CAS/MillerComm Lecture Series Fall 2003 Select an Event -------------- Tim D. White -9/10/03 Margaret Leinen -9/11/03 Robert Farris Thompson -9/13/03 Gerda Lerner -9/17/03 Joan Ramon Resina -9/26/03 Lily Kong -10/2/03 David J. Cohen -10/8/03 Adrian Piper -10/11/03 Lennard J. Davis -10/13/03 Yann Martel -10/20/03 Frederick Marx -10/29/03 Mary Clutter -10/30/03 Charles R.H. Tripp -11/4/03 Warrington Hudlin -11/6/03 Amina Mama -11/11/03 Revealing Human Evolution September 10, 2003 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum 600 South Gregory, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Tim D. White Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley Tim White, one of the world's most pre-eminent human paleontologists, discusses his research team's most recent discoveries in the Afar Region of Ethiopia and what these tell us about the origins of our species. Sponsored by: Department of Anthropology In conjunction with: Department of Animal Sciences, Department of Geology, Department of Psychology, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Program on Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials, School of Integrative Biology, Spurlock Museum Tim White was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. Understanding Complex Environmental Systems: An Exploration of NSF's Vision for the Decade September 11, 2003 Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Margaret Leinen Assistant Director, Geosciences Directorate, National Science Foundation How do we solve tomorrow's environmental problems today? Margaret Leinen, National Science Foundation Assistant Director and Coordinator for Environmental Research and Education, shares NSF's compelling new vision of how research, education and technology must intersect to benefit the earth, life and society in the 21st century. Sponsored by: The Environmental Council In conjunction with: Beckman Institute, Campus Honors Program, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of Community Health, Department of Crop Sciences, Department of Educational Psychology, Department of Entomology, Department of General Engineering, Department of Geography, Department of Geology, Department of History, Department of Landscape Architecture, Department of Leisure Studies, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Department of Plant Biology, Department of Sociology, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Illinois Natural History Survey, Illinois State Water Survey, Illinois Waste Management and Research Center, School of Architecture, School of Integrative Biology Margaret Leinen was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. Tango: The Art History of Love September 13, 2003 Saturday, 3:00 p.m. Room 62, Krannert Art Museum 500 East Peabody Drive, Champaign University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Robert Farris Thompson Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the History of Art, Yale University Using slides, music, video and live drumming, Robert Farris Thompson presents a performance/lecture on African and European sounds, moves, and action brought to exquisite fusion in the rise of the world tradition called Tango. The Annual Jerrold Ziff Distinguished Lecture in Modern Art Sponsored by: Art History Program In conjunction with: Afro-American Studies and Research Program, Center for African Studies, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Krannert Art Museum, Lorado Taft Lecture Fund, Rohlen Visiting Artist Fund, School of Art and Design A Life of Struggle for Justice: Gerda Lerner and Her Political Autobiography, Fireweed September 17, 2003 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Gerda Lerner Robinson-Edwards Professor of History Emerita, University of Wisconsin, Madison Gerda Lerner draws upon her lifetime experiences as a Jewish woman, prisoner of the Nazis, refugee, housewife, and political activist to discuss the rise of fascism, McCarthyism, and the Cold War. One of the founders of the field of women's history, her books include Black Women in White America, The Majority Finds Its Past, and The Creation of Patriarchy. Sponsored by: Department of History In conjunction with: Afro-American Studies and Research Program, Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, Department of Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Gender and Women's Studies Program, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Institute of Communications Research, Office of the Chancellor, Program in Jewish Culture and Society, Women and Gender in Global Perspective Program Gerda Lerner was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. On the Margins of Modernism: Looking in on Barcelona's Barrio Chino September 26, 2003 Friday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Joan Ramon Resina Department of Romance Studies and Comparative Literature, Cornell University An urban image is a summary of the dweller's aspirations and aversions, expectations and delusions, but the city also receives its identity from outsiders who "discover" it through an authorizing look. Joan Ramon Resina considers some of the ways Barcelona, or more precisely its port-side fifth district, known as the barrio chino, became a zone of encounters between local and foreign gazes in the 1920s and 1930s. This lecture is held in conjunction with the international conference on "Recalcitrant Modernities: Spain, Difference, and the Construction of European Modernism," to be held September 26 -27. The conference is free and open to the public. For more information, please go to www.sip.uiuc.edu/modernity Sponsored by: Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese School of Art and Design In conjunction with: Chancellor's Initiative on The Humanities in a Globalizing World, College of Fine and Applied Arts, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, International Programs and Studies, Hewlitt International Conference Grant, Krannert Art Museum, Program In Comparative and World Literature, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, Program for the Cultural Cooperation Between Spain's Ministry of Culture, Education and Sport and United States' Universities Cultural Industries: Producing Economies, Creating Meanings, and Defying Dichotomies October 2, 2003 Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Lily Kong Professor of Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore This talk grows out of Lily Kong's fascination for the Hong Kong-and Singapore-based Chinese film company -Shaw Brothers- whose media empire is a major powerhouse in contemporary Asia. The Shaw Brothers' contributions to the film industry and beyond open up a multitude of issues about globalization and cultural industries, foregrounding the production of economies, the creation of meanings and the defiance of dichotomies. Here, Kong suggests an agenda for research into the Asian culture industry which goes beyond the focus that has hitherto dominated Third World Cinema - that of the nation-state. Sponsored by: Department of History, Unit for Cinema Studies In conjunction with: Afro-American Studies and Research Program, Asian American Studies Program, Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of Geography, Humanities in a Globalizing World Initiative, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Mellon Humanities Initiative, Office of the Chancellor Witnessing War Crimes Trials October 8, 2003 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign David J. Cohen Chancellor's Professor of Rhetoric and Classics and Director, War Crimes Studies Center, University of California at Berkeley One of the world's leading experts on war crimes and their adjudication, Professor Cohen will discuss war crimes and human rights trials in East Timor, Indonesia, The Hague, Sierra Leone, and Rwanda and their political, legal, and humanitarian significance. Sponsored by: Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Program in Jewish Culture and Society In conjunction with: College of Law, Department of Anthropology, Department of the Classics, Department of English, Department of Political Science, International Programs and Studies, Office of Continuing Education, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, Program in Comparative and World Literature, Russian and East European Center, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory David Cohen was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. Now What? Awakening from the Dream of Whiteness October 11, 2003 Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Knight Auditoriumm, Spurlock Museum 600 South Gregory, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Adrian Piper Artist and Professor, Department of Philosophy, Wellesley College Now that we know that the concept of race was developed in order to rationalize slavery in the Americas and has no legitimate use, meaning, or reference, how do we deal with the blatant inequities in wealth, status, and opportunities inherited from the fictional concept of whiteness? In particular, how do "whites" who have benefited from this fiction deal with them? This talk is part of a symposium on "After Whiteness: Race and the Visual Arts" held earlier in the day by the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society. For more information please call 244-0188 or access cdms.ds.uiuc.edu. Sponsored by: Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, School of Art and Design In conjunction with: Afro-American Studies and Research Program, College of Fine and Applied Arts,Gender and Women's Studies Program, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Krannert Art Museum, Office of the Chancellor, School of Art and Design, Art Education Program, Narrative Media Program, Painting Program, Spurlock Museum, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program After Identity Politics: Race, Disability, and the New Genomics October 13, 2003 Monday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Lennard J. Davis Professor of English, Disability and Human Development, and Medical Education, and Director, Center for Biocultures, University of Illinois at Chicago If we are not successful in crafting a new progressive way of seeing identity, science, left to its own devices, will invent a new identity for us through the authority of the new research being done in the name of the human genome. Sign Language Interpretation will be provided at the lecture. Sponsored by: Department of Educational Psychology In conjunction with: Center for Writing Studies, Department of English, Department of Special Education, Disability Research Institute, Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Lennard Davis was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. Yann Martel: A Reading of His Fiction October 20, 2003 Monday, 7:30 p.m. Auditorium, Smith Memorial Hall 805 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Yann Martel Author of The Life of Pi , Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize Yann Martel is one of the world's most respected contemporary writers. He is the author of the short story collection The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios, the novel Self, and the international best-seller Life of Pi, his second novel and winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize. The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities will present a panel discussion "Yann Martel, Life of Pi, and the World of Religion" on Tuesday, October 21 starting at 4:00 pm, Levis Faculty Center, 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana. Sponsored by: Carr Visiting Authors Series, Department of English, MFA Program in Creative Writing In conjunction with: Department of Anthropology, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Program for the Study of Religion, Program in Comparative and World Literature, Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, University Library Yann Martel was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. Boys to Men? The Necessity of Initiation and Mentorship for Teenage Boys October 29, 2003 Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Frederick Marx Academy and Emmy nominated Independent Filmmaker; Hoop Dreams Using clips from Hoop Dreams and Boys to Men? film director/writer/producer/editor Frederick Marx argues the societal necessity to resurrect ritual initiation and mentoring of teenage boys. In this context, he also discusses themes from his upcoming feature documentary New American Heroes , a year-long study of six 15 year old boys from six different U.S. cities, different also across race, class, culture, and family structure, who undergo different ritual initiations. While on campus Frederick Marx is a guest in residence in the Unit One Living Learning Community. For more information about this visit, please call 333.8351 or contact http://www.housing.uiuc.edu/living/unit1/. Sponsored by: Unit One In conjunction with: Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society, Department of Kinesiology Frederick Marx was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. 21st Century Biology October 30, 2003 Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Auditorium, National Soybean Research Center 1101 West Peabody Drive, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Mary Clutter Assistant Director, Biological Sciences Directorate, National Science Foundation Biology cannot be boxed in by the academic, disciplinary and regulatory barriers of the 20th century if it intends to meet the challenges of the 21st. It must be a new, boundary-free discipline --multidisciplinary, multidimensional, information-driven, education-oriented, and engaged in the global arena. Federal support for basic research recognizes the need for a new paradigm with funding levels and directions that reflect the emphasis on new partnerships between federal, state, private, and international concerns. Sponsored by: Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences In conjunction with: College of Business, College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Department of Animal Sciences, Department of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering, Department of Computer Science, Department of Crop Sciences, Department of Entomology, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Department of Plant Biology, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, International Programs and Studies, Nutritional Sciences Division, Office of Research, ACES, Office of Research, CVM, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program The Future of Iraq November 4, 2003 Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Charles R.H. Tripp Department of Political Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and author, A History of Iraq (Cambridge, 2002). The future of Iraq cannot be foretold with any certainty. But its recent history may suggest both the possibilities and the limits of change. Three years before the war to remove Saddam Hussein as Iraq's leader, Charles Tripp wrote that with the removal of his regime "new spaces will open up and new possibilities will be created for other narratives to assert themselves in the shaping of Iraqi history. This does not mean that all traces of the present regime will vanish. They will continue to exist both in the processes and structures which it has developed and in the conditions and attitudes which allowed it to emerge. The population of Iraq is not condemned to repeat this history ... [but] those who are seeking to develop a new narrative for the history of Iraq must recognise the powerful legacies at work in the country if they do not want to succumb to their logic." Sponsored by: Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies In conjunction with: Asian American Studies Program, Department of Anthropology, Department of French, Department of History, Department of Linguistics, Department of Political Science, Department of Sociology, Global Crossroads International Living and Learning Center, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, International Programs and Studies, Military Education Council, Office of Global Studies, Program for the Study of Religion, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament and International Security, Program in Comparative and World Literature, Program in Jewish Culture and Society, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory Charles Tripp was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. A Filmmaker's Journey: From East St. Louis to Hollywood to Cyberspace November 6, 2003 Thursday, 4:00 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Warrington Hudlin Independent Filmmaker and President, Black Filmmakers Foundation Warrington Hudlin has long been recognized as a pioneer in the black independent cinema movement. Born and raised in East St. Louis, he graduated from Yale in 1974; the documentary Black at Yale: A Diary soon followed. In addition to producing feature films, including House Party, Boomerang and Bebe's Kids, he works with digital film and the Internet. An activist as well, Hudlin co-founded the Black Filmmakers Foundation and DVREpublic.com to provide awareness of and support for an ethnically diverse cinema. Sponsored by: Afro-American Studies and Research Program In conjunction with: African American Cultural Center, Asian American Studies Program, Center for African Studies, Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society, Department of Anthropology, Department of the Classics, Department of History, Department of Kinesiology, Department of Political Science, Department of Theatre, Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, Institute of Communications Research, Krannert Art Museum, La Casa Cultural Latina, Latina/o Studies Program, Media Studies Program, Office of Continuing Education, School of Music, Unit for Cinema Studies, Unit for Criticism and Interpretive theory, University Housing, Division of Student Affairs, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, Douglass Community Center, Parkland College Black Student Association Warrington Hudlin was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here. Strengthening Gender Studies for Africa's Transformation November 11, 2003 Tuesday , 7:30 p.m. Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center 919 West Illinois Street, Urbana University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Amina Mama Chair and Professor of Gender Studies, African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town The expansion of gender studies in Africa reflects the growing realization that the struggle for gender justice is central to the social and political transformation of the continent. Yet, the institutionalization of strong programs in gender studies in African universities is currently hampered by a range of structural and ideological obstacles. Since gender studies remain underdeveloped in African institutions of higher learning, the region continues to be deprived of significant human and intellectual resources for social transformation. Sponsored by: Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program, Center for African Studies In conjunction with: Afro-American Studies and Research Program, Center on Democracy in a Multicultural Society, College of Law, Department of Anthropology, Department of Human and Community Development, Department of Political Science, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Gender and Women's Studies Program, International Programs and Studies, Mortenson Center for International Library Programs, Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Amina Mama was on WILL-AM radio's call-in program, FOCUS-580. Listen to the archived interview here.