C19: America in the 19th Century

Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists

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SOCIETY & CULTURE

C19: America in the 19th Century

The C19 Podcast is a production by scholars from across the world exploring the past, present, and future through an examination of the United States in the long nineteenth century. The official podcast of C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.

SEPT 23

S08 E02 | The Time and Place of Performance

“The Time and Place of Performance” looks at the vast circuits of nineteenth-century performance. Amy Huang (Bates College) and Kellen Hoxworth (University at Buffalo, SUNY) consider how nineteenth-century performances move backward and forward, citing past moments, and themselves undergoing processes of recycling and re-presentation to move into the future and challenge the framework of the nation-state. This conversation explores the transoceanic circuits of plays and artists (such as Ira Aldridge and Rose Quong) and the unexpected connections between blackface and yellowface performance to consider how and whether it might be important to teach nineteenth-century theatre and performance. Although Huang and Hoxworth both find some of this theatre “bad,” they discuss how we might teach these plays and performances in ways that do not depend on shoring up these works’ exemplariness or exceptionality. How might we stay with the “bad,” the partial, and the minor moments of theatre and performance history? Full transcript available at https://bit.ly/S08E02Transcript.

45 min
AUG 23

S08 E01 | Undomesticated: Nonhuman Animals and Queer Resistance in Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

Generally associated with postbellum regionalism, mutinous heroines feigning New England propriety, and consumable literature for the urban elites, recent re-readings of Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman’s fiction have uncovered its nuanced, surreptitious, and explosive quality. Much of this disquiet is concentrated in the bodies of barely domesticated animals. Contributors to this episode – Elena Furlanetto (host, University of Duisburg-Essen), Cécile Roudeau (Université Paris Cité), Emma Thiébaut (Université Paris Cité), and Emily Coccia (Carleton College) – propose to take a deeper look at parrots, cats, dogs, squirrels, and monkeys in Understudies (1901), a collection of short stories about New England’s nonhuman nature, and other works by the same author. In Wilkins Freeman’s animals, anthropomorphic and sentimentalist guidelines for animal representation which inform much 19th-century animal fiction burst at the seams to reveal creatures of ambiguity who disturb the quiet of New England living rooms, demonstrate the potential of cages not quite shut, and tread the unstable borders between garden and wilderness. The voices in this podcast follow Stephanie Palmer’s encouragement to “listen to the ambivalences” of Wilkins Freeman’s fiction and treat animals as a productive site of confluence for different foci: from animal studies to queer and feminist ecologies, Indigenous studies, and ambiguity studies among others. Shownotes: https://bit.ly/S08E01_Shownotes Transcript Available at https://bit.ly/S08E01Transcript

38 min
JUN 12

S07 E05 | The G19 New Book Forum on The Matter of Black Living by Autumn Womack

Since May 2021, G19: The Graduate Student Collective of C19 has produced and published The New Book Forum, an online interview series that facilitates conversations between graduate students and the author of a recent book in the field of 19th-century American literature. This episode is hosted by the forum’s founders, Rachael DeWitt (Columbia University), Max Chapnick (Northeastern University), and Allison (Ally) Fulton (University of California Davis) who discuss the project’s beginnings and the insights they’ve gleaned since. They share a short selection from an April 2023 interview with Autumn Womack on her book The Matter of Black Living (2022), and then reflect on three years of conversations on new directions in the field, scholarly publication, and bringing the nineteenth century into the classroom. They wrap up by discussing some favorite interview moments and anticipate where the forum is headed in the future. Post-production support by Julia Bernier (Washington & Jefferson College). Full transcript available at https://bit.ly/S07E05Transcript

47 min
MAY 9

S07E04 | Sagacious Canine Companions: Nineteenth-Century Newfies in Fact and Fiction

In this episode, Kassie Jo Baron (University of Tennessee at Martin) and Karah M. Mitchell (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) investigate the popularity and representation of “sagacious” Newfoundland dogs in nineteenth-century American literature. The episode begins with an overview of animal studies as a theoretical framework for analyzing the relationship between animals, history, and literature. Keeping this framework in mind, Kassie and Karah investigate how and why Newfoundlands, or “Newfies,” became so ubiquitous across the nineteenth-century United States. The Newfoundland’s association with loyalty, water rescue, and maritime industry means it’s no surprise that they appeared in the public and private writings of Lewis and Clark, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, and Emily Dickinson. This episode ultimately theorizes the conditions that led to the rise and fall of Newfoundlands’ popularity in the nineteenth century–what they represented and how they were viewed–and their impact on literary production. Post-production support by Ryan Charlton (Georgia State University). Transcript available at bit.ly/S07E04Transcript.

41 min
APR 3

S07E03 | Reclaimed Melodies: Martin R. Delany, Joshua McCarter Simpson, and Stephen Foster

In this episode, Paul Fess (LaGuardia Community College) explores the connections between Martin Delany and the songwriters Joshua McCarter Simpson and Stephen Foster. Embedded in the mix of Delany’s novel Blake; or, The Huts of America are several songs that invoke some of Foster’s most familiar melodies, such as those associated with the songs “Oh! Susanna” and “Uncle Ned.” Digging through the archive, scholars have discovered these parodies to be the work of the relatively obscure Joshua McCarter Simpson, an activist in Ohio’s Colored Conventions movement, a conductor on the underground railroad, and, with the publication of his Original Anti-Slavery Songs, the first African American to produce a songbook of original compositions. This episode examines how Delany and Simpson strategically repurpose Foster's sentimentalism-infused melodies, navigating the racial complexities of antebellum culture. While Foster aimed to soften the degrading aspects of minstrelsy, Delany and Simpson use these melodies to create a Black abolitionist discourse, challenging sentimental aesthetics. The novel's characters, like Simpson's lyrics, redefine the nostalgic longing in Foster's songs, emphasizing the harsh realities of enslaved life. Delany and Simpson employ music as a tool for political activism, crafting a counterhegemonic discourse and fostering a sense of collective resistance against enslavement. Post-production support provided by DeLisa D. Hawkes (University of Tennessee, Knoxville). Transcript available at https://bit.ly/S07E03Transcript. Additional resources available at https://bit.ly/S07E03Resources.

37 min
FEB 19

S07E02 | The End: Looking Forward to the Eighth Biennial C19 Conference

In this episode, we look forward to the upcoming C19 Conference, to be held March 14-16 in Pasadena, California. Jessica Van Gilder (University of Kentucky) interviews Chair of the C19 Program Committee Lara Langer Cohen (Swarthmore College) and G19 leader and editor Courtney Murray (Pennsylvania State University) to discuss the theme and location of the conference and offer practical advice for first-time participants. Along the way, we’ll check in with some of our past podcast contributors—Spencer Tricker (Clark University), Carie Schneider (Cameron University), Sean Gordon (California State University, Fresno), and Vanessa Ovalle Perez (California State University, San Bernardino)—all of whom will be attending this year’s conference. For additional information, the conference program is available online at c19theend.com/program. This episode was produced by Julia Bernier (Washington and Jefferson College), Crystal Donkor (SUNY New Paltz), Genevieve Johnson-Smith (Newcastle University), Lizzy LeRud (Minot State University), Stefan Schöberlein (Texas A&M University-Central Texas), Jessica Van Gilder (University of Kentucky), Ashley Rattner (Jacksonville State University), and Ryan Charlton (Georgia State University). Full episode transcript available: bit.ly/C19Podcast-S07E02-transcript UPDATE: Unfortunately, Vanessa Ovalle Perez will no longer be able to attend the conference.

44 min
JAN 16

S07E01 | Studying Transness in the Nineteenth Century

In this episode, Eagan Dean (Rutgers University, New Brunswick) makes the case that trans studies is an important new area for nineteenth century cultural history and that the stakes of this scholarship are higher than ever. Featuring author Peyton Thomas and scholars Rebekkah Mulholland (California State University, Sacramento) and Jen Manion (Amherst College), Eagan Dean gives an overview of current scholarship in the field and opportunities for intervention from C19 scholars, as well as tips for adding trans studies insights to your teaching. This episode also includes a sampling of cutting-edge scholarship in nineteenth century trans studies from the April 2023 Rutgers symposium on The Trans Nineteenth Century. Additional resources are available at https://bit.ly/StudyingTransnessResources and you can find the episode transcript at https://bit.ly/C19Podcast-S07E01-transcript.

39 min
2023-12-13

"Best of" the C19 Podcast | Tena, Too, Sings America

How does an enslaved woman's song from 1830s in Georgia end up on a 1950s radio program in South Africa and in a modern singing class? This is the surprising story of an African-born woman named Tena, whose music has echoed for generations across continents, airwaves, and even college classrooms. Mary Caton Lingold (Virginia Commonwealth University) first encountered Tena’s song in a book of sheet music by Carl Sandburg but a series of events led her to uncover details about Tena’s life in living memories of her enslavers’ descendants and in archival recordings and documents. This episode is about Tena's life and legacy, the challenges of researching enslaved women’s lives, and how sound and performance can open up new ways of engaging with the past. This episode was created and produced by Mary Caton Lingold (Virginia Commonwealth University) with post-production help from Kristie Schlauraff. Episode transcript available here: https://bit.ly/BestofLingold

36 min

The C19 Podcast is a production by scholars from across the world exploring the past, present, and future through an examination of the United States in the long nineteenth century. The official podcast of C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists.

Creator

Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists
Years Active

2017 - 2024
Episodes

53
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© All rights reserved
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C19: America in the 19th Century