Past Conferences

Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies

2017 Conference:
Intersections of Identities: Difference and Coalition in a Transnational Context

Battleground States Keynote Address: Staceyann Chin, spoken-word poet, performing artist, activist, and novelist.
Ray and Pat Browne Keynote Address: Laurenn McCubbin, large-scale, immersive installation artist, documentarian, and Assocaite Professor of Foundations at Columbus College of Art & Design.

2016 Conference:
"Time and Timelessness: Conceptions of the Past, Present, and Future in Cultural Studies"

Battleground States Keynote Address: Andi Zeisler, cofoounder of Bitch Media and longtime freelance writer and illustrator.
Ray and Pat Browne Keynote Address: Linda Holmes, Pop Culture Blogger, NPR, Monkey See

2015 Conference:
“Cultural Landscapes and Critical Possibilities: Perspectives on the Local & Global.” February 13-15, 2015.

Battleground States Keynote Address: Dr. Brittney Cooper, Rutgers University, Crunk Feminist Collective
Ray and Pat Browne Keynote Address: AtPeace Makita Taylor, Detroit Water Brigade
Featured Workshop Facilitator: Justin Wedes, Detroit Water Brigade

2014 Conference:
“Clash and Convergence: Explorations of Culture in an Age of Uncertainty.” February 21-23, 2014.

Battleground States Keynote Address: José Gonzalez “Tucson Unified: A Dream Deferred, A Civil Rights Struggle”
Ray and Pat Browne Keynote Address: Jennifer Armstrong “The Modern TV Woman: How The Mary Tyler Moor Show Pushed Boundaries and Paved the Way for Carrie Bradshaw, Liz Lemon, and Mindy Lahiri”

Ray Browne Conference on Popular Culture, 2012-2013

2013 Conference:
"Modes of Mobility: Popular Culture in an Age of Technology"

Keynote Speakers:
Dr. Thomas Malaby, Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Dr. Brendan Riley, English Faculty, Columbia College

2012 Conference:
"Popular Culture in the 21st Century"

Keynote address: Dr. Gary Hoppenstand, Distinguished faculty, Michigan State Univeristy; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Popular Culture.

Battleground States Conference, 2006-2013

First organized by graduate students in the American Culture Studies Program at Bowling Green State University, Adam Franklin, the 2006 conference coordinator describes the origins of Battleground States as follows: “The idea for this conference was conceived when a group of graduate students in the American Culture Studies Program came together and decided they wanted to bring together other graduate students from the campus, the region, the country, and possibly even the world” (Battlegrounds States 2006 Program, 3).

The conference was held annually until 2013 when The Culture Club joined forces with the Popular Cultural Scholars Association to co-organize the Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies.

2013 Conference:
“Crossing Boundaries, Revealing Connections: Experiments in Interdisciplinary Studies”

Keynote Address: Dr. Carol Siegel

2012 Conference:
“3R: Response, Re/Action, Revolt” February 23-26, 2012

2011 Conference:
“Collapsing Cultures & Darkened Dreamscapes: Societies and Imaginations in a State of Disorder” February 25-26, 2011

Keynote Address: David W. Oaks “Earth vs. Normal: How the Mad Movement Challenge to the Global Psychiatric Industry May Help Us”

2010 Conference:
“War(s) & Peace.” February 26-27, 2010

Keynote Panel: “Perspectives of Conflict” Participants: Taghreed Abu Sarhan, Eric Merritt, Stephen Ortiz, Marc Simon; Moderator: Ellen Gorsevski.

2009 Conference:
“The Future” February 27-28, 2009

Keynote Address: Siva Vaidhyanathan, “The Googlization of Everything: How One Company is Disrupting Culture, Commerce, and Community”

2008 Conference:
“The Body & Culture” February 22-23, 2008

Keynote Address: Philip Auslander “Liveness Redux: The View From 2008”

2007 Conference:
“Intersections of Poetics & Politics” March 30-31, 2007

Keynote Address: Dr. Annette Wannamaker “Battling Boys: The State of Masculinity in Popular Texts for Children” Introduction by Matthew Mace Barbee

2006 Conference:
“Battleground States” The first Battleground States Conference was called the American Culture Studies Graduate Conference, March 31-April 1, 2006

Keynote Address: Dr. Ann Larabee
Keynote Panel: Dr. Sherry Linkon and Dr. John Russo