JASP 2025: Catching up with Damianne Scott
- Delicia Johnson
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
This year’s four-day symposium, JASP 2025: Sensibility and Domesticity, will take place June 19-22, 2025, in historic New Bern, North Carolina. We will be focusing on Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, and considering the birth of her career as a published author and taking a transatlantic look at the world into which she was born. Program topics include medicine, birth, and domestic arts in Regency England and colonial North Carolina. We’ll be covering the aforementioned topics and celebrating Austen’s 250th birthday through a wide range of activities including workshops, small-group discussions, and workshops. Our Regency Ball is also not an event to be missed! We can’t wait to celebrate Austen’s 250th birthday with you!
In anticipation of JASP 2025 we caught up with Damianne Scott, the founder Black Girl Loves Jane, a Facebook group devoted to promoting and celebrating diversity within the Austen community. Damianne was a JASP 2021 speaker, contributing to the panel on Austen's afterlives in media. She also lectured for Jane Austen & Co.'s 'Race and the Regency' series, giving the talk 'Bridgerton's Queen Charlotte is Playing to the Masses and It's About Time'.
What did you enjoy about your presentations for both JASP 2021 and Jane Austen & Co.?
I truly enjoyed giving a fresh perspective on discussing Regency through a Person of Color's point of view. Before 2021, I believed that POC's participation in Regency was being ignored. The 2021 JASP Summer Program and the Race and Regency program were a sign that Janeites were welcoming to POC.
Why do you think Austen's Sense and Sensibility is important not only to her body of work but the entire literary canon? Why do you believe people should read it?
Sense and Sensibility was the first Austen novel I saw on film, and probably the third novel read. S&S is important to the canon of Austen because it balances the hoop- and- holla over P&P. People should read S&S because it is quieter due to the lack of sisters and their chattiness/cattiness. Elinor and Marianne were not in competition with each other. The Bennet sisters are the opposite. And, S&S is more serious than P&P about the consequences of women who were seduced by Rakes, i.e Eliza and Willoboughy.
Film and publicity stills from Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Which S& S character do you dislike the most?
The character I dislike the most is Lucy Steele due to her manipulation of Edward's honor and her deceit regarding her knowledge of Edward's love for Elinor.
Film stills from Sense and Sensibility (1995)
What do you love about Jane Austen and her works?
I love Austen because she writes relatable characters.
Why should people attend JASP 2025?
To celebrate the greatness of Austen, of course!
Do you have any recent projects?
My latest contribution to the Janehood is a presentation from the 2024 Jane Austen Society Annual General Meeting titled 'Do You Dream Of Austen In Color?'. And I wrote an essay in a book called Retelling Jane Austen. My essay is titled 'Unwarranted Disapprovals: The Campaign to Stop Diversity and Inclusiveness in Jane Austen Films'.
There are only a few places left for JASP 2025. We hope to see you in New Bern, NC!
JASP 2025 is partially supported by a grant from North Carolina Humanities.
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