George A. Miller
When George A. Miller died in 1951 he left an estate of almost a million dollars to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "to be used . . . for educational purposes . . . other than current general operating expenses." More Information
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Support for this series as a whole is 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 Programs Committee and Peggy Harris Memorial Fund, The Council of Deans, The David Gottlieb Memorial Foundation, and The Graduate College.
Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of the Religious Law of Islam
September 5, 2007
Wednesday, 4:00 p.m.
Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center
919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im
Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, School of Law, Emory University
Professor An-Na'im argues that the state cannot be Islamic and that the Shari'a (usually translated as "Islamic Law") by its nature defies codification and implementation by the state. A Shari'a principle ceases to be Shari'a when it is enforced by the state. He also argues that he needs a secular state to be a Muslim by conviction, it is impossible to believe unless it is also possible to disbelieve.
In conjunction with:
Center for African Studies, Center for Global Studies, College of Law, Department of Anthropology, Department of Journalism, Department of Political Science, Department of Psychology, Department of Sociology, International Programs and Studies, Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security, Program in Comparative and World Literature, Women and Gender in Global Perspectives Program
Love and Beauty in Plato's Symposium: 'Only in the Contemplation of Beauty is Human Life Worth Living'
September 13, 2007
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center
919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
Alexander Nehamas
Carpenter Professor of
Humanities, Princeton University
This lecture takes three ideas from Socrates' famous speech on love (eros) in Plato's Symposium and advances them as providing a plausible contemporary understanding of beauty: first, love desires to possess beauty; second, love desires to 'give birth' in beauty's presence; and third, love drives lovers to place beauty in ever broader contexts. These ideas bear remarkable similarities to Nietzsche's views on beauty and illuminate the importance of beauty as a value in the general economy of life.
This presentation keynotes the conference Life, the Universe, Everything — and More: Plato's Timaeus Today held September 13 – 16. For more information visit www.timaeus.uiuc.edu.
In conjunction with:
More than forty-five campus units and community organizations are supporting this presentation. For a complete listing
Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz
October 9, 2007
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Third Floor, Levis Faculty Center
919 West Illinois Street, Urbana
Jan Gross
Krouse Family Visiting Scholar, UIUC and Department of History, Princeton University
Jan Gross addresses the politics and memory of anti-Jewish violence in Poland after the Holocaust. Commenting on Polish-Jewish relations in the immediate postwar period, as well as on the ways in which Polish society has attempted to confront and master its own past, Gross considers questions of inter-ethnic conflict and genocide, institutions of social memory and national identity, and neighborly politics.
In conjunction with:
Department of Anthropology, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures,
Department of History,
Department of Political Science,
Department of Sociology,
European Union Center,
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities,
Program for the Study of Religion,
Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center,
Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory,
Champaign-Urbana Jewish Federation
Understanding America's Immigration "Crisis"
October 11, 2007
Thursday, 4:00 p.m.
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
600 South Gregory Street, Urbana
Douglas Massey
Department of Sociology, Princeton University
Since 1986 the United States has employed a politics of contradiction in its relations with Mexico. With US encouragement, Mexico joined GATT in that year and embarked on a neoliberal economic project that opened its economy to trade, investments, and exchange, a project that was institutionalized by NAFTA, ratified by the United States, and fully enacted in 1994. Over the same period, however, the US has poured increasing resources into maintaining the illusion of a controlled border that is impervious to the flow of Mexican workers, even as it becomes more permeable with respect to capital, information, goods, commodities, and services. Douglas Massey will document the contradictory policy of growing integration and increasing separation and then trace out the costs of this self-deception for the inhabitants of both countries and the people who move between them.
This lecture is held in anticipation of the 2008-2009 CAS Initiative Immigration: History and Policy which will bring together scholars in the social sciences, law, computer science, engineering and humanities to explore new approaches to immigration and its controversies.
In conjunction with:
African American Studies and Research Program,
Center for African Studies,
Center for Global Studies,
Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society,
Children and Family Research Center,
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics,
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures,
Department of Human and Community Development,
Department of Geography,
Department of Political Science,
Department of Sociology,
Global Crossroads Living and Learning Community,
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities,
Institute of Communications Research,
Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations,
Latina/Latino Studies Program,
Program in Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security,
Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies,
School of Social Work,
Spurlock Museum,
Unit for Criticism and interpretive Theory
Lessons From Superconductivity
October 11, 2007
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Ballroom, Alice Campbell Alumni Center
601 South Lincoln Street, Urbana
Steven Weinberg
Nobel Laureate
(Physics), 1979 and
Department of Physics,
University of Texas at Austin
Symmetry is a fundamental organizational principle of nature. Patterns of symmetry
breaking define disparate phases
of matter. This talk will highlight
the common thread between broken
symmetry in superconductivity
and the origin of mass in particle physics.
In conjunction with:
Department of Mathematics,
Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
Materials Research Laboratory
Nukes in a Globalizing World
November 1, 2007
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
600 South Gregory Street, Urbana
Pervez Hoodbhoy
Department of Physics, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy — distinguished physicist, educator, documentary
filmmaker, political commentator,
and activist — will discuss
the complex interactions between
the forces of globalization
and development of nuclear
technology. He will examine
the collapse of international
nonproliferation treaties,
and pursuit of the Bomb by
states like North Korea and
Iran. Hoodbhoy will also address
related issues such as the
specter of nuclear terrorism,
whether the Islam-West clash
can go nuclear, and global
efforts to reach the goal of
a nuclear-safe world.
In conjunction with:
Center for Global Studies, College of Law,
Department of Educational Policy Studies,
Department of Political Science,
Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering,
Environmental Council,
Global Crossroads Living and Learning Community,
International Programs and Studies,
LAS Global Studies Initiative,
Program for the Study of Religion,
Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies,
Spurlock Museum
African Popular Cinema, Pentecostalism, and the "Powers of Darkness": Contested Discourses on "Tradition" in Ghana
November 8, 2007
Thursday, 7:30 p.m.
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
600 South Gregory Street, Urbana
Birgit Meyer
Department of Social and
Cultural Anthropology,
VU University Amsterdam
Popular movie-videos emerged in Ghana and Nigeria in the late 1980s as
a result of media deregulation
and commercialization of the film
industry. These popular videos
spread quickly throughout Africa.
Their themes address a war between
the Christian God and the “powers
of darkness,” embodied by indigenous
priests, magic, and witchcraft.
Whereas “tradition” and “cultural
heritage” are honored in the African films marketed to many European
and American audiences, these filmmakers
seriously challenge those discourses.
In conjunction with:
Center for Global Studies,
Department of Anthropology,
Department of English,
Department of History,
Department of Journalism,
Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities,
International Programs and Studies,
Program for the Study of Religion,
Program in Comparative and World Literature,
School of Art and Design,
School of Music,
Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education Program,
Spurlock Museum,
Unit for Cinema Studies
Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
This lecture opens the African Film Conference continuing November 9-10 , Room
210, Illini Union, organized by the Center for African Studies.
For more information, call 333-6335 or consult http://www.afrst.uiuc.edu/.
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