News Release

Southern literature, nationalism,
topics of professors’ Nov. 1 talks

CHAPEL HILL — Literary portrayals of civil rights leader Medgar Evers and connections between democracy and nationalism will be the topics of two lectures Nov. 1 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The free public program, from 4-5:30 p.m. in 100 Hamilton Hall, will introduce two new Kenan Eminent professors in UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, in the English and political science departments. A reception will follow in Toy Lounge in Dey Hall.

Dr. Minrose Gwin, professor of Southern literature, will discuss "Where Are the Voices Coming From? Medgar Evers in the Writings of Margaret Walker and Eudora Welty."

Dr. Jeff Spinner-Halev, professor of political ethics, will deliver the second lecture, "What is the Connection Between Democracy and Nationalism?" A reception will follow.

The $3 million Kenan Eminent Professorships, among the largest endowed professorships in the university’s history, are part of a $27 million commitment to the Carolina First campaign in 2003 from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust of Chapel Hill.

Carolina First, with a goal of $2 billion, is a comprehensive, multi-year, private fund-raising campaign to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation's leading public university.

On Nov. 1, Gwin will discuss two pieces of literature written by Jackson, Miss., writers Walker and Welty after the 1963 assassination of Evers. Walker, a neighbor of the Evers family, wrote the poem "Micah," which connected Evers to the Old Testament prophet.

Welty’s now-famous short story for The New Yorker, "Where is the Voice Coming From?" delved into the voice of the fictional killer. The character represented then-alleged killer Byron De La Beckwith so completely that several details of the story had to be altered hurriedly for legal reasons before the story went to press.

Beckwith was convicted of killing Evers in 1994, 31 years and three trials later. He died at age 80 in 2001 while serving life in prison.

"I will explore how these two short pieces of literature and the voices therein speak powerfully in the contemporary period to global concerns about memory, history and cultural trauma, as well as to vexing questions about the ethics and aesthetics of testimony and interpretation of such cultural events," Gwin said.

Spinner-Halev will discuss the connection between nationalism and democracy. Commentators often deride ethnic nationalism as exclusive while praising democratic civic states for their inclusive character, he said. But civic states have an ethnic and exclusive beginning.

"Once we see that all democracies have ethnic origins, we can ask why democracies are exclusive," Spinner-Halev said. "I will suggest that national identity supplies a solidarity that democracies need to sustain sacrifice, collective action and mutual trust."

Gwin joined the UNC faculty recently as a visiting professor of English. The UNC Board of Trustees appointed her to the Kenan Eminent Professorship effective next Jan. 1. She previously was professor of English and affiliated professor in American studies and women’s studies at Purdue University.

Her research and teaching concern literature of and about the South, women’s literature and theories of space and gender. Gwin also specializes in African-American literature, autobiography and creative writing.

With UNC English professor Dr. Fred Hobson, Gwin edits the Southern Literary Journal. She also co-edited "Literature of the American South: A Norton Anthology" (1997) with Hobson and UNC English professors Dr. William L. Andrews and Dr. Trudier Harris.

Gwin’s books include "The Woman in the Red Dress: Gender, Space and Reading" (2002), "The Feminine and Faulkner" (1990), "Black and White Women of the Old South: The Peculiar Sisterhood in American Literature" (1985) and a memoir, "Wishing for Snow" (2004).

The Board of Trustees appointed Spinner-Halev to a Kenan Eminent Professorship earlier this year; he came to UNC in July from the University of Nebraska, where he was Schlesinger Professor of Social Justice. He researches democratic political theory, focusing on how and why certain injustices arise within liberal democracies, and what might be done to alleviate them. The term liberal democracy refers to the doctrine that originated with Hobbes, Locke and the founding fathers, he said.

Spinner-Halev wrote "The Boundaries of Citizenship: Race, Ethnicity and Nationality in the Liberal State" (1994) and "Surviving Diversity: Religion and Democratic Citizenship" (2000). He co-edited the book "Minorities Within Minorities: Equality, Right and Diversity" (2005). -30-

College of Arts and Sciences contact: Kim Weaver Spurr, (919) 962-4093, spurrk@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589