My boy at Michigan just informed me that the Black Humanities Collective at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor is putting together a conference focused on David Simon’s excellent TV show “The Wire.” If you’re interested in submitting a paper, or attending the conference, details are here and below:

This symposium proposes a critical consideration of The Wire, which treats the show as both a topic and a model of critique. Our aim is to create a space that is open and interdisciplinary. Graduate students, professors, and independent scholars working in the Humanities, the Arts, Social Sciences, Public Policy, and elsewhere are encouraged to join this collective discussion. In this sense, The Wire can serve as a common point of discussion, as a viable vehicle of social engagement in its own right and a text worthy of careful and extended investigation.
Potential paper/panel topics include:

– Urban Renewal and Decline
– Race, Place, and Visual Culture
– The Black Family
– The City as a Transnational Conduit
– Critical Masculinities and Femininities
– Media Ethics and Issues of Representation
– Sex and Sexualities in the City
– (Counter-)Public and (Counter-)Private Spheres
– Pedagogy and Educational Practice
– City and Regional Planning
– Performance and Performativity in Urban Space[

-e