Area Colleges Collaborate on Streamlines Conference

The language and literature departments at Clarke University, Loras College and the University of Dubuque will host “Streamlines,” an undergraduate conference celebrating language, literature and writing, on Saturday, Nov. 15, on the Clarke campus.  Now in its fourth year, this collaborative conference is designed to give undergraduate students of language and literature the opportunity to share their scholarly and creative work. This year’s conference features a variety of paper presentations and workshop sessions by approximately 50 undergraduate students from 10 colleges and universities from six states. “Very rarely do undergraduate students get the opportunity to share their work in such a public venue,” said Ann Pelelo, Ph.D., associate professor of English at Clarke and one of the conference organizers. “Conferences are usually for graduate students and established faculty members. This conference is aimed at giving undergraduate students the opportunity to present their work and be recognized for it.” The keynote speaker at this year’s conference is Arturo Arias, professor of Latin American literature at the University of Texas (Austin) Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies. He is a well-known expert on Central American literature, with a special emphasis on indigenous literature, as well as critical theory, race, gender and sexuality in postcolonial studies.He has published “Taking their Word: Literature and the Signs of Central America” in 2007, “The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy” in 2000, “The Identity of the Word” in 1998, and “Ceremonial Gestures” in 1998, as well as a critical edition of Miguel Angel Asturias’s “Mulata” in 2000. President of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) from 2001-03, Arias co-wrote the film “El Norte” (1984) and has published seven novels in Spanish. He is a two-time winner of the Casa de las Americas Award, the Ana Seghers Award for fiction in Germany, and the Miguel Angel Asturias National Award for Lifetime Achievement in Literature in 2008. In conjunction with the conference, Mindframe Theaters in Dubuque will host a special showing of “El Norte,” which Arias co-wrote, on Friday, November 14, at 7 p.m. The public is invited to attend. A $2 donation is suggested. Arias will be on hand to introduce the film and a question and answer session will follow the film. For more information, visit www.clarke.edu/streamlines. Media requesting more information can contact the Clarke University Marketing and Communication Office at (563)588-6318.