A renowned professor of history, American culture and American Indian studies will present a free, public lecture atWest Virginia UniversityThursday, June 5.

Philip J. Deloria, a professor in the University of Michigans Department of History, Program in American Culture and Native American Studies Program, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Room 130 of Colson Hall on WVU s Downtown Campus. His talk is titledA Generation of Pain: Thoughts on Writing Race and Gender, Identity and Subjectivity, and Family History/Family Memoir.

The lecture is part of the 2008 Summer Seminar in Literary and Cultural Studies June 5-8, organized by WVU s Department of Englishin theEberly College of Arts and Sciences. Seminar co-hosts are WVU English faculty members Cari Carpenter and Ellesa High.

This seminar promises to be a groundbreaking study of Native American and African-American family history narratives, a topic that is garnering increasing interest in academia and beyond,Carpenter said.

Deloria is the author of the award-winning books,Indians in Unexpected PlacesandPlaying Indian,and co-editor (with Neal Salisbury) of theBlackwell Companion to American Indian History.He is also a member of the Society of American Historians, American Antiquarian Society and Michigan Society of Fellows. He earned his doctoral degree in American studies from Yale University in 1994.

With Philip Deloria leading the seminar, our discussions should be both far-reaching and memorable,High said.We are pleased that this years seminar is attracting outstanding faculty and graduate students from across the country.

I’m personally excited to explore how our readings and experiences can be applied to the mixed-descent history we have in West Virginia and the role that family history and oral testimony play in reclaiming our past,she said.

The seminar will focus on race and gender in families, among other areas. Selected texts for discussion will include historical and theoretical examinations of family histories, genealogies and literature like N. Scott MomadaysThe Names.

The WVU Native American Studies ProgramandPresidents Office for Social Justicehave provided support to the seminar. For more information, call 304-293-3107, or visithttp://english.wvu.edu/about_the_department/summer_seminar.