003

4:30 pm Public Art

• Jenny Holzer, artist, in conversation with Henri Cole, poet-in-residence, Smith College