HIGH POINT, N.C., July 28, 2009 – Dr. Matthew Schneider, professor and chair of the Department of English at High Point University, recently presented a paper at the Generative Anthropology Summer Conference. The conference was held June 18-21 at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada.
Schneider’s paper, titled “‘What’s My Name?’ Toward a Generative Anthroponomastics,” discussed the importance of a person’s name. It examined how one’s name is indissolubly tied to one’s essential being, because that being is forged and maintained by one’s actions in the public eye.
“In my paper, I used the controversy surrounding boxer Cassius Clay’s decision to change his name to Muhammad Ali as a case study of the manner in which proper names retain their magical, incantatory significance in contemporary popular culture,” Schneider says. “What you are called by the community is therefore what you are; hence names acquire a life-or-death importance.”
At High Point University, every student receives an extraordinary education in a fun environment with caring people. HPU, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is a liberal arts institution with 3,700 undergraduate and graduate students from 50 countries and 44 states at campuses in High Point and Winston-Salem. It is ranked by US News and World Report No. 5 among comprehensive universities in the South and No. 1 in its category among up-and-coming schools. Forbes.com ranks HPU in the top 6 percent among “America’s Best Colleges.” HPU was included in The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Great Colleges to Work For” 2009 listings. The university offers 68 undergraduate majors, 40 undergraduate minors and seven graduate degree programs. It is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and is a member of the NCAA, Division I and the Big South Conference. Visit High Point University on the Web at http://www.highpoint.edu/
Chris DudleyVice President for [email protected]