Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 19-26, 1999

Volume 27, Number 29

'Made in the USA?' examines impact
of global economy on American labor

The Yale University Art Gallery will host an interdisciplinary symposium and roundtable discussion on Saturday, April 24, on the theme "Made in the USA? The Impact of a Global Economy on American Labor."

The event is being held in conjunction with the gallery's current exhibition "Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory," which features 60 photographs by Bill Bramberger documenting the final months of operation of The White Furniture Company of Mebane, North Carolina. Once known as "the South's oldest maker of fine furniture," the company closed down in 1993, putting 203 people out of work. The main focus of the exhibit is on the black, white and Hispanic male and female workers who were left jobless.

Richard S. Field, associate director and curator of prints, drawings and photographs at the Yale Art Gallery, will open the day's program. The first session, which will be held 10 a.m.-1 p.m., will feature three talks:

* "Creative Destruction on the Plant Floor," by Douglas W. Rae, the Richard S. Ely Professor of Organization and Management;

* "Furniture, Textiles, Economic Restructuring: A Century of Industrial Capitalism in the North Carolina Piedmont" by David Koistinen, a doctoral candidate in history; and

* "Representing the Dignity of Labor in a Postindustrial Age" by Kathryn M. Dudley, associate professor of American studies and anthropology.

These three speakers will then take part in a roundtable discussion with Cathy N. Davidson, author of the book "Closing: The Life and Death of an American Factory," who is vice provost for interdisciplinary studies and the Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English at Duke University; and Cynthia Farrar, assistant vice president of urban policy and development at Yale. The discussion will be moderated by Laura Wexler, associate professor of American studies.

The above events will be held in the gallery's lecture hall, entrance on High Street.

That afternoon, Davidson will read from her book "Closing" at 3 p.m. in the Yale Art Gallery's Sculpture Hall. A book signing and reception will follow at 3:30 p.m.

"Made in the USA? The Impact of a Global Economy on American Labor" is open to the public free of charge. It is supported by the Martin A. Ryerson Lectureship Fund.

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