Skidmore & Bard to host 'Pursuit of Happiness' conference

Approximately 150 scholars from throughout the U.S. and several foreign countries will consider the timeless and universal human pursuit of happiness in an April 24-26 conference on the Skidmore campus.

The event is the 2009 meeting of the Interdisciplinary 19th-Century Studies Organization, co-hosted by Skidmore and Bard colleges. Attendees will hear from keynote speakers Cornell economist Robert Frank, whose talk is titled ?Unsolicited Advice for the Obama Administration?; historian Darrin McMahon, author of Happiness, A History, who will present a talk titled ? ?Happiness Is No Laughing Matter!? Some Reflections on the Pursuit of Happiness in the Humanities?; and Adam Potkay of the College of William and Mary, who will speak on ?The Narrative Possibilities of Happiness, Joy, and Unhappiness.?

The keynote talks are free and open to the public. Frank will speak at 2 p.m. Friday, April 24, in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall; McMahon will speak at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 25, in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall; and Potkay will speak at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, April 26, also in Gannett.

Co-organizer Barbara Black, Skidmore associate professor of English, said, ?Today Americans believe that the pursuit of happiness is a basic human right. Yet the question of happiness?what it is, how we find it, and whether we actually know what will make us happy?is an elusive one.?

She added, ?Yet this timeless and virtually universal thing called happiness is particularly hot now. Why? Demographers point to aging baby boomers eager to reassess the purpose of their lives. What some have called a happiness industry has emerged in response to this quest. Moreover, with so much forecasting concerning our nation?s future and anxiety about our nation?s present health, a reassessment of happiness seems inevitable. There is something about the belief that tragedy, loss, or challenge can make us more committed to happiness; deeply unhappy times often generate a renewed interest in the power of optimism.?

During the weekend, experts in such diverse fields as musicology, psychology, economics, history, literature, art history, and public health will convene to discuss their thoughts about happiness. Black has collaborated with Deirdre d?Albertis, associate professor of English at Bard, to coordinate the event. The two met as fellow Victorianists at a 1995 NEH summer seminar on ?The Culture of London.? Said Black, ?That seminar proved to be a defining intellectual moment for many of us and several of us have continued to stay in touch and look for opportunities to collaborate professionally. At this INCS conference, two other members of that seminar long ago will be participating.

Allison Barber, Skidmore ?09, has provided able assistance, Black added. Upon graduation, Barber hopes to pursue a job in the magazine industry or public relations and event planning. She has said that working on this conference ?has not only taught me what the school offers, but it has also instilled in me a great sense of pride in my soon-to-be alma mater.?

Explained Black, ?Perhaps because of what psychologist Jonathan Haidt has called human ?ultrasociality?, many of the presentations are focused on relationships or the role that ?reciprocity? plays in defining happiness. Thus, we have panels on friendship, family, parents and children, sex. There are panels focused on private pleasure as well as those concerned with national happiness and the politics, ethics, and economics of happiness. Various papers will take up the myriad ways happiness is inflected by gender, race, and class.?

The 2009 conference will feature for the first time a panel of undergraduate scholars who will present their research. Titled ?Studying Happiness,? the panel will feature Skidmore junior Randee Schwartz and senior Vanessa Loukas, who are studying the psychology of well-being this semester with Professor Virginia Berman. They will present findings regarding various techniques that are designed to enhance happiness and lead to greater self-knowledge. Joining them will be a history major from Brigham Young University, who will speak on Emerson and religion; and two Bard undergraduates, who will share their research on happiness. William Lewis of Skidmore?s Department of Philosophy and Religion will moderate the panel.

Barbara Black Co-organizer

Dierdre d'Albertis Co-organizer

Robert Frank Speaker

Darrin McMahon Speaker

Adam Potkay Speaker

Background on keynote speakers:

Robert Frank, Henrietta Johnson Louis Professor of Management at Cornell University ?Frank led the way in the ?80s with his investigations into economics and behavior. He has been particularly interested in why people often make choices that do not make them happy in the end. His work has focused on American consumption levels and patterns, affluence, the pursuit of luxury, and what drives people to make the decisions they make. His book titles include Luxury Fever: Why Money Fails to Satisfy in an Era of Excess (2000, Princeton University Press).

Darrin McMahon, Ben Weider Professor of History at Florida State University?McMahon has written Happiness, A History (2006, Grove Press), a New York Times Notable Book of 2006. This magisterial, far-ranging history of the elusive, highly coveted thing called happiness convinces readers, to quote McMahon himself, that ?happiness?its promise, its expectation, its allure?is everywhere for? us. McMahon is comfortable and adept at talking about everything, from Kant to the smiley face. Rigorous but readable, this book makes listening to McMahon speak on happiness a must-not-miss event.

Adam Potkay, Margaret L. Hamilton Professor of English at the College of William and Mary?As a professor of English, Potkay is particularly insightful about the role of narrative in our experiences of joy. As he says, joy provides a motive for storytelling. Since happiness often both springs from and manifests itself in the stories we spin about our lives and, specifically, the purpose and trajectory of those lives, Potkay has much to tell us about the stories we need. Making meaning is intricately linked to a meaningful life. Potkay is the author of The Story of Joy (2007, Cambridge University Press).

Conference sponsors include Skidmore?s President?s Office; the Dean of the Faculty; the Office of the Dean of Special Programs; the Speakers Bureau; and the following academic departments: English, Foreign Languages and Literatures, History, Government, Philosophy and Religion, Psychology, Art History, and Classics. Sponsors from Bard include the Office of the Dean of the College; the Division of Languages and Literature; the Division of Social Studies; and the programs of Literature, French Studies, Italian Studies, Art History, Theology, Music, Russian Studies, Psychology, and Human Rights. Support has also come from INCS and Routledge ABES.