You are invited to the Brown Bag Lecture Series
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
12 noon to 1 p.m.

 

 

Alexis McCrossen
Associate Professor of History
Southern Methodist University

 

After a brief overview of the central themes related to consumer culture in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, Professor Alexis McCrossen will open up discussion about a range of topics and problems demanding further research.  Potential subjects of discussion include formal and informal networks of trade, the visual rhetoric of scarcity and abundance, and the institutional history of central “institutions of abundance,” such as department and “big box” stores.  The presentation develops themes found in a recently published volume of the same title (Duke University Press, 2009), which had its origins as a Clements Center symposium (2005-2006).

McCrossen is Associate Professor of History at Southern Methodist University and received her Ph.D. in American Civilization at Harvard University.  She is the author of Holy Day, Holiday: The American Sunday, published by Cornell University Press (2000). Her current book, Marking Modern Times: Timepieces in the United States under contract with the University of Chicago Press, explores the material culture of timekeeping, paying close attention to public timepieces, household clocks, and pocket watches.