CAS/MillerComm Lecture Series archive : fall 2000 Guns, Germs and Steel November 13, 2000 Monday, 7:30 p.m. Lincoln Hall Theater 702 South Wright Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Jared Diamond Department of Physiology, University of California at Los Angeles, member National Academy of Sciences, and recipient of President's National Medal of Science To explain the past 13,000 years of human history, Jared Diamond has proposed a provocative thesis which dispels racially-based theories and emphasizes the unequal distribution of domesticable animals and climatic barriers to the dissemination of early agriculture and technological developments which advantaged certain peoples. Jared Diamond is the author of Guns, Germs and Steel: Fates of Human Society 1998 Pulitzer Prize Winner for general non fiction, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the President's National Medal of Science. Sponsored by: Department of Animal Sciences in conjunction with: Campus Honors Program, College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Animal Biology, Department of Anthropology, Department of Biochemistry, Department of Cell and Structural Biology, Department of Crop Sciences, Department of Entomology, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Department of Geography, Department of History, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Microbiology, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Department of Plant Biology, Department of Psychology, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, International Programs and Studies, Medical Humanities and Social Science Program, Medical Scholars Program, Military Education Council, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and, International Security (ACDIS), School of Integrative Biology, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Champaign County Farm Bureau Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College The Copyright Consequences of Paul Simon Meeting West Africa's Highlife Muse: Yaa Amponsah November 9, 2000 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Auditorium, Music Building 1114 W. Nevada, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign John Collins Department of Music, School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon Are there problems applying modern individualistic notions of copyright to a folk culture? What are they? Collins examines how the royalties paid by Paul Simon for the use of a Ghanaian tune by Yaa Amponsah* resulted in a number of negative consequences and how this well-intentioned action resulted in a folkloric tax being applied to Ghanaian nationals for the commercial use of their own indigenous folklore. *For his Rhythm of the Saints album, specifically the song, "Spirit Voices," Paul Simon used Yaa Amponsah's music. Sponsored by: The Center for African Studies in conjunction with: College of Law, Department of Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, International Programs and Studies, School of Music and Ford Foundation Initiative in Revitalizing Area Studies: Crossing Borders Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College Scientist in the Crib October 25, 2000 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Alison Gopnik Professor of Psychology and Leading Cognitive Scientist at UC Berkeley In the last 30 years we have learned more about what young children know and how they learn than we did in the preceding 2500 years. Scientists have found that children know a great deal to begin with, literally from the time they are born. They have extremely powerful learning abilities, in some ways greater than the abilities of the smartest scientists and the most sophisticated computers. And grown-ups are designed to unconsciously teach babies and young children just the things they need to know. Sponsored by: Department of Educational Policy Studies in conjunction with: College of Nursing, Department of Anthropology, Department of Community Health, Department of Educational Psychology, Department of Human and Community Development, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Psychology, Department of Special Education, Medical Scholars Program and The Nursing Institute Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College Changing Employment Structures and Economic Insecurity: A Global Gender Perspective October 20, 2000 Friday, 4:00 p.m. Room 314, Illini Union 1401 West Green Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Lourdes Beneria Director, Gender and Global Change Program, Professor of City and Regional Planning and Women's Studies, Cornell University Lourdes Beneria studies the ways in which current economic restructuring affects changing employment dynamics and labor contracts, both in formal and informal employment. Using a gender perspective as well as an economic one, she focuses on the tendency for "core firms" to shift production to "periphery firms" and on the growing labor market insecurity. Sponsored by: Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program in conjunction with: Afro-American Studies and Research Program, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Center for African Studies, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Center for International Business Education and Research, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Department of Economics, Department of Geography, Department of History, Department of Human and Community Development, Department of Kinesiology, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Department of Political Science, Department of Psychology, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Environmental Council, European Union Center, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, International Programs and Studies, Institute of Government and Political Affairs, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations, Program for Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security, School of Social Work and Women's Studies Program Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College Pale Faces October 18, 2000 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Carolyn Dinshaw Professor of English and Director, Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, New York University Paleness is both an inborn characteristic (a racial mark) and an uncontrollable somatic effect of emotional duress (a mark of affect). Carolyn Dinshaw will look at the pale faces of Christians under duress from the East in Chaucer's texts, at the pale faces of the nineteenth-century British editors of Chaucer's texts (working in and around India), and at her own pale face as a South Asian American medievalist and reader of Chaucer. Sponsored by: Department of English in conjunction with: Art History Program, Department of Anthropology, Department of the Classics, Department of French, Department of Germanic Languages and Literature, Department of History, Department of Sociology, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory and Women's Studies Program Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College Beggars and Choosers: Politics of Choice and Women's Dignity October 12, 2000 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Rickie Solinger Historian and Author, Wake Up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race Before Roe v. Wade Historian Rickie Solinger discusses the consequences of selecting the most consumerist term of our times -- CHOICE -- as women's special guarantee. She considers how embracing choice has promoted a system of thinking and responding to reproductive issues that selectively protects women or exposes them to danger, depending on their race and class. The language of choice has defined some women as good choice makers, others as bad, and has facilitated a crucial shift in the terms of the debate: from women's rights to consumers' privilege. Sponsored by: The Women's Studies Program in conjunction with: Afro-American Studies and Research Program, College of Law, Department of Anthropology, Department of Educational Policy Studies, Department of History, Department of Political Science, School of Social Work and Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Graduate College, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund and The Council of Deans War and Memory in Japan October 2, 2000 Monday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign John Dower Elting E. Morison Professor History, MIT, author, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, 2000 The way Japan remembers World War II is sometimes radically at odds with the way it is remembered elsewhere. Pulitzer Prize-winner John W. Dower describes this phenomenon, assesses America's role in enabling it, and explains its implications for our understanding of the way nations construct their memories of war. This presentation is part of the Rethinking East Asia Series sponsored by the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies. Please consult www.eaps.uiuc.edu/center.html or call 333-7273 for more information on this occasional lecture series. Sponsored by: Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies in conjunction with: Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of History, Department of Sociology, Drobny Program for Jewish Culture and Society, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities and Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS) Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College Inside the Scientific Mind: How Scientists Think, Reason, and Generate New Knowledge September 27, 2000 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Auditorium, Beckman Institute 405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Kevin Dunbar Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal and Director: Laboratory for Complex Thinking and Scientific Reasoning Scientists frequently talk about the ways that they make discoveries and tell two main types of stories. One is of flashes of insight and chance occurrences that resulted in spontaneous discoveries. The other is of an incremental approach that slowly led to a discovery. Both types of stories give interesting and sometimes illuminating insights into the cognitive machinery underlying the creative scientific mind. Unfortunately, scientists forget details of what really happened in a discovery and often erroneously reconstruct the events leading up to a discovery. Furthermore, even detailed lab notes fail to reveal the full range of mental processes that were used in a discovery. Thus, to uncover what it is that scientists really do it is important to investigate scientists "live" as they think and reason in their laboratories. Sponsored by: The Center for Advanced Study in conjunction with: Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Biotechnology Center, Campus Honors Program, Department of Biochemistry, Department of Cell and Structural Biology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Department of Crop Sciences, Department of Educational Psychology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of Entomology, Department of Molecular and Integrative Biology, Department of Psychology, Institute of Communication Research, Medical Scholars Program, Neuroscience Program, Program for the Study of Science, Technology, Information and Medicine (STIM) and School of Integrative Biology Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College Dancing Across Boundaries; Kathakali, Shakespeare and Folk Performances September 21, 2000 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Auditorium, Smith Memorial Hall 805 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Arjun Raina Dancer, Actor and Writer A lecture-demonstration about Kathakali, a dance-theater from Kerala, India and how it can be 'crossed' with other theatrical traditions to create dynamic new forms of theatre. Arjun Raina (with Rajendran Pillai) will present classical pieces from the Mahabharata, perform extracts from Shakespeare's plays in Kathakali, and finally combine Kathakali with tribal music and dance to tell stories about our changing world. Sponsored by: Department of English and Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies in conjunction with: Department of Anthropology, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of Linguistics, Department of Theater, Environmental Council Program in Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security (ACDIS), Program for the Study of Religion, School of Music, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, Indian Cultural Society and University YMCA Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College Renewing Democracy, Revitalizing Our Communities: Labor's Call for Sharing Prosperity in the New Economy September 19, 2000 Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Wagner Education Center , Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations Building 504 East Armory, Champaign University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Amy Dean President, Labor Council of South Bay, AFL-CIO, San Jose, CA The "New Economy" has shredded the old Social Contract that sustained the prosperity of post-war America. The South Bay AFL-CIO, the local federation of unions in Silicon Valley, has become a laboratory for initiatives geared toward rebuilding the link between industry success and community well-being. Uniquely combining research, public policy, leadership development, and advocacy, these efforts are all aimed at rebuilding a public voice for working families in the community, at work, and in the halls of government. Sponsored by: The Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations in conjunction with: Asian-American Studies Committee, Department of Community Health, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of History, Department of Sociology, Drobny Program on Jewish Culture and Society, Latina/o Studies Program, Office of Minority Student Affairs, School of Social Work, AFL-CIO of Champaign County, Union of Professional Employees and University YMCA Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College The Ethical and Social Implications of Human Medical Genetics September 13, 2000 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Room 407, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Donald Kohn Professor of Pediatrics, and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, USC and Director, John Connell Gene Therapy Program, Children's Hospital, Los Angeles Critical to the contemporary human genetic experimentation agenda is human gene therapy, that is, inserting alien DNA into a patient's body to achieve a therapeutic effect. Donald Kohn provides an assessment of the compelling human dimensions associated with medical interventions to save children's lives by manipulating genetic parameters and how these concerns differ between pediatric and adult patients. He will also discuss the manner in which the federal government regulates this research, its strengths, and weaknesses. Sponsored by: Department of Political Science and Robinson-Carmen CRI Initiative in conjunction with: College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Entomology, School of Integrative Biology, School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Illinois Foundation and University Office for Development Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College When Jesus was an Aryan: Collisions Between Jewish and Christian Theologians in Modern Germany September 12, 2000 Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Susannah Heschel Eli Black Professor of Jewis Studies, Dartmouth College; Paul and Ann Krouse Visiting Scholar, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Focusing on the relations between Jewish and Christians theologians in modern Germany, Heschel highlights the conflicting and self-serving attempts to redefine the nature of Jesus between 1857 and 1945. Sponsored by: Drobny Interdisciplinary Program for the Study of Jewish Culture and Society and Paul and Ann Krouse Endowment in conjunction with: Department of Anthropology, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, Department of History, Department of Philosophy, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Program for the Study of Religion, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, Women's Studies Program, B'Nai B'rith Hillel Foundation, Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation and Champaign-Urbana Ministerial Association Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the Graduate College, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund and The Council of Deans A Journalist's Personal Encounter with His Native Land September 11, 2000 Monday, 7:30 p.m. Room 407, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Serge Schmemann Deputy Foreign Editor, New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of critically acclaimed Echoes of a Native Land: Two Centuries of a Russian Village, Serge Schmemann recounts his experiences as an American correspondent returning to his native land as it faced monumental changes in the 80s and 90s and discusses Russia's future as it enters the 21st century with new president, Vladimir Putin. Sponsored by: The Russian and East European Center in conjunction with: Department of Anthropology, Department of English, Department of History, Department of Journalism, Department of Political Science, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Department of Sociology, Drobny Program for the Study of Jewish Culture and Society, International Programs and Studies, Office of Continuing Education, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security (ACDIS) Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College From the Senses to Sense: An Electrophysiciological View on the Human Brain Activities August 30, 2000 Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. Auditorium, Beckman Institute 405 North Mathews Avenue, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Marta Kutas Departments of Cognitive Science and Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego A leading expert in the field of cognitive neuroscience, Marta Kutas will describe her lab’s research showing that while brain waves cannot be used to read people’s minds they themselves can be read, and in so doing we can learn more about how our daily experiences influence the organization of the knowledge in our minds/brains, which in turn affects how we make sense of sensory inputs, especially language. Lyle Lanier Lecture Established in 1986, this lectureship is in honor of Lyle Lanier who served as Head of Psychology, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Provost at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Sponsored by: Department of Psychology in conjunction with Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, College of Medicine, Department of Linguistics, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology and School of Molecular and Cellular Biology Series support provided by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, The Center for Advanced Study, George A. Miller Endowment,, George A. Miller Committee, Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans and The Graduate College