February 18th, 2022<\/p>\n
Welcome to the second issue of<\/span> Ampersand: An American Studies Journal<\/span><\/i>, our humble humanities hearth for graduate students to gather \u2018round. The concept for \u201cObjects, Objections, Objectifications\u201d stirred an excitement among our editorial team in 2021, promising submissions that would speak to some shiny new subjects and ideas. In addition to playing with words, this theme opens space for contributors and readers to reflect on material meaning, the ways that objects can confront the mainstream, and the function of rendering human beings into objects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this issue, contributors approach various times, places, and media in their interpretations of these three \u201cOs.\u201d Their objects of analysis include a bronze Medusa sculpted by Evelyn De Morgan in 1876, Lizzo and Cardi B\u2019s visual invocation of Black classicism in \u201cRumors,\u201d the legal text of the Zong massacre and the poetry it inspired, Jack London\u2019s <\/span>The Iron Heel <\/span><\/i>and its fictional manuscript, the taste of Florida in a souvenir bell, Royal treasures returned to Benin in light of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Black and Indigenous seeds planted at a Boston museum. While diverse in their objects and subjects, the pages ahead collectively observe how objects carry the weight of our words and our worlds. These pieces highlight different modes of resistance as they witness objection to certain societal attitudes, including against the often deliberate and disturbing process of human objectification.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We appreciate you turning these digital pages, which are products of the long research hours of early career scholars. These pieces are in keeping with the <\/span>Ampersand<\/span><\/i> mission in that they highlight interdisciplinarity, relationality, and material change\u2013\u2013values we support in research and writing, as well as in the lives of graduate students.<\/span><\/p>\n Ampersand <\/span><\/i>is a growing community. We invite you to reflect on the ideas put forward in these pages by writing to us and engaging with our online community. During this challenging time of growth\u2013\u2013for graduate students and our world\u2013\u2013we also welcome your contributions to upcoming issues, however nascent or experimental they may be. Thank you for arriving here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Marina Dawn Wells<\/p>\n Sarah Djos-Raph<\/a>, Essay: “Objectifying and Objecting Objects: Looting to Rooting? How the American Black Lives Matter Movement Influences French Restitution in Benin”<\/p>\n Beatriz Marques Gon\u00e7alves<\/a>, Essay: “Zong!<\/i>: How to Un-tell the Story That Must Be Told”<\/p>\n Rachel Kirby<\/a>, Essay: “Multisensory Material Culture: Tasting Place in Objects and Images”<\/p>\n Emily McConkey<\/a>, Essay: “Women, Ovid, and Sculpture: Harriet Hosmer and Evelyn de Morgan\u2019s Medusa Busts”<\/p>\n Grace McGowan<\/a>, Essay: “The Fate of Medusa: Objectification and the Classical Tradition in Black Women’s Art”<\/p>\nVolume I, Issue 2 (Winter 2022)<\/h2>\n