Return to Humanities Calendar Archives
| Tuesday, April 8 | |
| 3:30 PM | Asian Studies Lecture "Feminism in Pakistani Literature and Society," Kishwar Naheed. Naheed is a well known scholar of Pakistani and Urdu literature. The South Asia Center is pleased to host her as part of the American Institute of Pakistan Studies Pakistan Lecture Series. Sponsored by South Asia Center, Jackson School and American Institute of Pakistan Studies. For more information, contact sascuw@u.washington.edu or 206-543-4800. 3:30 pm, Thomson 317. |
| 3:30 PM | Transnational Studies Lecture "Defending the 'Home Soil': Environmental Discourse, Grassroots Activism and Cultural Production in Taiwan", Jeffrey Hou (Architecture, UW). This lecture is part of the Nature and Its Publics in the Tropical World project. For more information about the series, see the website at http://depts.washington.edu/its/tropics.htm. 3:30 pm, Communications 226. |
| 7:00 PM | Communication Lecture "Must Have Excellent Communication Skills: Speaking, Skill and the Story of an Ideology," Deborah Cameron (Languages in Education, Institute of Education, London University). One characteristic of the (post)modern world is the importance it accords to 'good communication skills'. All kinds of problems are said to be communication problems, and the solution, naturally, is to communicate better. Even in a hi-tech multimedia world, people are especially preoccupied with the oldest communication technology, face to face speech. Talk about talk--when to talk, how to talk, what to talk about with whom--is everywhere, from government reports to the Jerry Springer show. Every want ad specifies 'excellent communication skills', whether the job is that of a CEO or a cleaner in a hospital. Where did this preoccupation with 'skill' in talking come from and what lies behind it? Is it reasonable or helpful? In this presentation I will look critically at our current obsessions, and tell the story of what is, I will argue, one of the most powerful ideologies of the last 50 years. Sponsored by the departments of Speech Communication, English, and Linguistics. Admission is Free. No ticket required. 7 pm, Kane Hall Room 120. |
| Wednesday, April 9 | |
| 5:30 PM | History Lecture "The Great Game Revisited: International Updates Series," Daniel Waugh (History, UW). Waugh teaches courses on Russian and Central Asian History including a new one this spring on "The Great Game." In this talk, he will explore the earlier history of Central Asia and see whether recent events resemble those of a century ago or may in fact be different. Preregistration is required for this event. Registration fee ($25) includes talk, dinner and wine. Sponsored by Jackson School South Asia and REECAS Centers. For more information, contact sascuw@u.washington.edu or 206-543-4800. 5:30 pm, Walker-Ames Room, Kane Hall. |
| 7:30 PM | Creative Writing Lecture "Loaf or Hot Water Bottle: Translating Proust," Lydia Davis. Davis is the author of one novel and six collections of short fiction, including most recently Samuel Johnson is Indignant (McSweeney's). She is also a noted translator and her new edition of Prousts's Swann's Way will be published this spring. Davis has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Grant, a Whiting Writer's Award, a French American Foundation Translation Award, and a Chevalier from the French Government. Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times praised "the author's gifts as an observer and anarchist of emotion." She lives in New York and teaches at Bard College. This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the UW Creative Writing Program and Richard Hugo House with sponsorship from the Simpson Center for the Humanities and the UW Department of English. 7:30 pm, Kane Hall 110 |
| 7:30 PM | Pottery Lecture "Pottery: The History of Us," Fred Hart (co-owner, La Tienda Folk Art Gallery). Mr. Hart has collected ceramics from many cultures around the globe. His passion is for what pottery can tell us about the human experience. To make reservations for the 6 pm dinner option, please call 206-543-0437, non-members, please call 206-365-6305. Sponsored by the UW Faculty Auxiliary. 7:30 pm, Faculty Club Conference Room. |
| Thursday, April 10 | |
| 3:30 PM | Humanities Lecture "Ring, Ring, Ring: Machinic Sensation," Alexander Weheliye (Assistant Professor of English and African American Studies, Northwestern University). Discussions of contemporary technologies too often limit the scope of their critical projects by focusing on the Internet as the be-all-and-end-all of things virtual. They also shy away from considerations of racial formation. In contrast, this lecture highlights the manifold ways in which black popular music unearths and amplifies the aural materiality of communication technologies. Contemporary black popular music prominently features gadgets such as cellular telephones, beepers, and two-way pagers, directing our attention to modes of virtuality that are neither visual nor internet-based but still bear witness to how current social assemblages are marked by the prominence of information technologies. Using ideas derived from Gilles Deleuze, Weheliye will argue that these sonic artifacts stress the singular corporeal sensations, both in terms of lyrical content and auditory effects, and of information technologies, without resorting to a naturalization of these machines. In other words, contemporary black popular culture relishes the synthetic artificiality of cell phones and two-way pagers as much as it makes these an integral part of the performing body by accentuating their tactile provenances. Weheliye's interest lies in conjecturing the singular performances of the interface between black subjectivity and information technologies in contemporary popular music as well as their implications for current definitions of the technological. Sponsored by the Departments of English and Comparative Literature, the Office of Minority Affairs, and the Simpson Center for the Humanities. 3:30 pm, Communications 226. |
| 3:30 PM | China Studies Lecture "Interrogating Cultural Modernity in China," Yingjin Zhang (Chinese Literature and Film, Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, University of California, San Diego). Sponsored by the China Studies Program/JSIS. For more information, call (206) 543-4391. 3:30-5 pm, Communications 202. |
| 3:30 PM | Asian Studies Lecture "Between Violence and Desire: Space, Power and Identitiy in the Making of Metropolitan Delhi," Amita Baviskar. Sponsored by the South Asia Center, Jackson School. For more information, contact sascuw@u.washington.edu or 206-543-4800. 3:30 pm, Thomson 317. |
| 7:00 PM | Humanities Lecture "Varieties of Creative Experience," Adam Phillips (Essayist and Psychoanalyst, London). This is the second lecture in "Humanities on the Move" series. The former Principle Child Psychotherapist of Charing Cross Hospital, Adam Phillips is the editor of the new translation of Freud's works forthcoming in American by Penguin books. In addition to maintaining a clinical practice in London, Phillips is a wide-ranging essayist. His most recent volume Equals (2002) includes essays on T.S. Eliot, Svengali, Saul Bellow, Isherwood, and Bertrand Russell. His earlier collections include On Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored: Psychoanalytic Essays On The Unexamined Life; On Flirtation: Psychoanalytic Essays On The Uncommitted Life; Winnicott; Terrors and Experts; and The Beast In The Nursery: On Curiosity and Other Appetites. His work has appeared in The London Review Of Books, Raritan, and Threepenny Review. Sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities. 7 pm, Communications 120. |
| 7:00 PM | Lecture on Race and Identity "White Guilt and the Disappearance of the Black Individual," Shelby Steele (Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution; contributor, Wall Street Journal and other publications; author, The Content of our Character; A Dream Deferred). Steele's talk will explain how blacks are pressured to surrender their individuality in favor of an artificial black identity. In his first book, Steele, who is black, argued that whites support affirmative action in order to assuage their "white guilt." Blacks, in turn, allowed themselves to become dependent on white guilt as a source of entitlements and therefore developed an official victim status. The pressure to confirm and perpetuate this status is the great obstacle to genuine progress for blacks. This event is organized by the Washington Association of Scholars, an affiliate of the National Association of Scholars. Among its sponsors are the UW School of Law and the departments of History and English. Free and open to the public. 7:00 pm, Kane Hall 120. |
| 7:00 PM | Ancient Egypt Lecture "Ancient Egypt and the Mamluks: Architecture and Appropriation," Karen Mathews (PhD, University of California, Santa Cruz). The Mamluks were a slave dynasty that made Cairo their capital from 1250-1517. As Turkic peoples with a superficial knowledge of Islam, the Mamluks were outsiders in their own empire. To establish a sense of political legitimacy and cultural affinity with their subjects, the Mamluks incorporated a range of objects from ancient Egyptian, Roman, medieval Christian and earlier Islamic cultures into their architecture. Lecturer Karen Mathews received her PhD in art history from the University of Chicago. She has taught at several universities, including Southern Methodist University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Texas. Most recently, Mathews served as Visiting Professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is now completing a book-length project on Mamluk architecture in Cairo. This event is presented by the American Research Center in Egypt's Northwest Chapter (ARCE/NW) and cosponsored with the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization and the Comparative Religion program at the University of Washington. Lecture is free and open to the public. For more information and directions, visit http://home.earthlink.net/~arcenwor/ARCE_Northwest_Chapter.html. 7:00 pm, University of Washington Faculty Club Conference Room. |
| 7:00 PM | Genetics Lecture "Redesigning Humans: Changing Our Genes, Changing Our Future," Dr. Gregory Stock (Director, Program for Medicine, Technology, and Society, University of California at Los Angeles). Dr. Gregory Stock, author of "Redesigning Humans: Choosing Our Genes, Changing Our Future," and a world-reknowned expert on the implications of scientific advancements in reproductive biology, speaks on the new enhancement technologies that could result in 150-year life spans, parental choice in a child's genetic makeup, and a race of superhumans. Dr. Stock will also accept the first Walter P. Kistler Book Award, created by Bellevue's Foundation for the Future to recognize authors of science-based books that contribute to the public's understanding of factors shaping the future of humanity. Immediately following the presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in Conversation Cafes to talk with others about this crucial topic. This lecture is free and open to the public. Complimentary tickets may be printed fromt the Foundation for the Future website, www.futurefoundation.org. Tickets are also available at the door on a space-available basis. Call 425-451-1333 for more information. Presented by the Foundation for the Future. 7:00 pm, Town Hall (8th & Seneca, Seattle). |
| 7:30 PM | Middle East Center Lecture "Nationalism and Love: Cultural Politics and Music from Farid to Kadhim al-Sahr," Sherifa Zuhur (Visiting Assistant Professor, Religion, Cleveland State University). Sponsored by the Middle East Center, mecuw@u.washington.edu. 7:30 PM, 213 Music Bldg. |
| Friday, April 11 | |
| 1:30 PM | Music Lecture "Musical works are Maximal Memory Stores," Michael Leyton (Center for Discrete Mathematics & Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS), Rutgers University). The book "A Generative Theory of Shape" (Michael Leyton, Springer-Verlag, 2001) develops new foundations to geometry in which shape is equivalent to memory storage. With respect to this, the argument is given that art-works are maximal memory stores. The present paper reviews some of the basic principles concerning our claim that, in particular, musical works are maximal memory stores. The argument is that maximizing memory storage explains the structure of musical works. 1:30 pm, Music Bldg, Room 212. |
| 3:00 PM | Humanities Seminar On Desiring Nothing: "A Version of Pastoral," Adam Phillips (Essayist and Psychoanalyst, London). The former Principal Child Psychotherapist of Charing Cross Hospital, Adam Phillips is the editor of a new translation of Freud's works. In addition to maintaining a clinical practice in London, Phillips is a wide-ranging essayist. His most recent volume, Equals (2002), includes essays on T.S. Eliot, Svengali, Saul Bellow, Christopher Isherwood, and Bertrand Russell. His earlier collections include The Beast in the Nursey: On Curiosity and Other Appetites (1998); Terrors and Experts (1996); On Flirtation: Psychoanalytic Essays on the Uncommitted Life (1994); Kissing, Tickling, and Being Bored: Psychoanalytic Essays on the Unexamined Life (1993); and Winnicott (1988). His work has appeared in The London Review of Books, Raritan, and Threepenny Revew. Free and open to the public. 3:00 pm, Communications Building 206 |
| 7:30 PM | Reading Reading by Lydia Davis: Davis will present her work and converse with writer Matthew Stadler. Davis is the author of one novel and six collections of short fiction, including most recently Samuel Johnson is Indignant (McSweeney's). She is also a noted translator and her new edition of Prousts's Swann's Way will be published this spring. Davis has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Foundation Grant, a Whiting Writer's Award, a French American Foundation Translation Award, and a Chevalier from the French Government. Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times praised "the author's gifts as an observer and anarchist of emotion." She lives in New York and teaches at Bard College. Cost: $8 ($6, Hugo House members). Co-sponsored by the UW MFA Writing Program. 7:30 pm, Hugo House, 1634 Eleventh Ave, Seattle. |
| Sunday, April 13 | |
| 2:00 PM | Ancient Egypt Lecture "Some Aspects of a Megalomaniac: Ramesses II," T.G.H. James. Everything about Ramesses II seems to have been done on a grandiose scale. In this lecture, Mr. James shall examine Ramesses' reputation, his status as a prolific progenitor, his building record, his bombast, etc. Harry shall attempt to inject a little common sense into conventional assessments, to see if Ramesses may be reduced a little in stature to something less than the mighty warrior and builder he is commonly thought to have been. T.G.H. James was Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum until his retirement in 1988. He has published more than 18 books and is a favored lecturer throughout the world. Co-sponsored by Ancient Egypt Studies Association (AESA) and the University Bookstore. Tickets at the door: $7, AESA members, $10, nonmembers. 2:00 pm, 110 Kane Hall. |