A Dumb Smart Joke

An Egyptian scholar, a Bosnian-Herzegovinian intellectual, and a Russian professor walk into a Louisville bar and ask for the best way to get to UofL.

“Apply for a U.S. State Department grant titled The Study of the United States Institute on Contemporary American Literature,” says the bartender.

OK, so it’s not such a great joke, but it’s a decent lead into the announcement that 18 international literature scholars will be attending a six-week program at UofL’s Commonwealth Center for the Humanities and Society.

The 2009 institute participants come from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Egypt, Georgia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

Running from June 19 to August 01, the program includes seminars, films, tours, and events in Louisville, as well as trips to San Francisco, Santa Fe, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C.

The scholars will share in academic activities, readings and social and cultural events meant to deepen their understanding of the United States and to add context to their studies. For example, the Washington, D.C., trip includes the National Museum of the American Indian, and the New Mexico trip includes a pueblo visit, both connected to the scholars’ study of American Indian literature. The Cincinnati day trip includes the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in conjunction with literature about slavery.

Louisville stops include Actors Theatre, Speed Art Museum, Farmington, book and electronics stores and social events to supplement many seminars with teachers and authors. Topics will include drama, poetry, fiction and nonfiction, as well as Asian American, African American, Latino, and American Indian literature.

For more information, contact the institute’s director, Tom Byers, at 502 608.6103 or tom.byers@louisville.edu.