Franklin Research Center Announces the Opening of the Sylvia Wynter Papers, Exhibition, and Symposium

Post contributed by John B. Gartrell, director John Hope Franklin Research Center

The John Hope Franklin Research Center is pleased to share that the archive of philosopher, scholar, and author Sylvia Wynter will be opened to the public beginning March 3. The archive, which was acquired by the center in 2018, has been undergoing processing for the past 2 years and the writings series will be made available first to researchers, with the remaining sections of the collection opening by the summer of this year.

Sylvia Wynter photo, 1970s

To commemorate and share the contents within the papers, the Franklin Research Center is mounted an exhibition entitled “Noise up the World: Introducing the Archive of Sylvia Wynter,” which will be on display in the Mary Duke Biddle Room in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Library from February 26-August 1. This exhibition is co-curated by John B. Gartrell, Dr. Deborah Jenson, Diego Avila Lopez, and Michaelle Vilmont.

Two events will kickoff the exhibition and opening of the papers. On Monday, March 2, there will be an opening reception from 5:30-7:00pm and Tuesday, March 3, the “Archive as Ceremony” symposium will occur from 8:30am-4:30pm. Both events will take place in the Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room 153 of the Rubenstein Library. The symposium is co-sponsored by the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History & Culture, Department of Romance Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

Archive as Ceremony Symposium flyer, March 2 and 3

Any researchers wishing to use the collection should register a research account and order materials prior to their visit. The collection guide for the papers is now live – https://archives.lib.duke.edu/catalog/wyntersylvia . For any additional inquires, please contact the Franklin Research Center – franklin-collection@duke.edu.

Program for “Archive as Ceremony,” March 3, 2026 (Holsti-Anderson Assembly Room, Rubenstein 153)

9:00am – Light breakfast

9:30am – Opening Remarks

9:45am – Keynote Address, Anthony Bogues, Asa Messer Professor of Humanities and Africana Studies, Affiliated Professor of History of Art and Political Science, Brown University, “Archives : Black radical/ anti-Colonial Thought / Theory and History Making”

10:30 Discussant: Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, Associate Professor of Literature, Duke University

10:45-11:00, Q&A

11:00-11:15 Break

11:15-12:00 Roundtable, “Organized Noise: Processing and Making Public the Sylvia Wynter Papers”, with John B. Gartrell, Tracy Jackson, Russell-Flowers Technical Services Archivist, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, and Bedour Alagraa, Assistant Professor of Political and Social Thought in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin

Noon-1:00 Lunch Break

1:00 Panel, “The Discovery Archive and the Journey Toward the Human”

Diego Ávila López, Doctoral Student in Romance Studies, “Navigating 1492: Sylvia Wynter and the Colonial in the Archive”

Michaelle Vilmont, Doctoral Student in Romance Studies, “Who Brings Society Into Being? Sylvia Wynter, Frantz Fanon, and the Genres of Being Human”

1:45 Discussants: Richard Rosa, Associate Professor of Romance Studies, Duke University; Tony Ballas, Doctoral Student in Literature, Duke University

2:00 Q&A

2:15 Panel, “Wynter from Subsistence to Catastrophe”

Bedour Alagraa, Assistant Professor of Political and Social Thought in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, “The Interminable Catastrophe”

Isabel Bradley, Assistant Professor of French Literature, Thought, and Culture, New York University, “On Subsistence and the Sociogenic Principle”

3:00 Discussants: Anne-Maria Makhulu, Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Duke University; Laurent Dubois, John L. Nau III Bicentennial Professor in the History & Principles of Democracy at the University of Virginia

3:15 Q&A

3:30-3:45 Break

3:45 Epilogue: Deborah Jenson, Professor Emeritus of Romance Studies, Duke University, “Sylvia Wynter: Human Autonomy and the ‘Cognitive Charter’”

4:00 Discussant: Felwine Sarr, Anne-Marie Bryan Distinguished Professor of French, Duke University

4:15-4:30 Q&A

Thanks to the facilitation of Professor Anthony Bogues, the John Hope Franklin Research Center was able to acquire the papers of Sylvia Wynter in 2018. Over the last 2.5 years, the archive has been painstakingly organized and prepared to be shared with the wide range of scholars from those who know Wynter’s work intimately to those who are only discovering her voice. A small team here are Duke, including scholars, graduate students, the staff of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library and the Duke University Libraries exhibition team has dedicated this past year to commemorate the opening access to these papers with this symposium and exhibition which serve as a prelude to the seeds of future events involving the large and distinguished community of Sylvia Wynter scholars, students and researchers whom we acknowledge humbly and respectfully.