This event will start a conversation among community practitioners/academics in the humanities/sciences about the indispensability of water.
About this event

Organized by the Comparative Literature & Literature, Social Justice, & Environment (LSJE) Programs, Texas Tech University.

For more information, contact John Beusterien ([email protected]); Sara Spurgeon ([email protected]); or Juske Horita ([email protected]).

 

Water flows through Lubbock, the Llano Estacado, and the Earth itself. Fostering an acute awareness of the local importance of water builds sensitivity to the importance of water for the planet as an integral system.

 

The 54th Comparative Literature Symposium at Texas Tech University will jumpstart a conversation among community practitioners and academics in the humanities and sciences about the indispensability of water.

 

The symposium will include presentations that approach water from archeological, historical, legal, engineering, scientific, and humanities perspectives, especially focusing on the Southern High Plains. The symposium also includes a field trip with Ogallala Commons, a musical performance with Andy Wilkinson, and an art exhibition with the Texas Tech School of Art.

 

Planned outcomes for the symposium include a book volume with Texas Tech University Press and the communication of the ideas from the symposium to children through the creation of teaching modules or an exhibition.

Schedule at a Glance
Thursday, March 31, 2022

• Stewarding Our Aquifer Field Day. FiberMax Center for Discovery (formerly Agricultural Museum), 1121 Canyon Lake Drive, Lubbock, Texas. (10:30 am – 3:30 pm)

Friday, April 1, 2022

• Presentations and Poster Session. International Cultural Center (Hall of Nations), Texas Tech University, 601 Indiana Avenue. (8:30 am -5:00 pm)

*Free parking available at International Cultural Center

Saturday, April 2, 2022

• Talks and Music Performance. Department of English, Room 106, Texas Tech University. (9:00 am – 4:00 pm)

• Exhibit and Reception. School of Art, Landmark Gallery. (4:00 pm- 6:00 pm)

*Free parking available at Lot R05 (off of 15th Street and Flint in front of English and Philosophy Building

For more details, contact Dr. John Beusterien at [email protected].

Support for the Symposium is generously provided by the Department of Classical Modern Languages & Literatures; Department of English; College of Arts & Sciences; Humanities Center of TTU; Charles B. Qualia Endowment in the Department of Classical Modern Languages & Literatures; Office for Research & Innovation; Department of Geosciences; Office of the Vice President for Institutional Diversity; and Texas Tech Center for Water Law and Policy. In association with the Texas Tech University Social Justice, and Environment Program (LSJE); Ogallala Commons and the Landmark Arts in the School of Art; and the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts.

Detailed Schedule

 

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Stewarding Our Aquifer Field Day

FiberMax Center for Discovery (formerly Agricultural Museum) 1121 Canyon Lake Drive, Lubbock, TX

10:30 am Lucille Contreras, CEO and Founder of Texas Tribal Bison Project

11:30 am Alex Hunt, West Texas A&M University, Vincent/Haley Professor of Western Studies; Director, Center for the Study of the American West

12:00 pm Sandwich Lunch provided at the FiberMax Center for Discovery

12:30 pm – 3:30 pm Bus departs from and returns to FiberMax Center. Organized by Ogallala Commons .

No admission fee, but there are 50 spots available and you are required to register.

For more information, contact Darryl Birkenfeld: [email protected]

 

Friday, April 1, 2022

International Cultural Center (Hall of Nations), Texas Tech University, 601 Indiana Avenue

8:30 am – 5:00 pm Poster Session

8:30 am Coffee

8:45 am Introductory Remarks. John Beusterien, Coordinator of Comparative Literature and Director of Spanish and Portuguese, Texas Tech University

9:00 am “The Ogallala Aquifer and the State of Water and in West Texas” by Venkatesh Uddameri, Professor & Director, Water Resources Center Department of Civil, Environmental, & Construction Engineering, Texas Tech University

9:30 am “Land Use and the Legal Future of Water” by Amy Hardberger, McCleskey Professor of Law; Director, Texas Tech Center for Water Law and Policy, Texas Tech School of Law

10:00 am Coffee Break/Poster Session

10:30 am “Geoheritage Perspective on the Occurrence and Abundance of Water on the Southern High Plains Landscape” by Stance Hurst, Graduate Faculty Heritage and Museum Sciences & Field Manager Lubbock Lake Landmark, Texas Tech University

11:00 am “Consequences of Aquifer Depletion on the Llano Estacado” by John E. Stout, Physical Scientist at Wind Erosion & Water Conservation Research Unit, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service

11:30 am “The Strange Materiality of Water: Science, Belief, and Resistance among the Indigenous Riverine Communities of the Eastern Himalayan Foothills” by Anindyo Roy, Associate Professor Emeritus, Colby College, Department of English, scholar of colonial and postcolonial studies, water activist, field worker in livelihood and ecology in the Eastern Himalayan foothills

12:00 pm “Cactuses Hold Water: Plains Water and the Mexican People through Centuries” by Joel Zapata, Assistant Professor of History and Cairns K. Smith Faculty Scholar, School of History, Philosophy, & Religion, Oregon State University

12:30 pm Lunch/Poster Session

1:30 pm “The Voice of Weather and the Shape of Water” by Carol Flueckiger, Associate Professor, School of Art, Texas Tech University

2:00 pm “A Reading from Running Out” by Lucas Bessire, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma. Introduced by Darryl Birkenfeld, Executive Director, Ogallala Commons, Nazareth, TX.

3:00 pm Coffee Break/Poster Session

3:30 pm “A Systems View on Water: Prosperity in a Postgrowth Cultural Ecology” by Luis I. Prádanos (Iñaki), Professor, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, Miami University

4:00 pm “Water Gaia Revisited” by Bruce Clarke, Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Literature & Science, Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology

4:30 – 5:00 pm Poster Session

 

Saturday, April 2, 2022

Department of English, Room 106

8:30 am Coffee

9:00 am “The Impact of Reduced Surface Water on the Natural History of Texas” by Jorge Salazar-Bravo, Director of the International Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Land Studies and Associate Professor in Department of Biological Sciences

9:30 am “Water Diplomacy: Cross-Cultural Encounters on the High Plains during the Era of Early Contact” by John William Nelson, Assistant Professor, History Department, Texas Tech University

10:00 am “The Reasons for Our Water Challenges” by Danny D. Reible, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor, Donovan Maddox Distinguished Engineering Chair, Professor of Chemical Engineering & Civil, Environmental, & Construction Engineering

10:30 am “The Natural History of Water on the Southern High Plains: A Perspective from Vertebrate Fauna of the Late Cenozoic” by John Moretti, Research Assistant, Museum of Texas Tech University; PhD. Candidate at Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin

11:00 am “Historical Springs, Terminal Culture” by Alex Hunt, West Texas A&M University, Vincent/Haley Professor of Western Studies; Director, Center for the Study of the American West

11:30 am “Lubbock Waters” by Jim Bertram, former Lubbock Director of City Planning, and John Beusterien, Coordinator of Comparative Literature and Director of Spanish & Portuguese, Texas Tech University

12:30 pm Lunch

1:00 pm “After the Fall: Recovering the Southern Plains” by Darryl Birkenfeld, Ph.D., Executive Director, Ogallala Commons, Nazareth, TX; Elvia Gallegos, landowner, Plains, TX; Dr. Chris Grotegut, Grotegut Farms, Hereford, TX

1:45 pm “Tucson’s Past and Future: Some Comparative Perspectives for Lubbock” by Luke Cole, Associate Director, Santa Cruz River Program, Sonoran Institute

2:45 pm Coffee Break

3:00 pm Roundtable: Communicating the Symposium Vision. John Beusterien (Coordinator of Comparative Literature and Director of Spanish and Portuguese, Texas Tech University), Sara Spurgeon (Director of Social Justice, and Environment Program (LSJE) and Professor of English, Texas Tech University), Juske Horita (Professor in the Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University), and Charles Michelson (Ph.D., Director of Symposium Outcomes)

3:30 pm Andy Wilkinson, Director of Special Projects, University Outreach & Engagement, Texas Tech University, with Trevor Rogers, “Featured Musical Performance”

 

School of Art, Landmark Gallery

4:15pm – 6:00pm Art Exhibit/Reception