Speculating on the South:
Reimagining the Historical South
through Scholarship and Art
November 6-8, 2007

The Speculating on the South conference will feature works of art that “speculate” on-or present alternate histories about -the American South. In general, speculative art tests various hypotheses within experimental, creative mediums to proffer plausible but different results of past events. Among other activities, conference participants will examine fiction and non-fiction that conjecture on what would have happened if the South had won the Civil War. The conference also will highlight other counter-historical art works (film, visual art, music) that re-imagine American History, the plight of African Americans, the institution of slavery, and human evolution, generally.

Featured Fiction Writers
Steven Barnes, Lion’s Blood, Zulu Heart
Terry Bisson, Fire on the Mountain
William Forstchen, We Look Like Men of War; Never Call Retreat
Harry Harrison, Rebel in Time
Randall Kenan, Let the Dead Bury their Dead
Alice Randall, The Wind Done Gone
Roger Ransom, The Confederate States of America
Natasha Tretheway, Native Guard
Harry Turtledove, Disunited States; Guns of the South;
How Few Remain; “Must and Shall”
Kevin Willmott, “CSA: Confederate States of America”

Scholars:
Kimberly Brown
Catherine Gallagher
Sandra Govan
Bob Korstad
Lovalerie King
Jerrilyn McGregory
Mildred Mickle
Richard Startz
Harry Watson

Commissioned Artists
Kent Brooks
Juan Logan
Heather A. Williams
Two Near the Edge:
(L.D. Burris, Keval Kaur Khalsa, Celtic scholar Michael Newton, musical director Ed Butler, and local dancers)

Cosponsors:
Race and Research Network at Duke University
Directed by William A. Darity, Jr.