The Americanist Area Group is open to faculty and students from any department or discipline who have an interest in American literature and culture. Meetings are informal and are typically led by one or more members, who discuss recent and important developments in the field. For our October 10 meeting, Joel Duncan, Dallin Lewis, and Erik Larsen will present on aspects of "origin" in relation to the US, especially via Sacvan Bercovitch's Puritan Origins of the American Self and its discontents.