{"id":7879,"date":"2025-07-27T13:08:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T17:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/?page_id=7879"},"modified":"2025-09-11T10:58:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:58:00","slug":"2023-2024-annual-symposium","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/2023-2024-annual-symposium\/","title":{"rendered":"2023-2024 Annual Symposium"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7fa0c338813c04e5bbc063d439c361ec\" style=\"color:#79bde8\"><strong>2023-2024 Annual Symposium<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7879_5cad97-26 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7879_5cad97-26 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#082e58;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7879_5cad97-26\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<style>.kb-image7879_7e98a2-b6 .kb-image-has-overlay:after{opacity:0.3;border-top-left-radius:110px;border-top-right-radius:110px;border-bottom-right-radius:110px;border-bottom-left-radius:110px;}.kb-image7879_7e98a2-b6 img.kb-img, .kb-image7879_7e98a2-b6 .kb-img img{border-top-left-radius:110px;border-top-right-radius:110px;border-bottom-right-radius:110px;border-bottom-left-radius:110px;}<\/style>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-kadence-image kb-image7879_7e98a2-b6 size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"kb-img wp-image-7884\" srcset=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-105x70.jpg 105w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-317x211.jpg 317w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-423x282.jpg 423w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-634x423.jpg 634w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-846x564.jpg 846w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6-951x634.jpg 951w, https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/276\/2024\/09\/unnamed-6.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 85vw, (max-width: 768px) 67vw, (max-width: 1024px) 62vw,1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7879_bf268a-29 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7879_bf268a-29 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#082e58;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7879_bf268a-29\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>RIVERS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>\u201cRiver towns are winged towns.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cA river is superior to a lake in its liberating influence. It has motion and indefinite length. A river touching the back of a town is like a wing, it may be unused as yet, but ready to waft it over the world. With its rapid current it is a slightly fluttering wing. River towns are winged towns.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, dated July 2, 1858)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the Mississippi to the Rhine to the Yangtze, to the Penobscot, the Earth\u2019s rivers have made possible the transport of goods and people throughout history, and with those goods and<br>people, culture has also been transported. Rivers make us, and we have in turn made them\u2014through dams, diversion, reversals. The rivers give us a literal and symbolic map of human movement, development, and connection, and thus are an illuminating reference point in our work in the humanities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With climate changes affecting those very waterways (see the current work preparing for the future of the Los Angeles River and the Rhine), we can see how the low water levels expose parts of our history, enlarging our sense of how the rivers affect the surrounding land and its people. The 2023-24 annual symposium theme addresses many aspects of how rivers both large and small\u2014and both literal and metaphorical\u2014shape and are shaped by the stories we tell, the art we make, and the ways in which we live alongside them.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7879_0a5bf2-f2 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7879_0a5bf2-f2 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#082e58;width:100%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7879_0a5bf2-f2\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\" \/><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2023-2024 Annual Symposium RIVERS \u201cRiver towns are winged towns.\u201d \u201cA river is superior to a lake in its liberating influence. It has motion and indefinite length. A river touching the back of a town is like a wing, it may be unused as yet, but ready to waft it over the world. With its rapid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2468,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-withsidebar.php","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7879","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2023-2024 Annual Symposium - Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center - University of Maine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/mhc\/2023-2024-annual-symposium\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2023-2024 Annual Symposium - Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center - University of Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"2023-2024 Annual Symposium RIVERS \u201cRiver towns are winged towns.\u201d \u201cA river is superior to a lake in its liberating influence. 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