Research and Creative Collaboratives 2009-10
Choreography of the Moving Cell: Self-Organization and Catastrophe
Catastrophic changes are constantly occurring inside the body, even at the subcellular level of self-assembled rods known as microtubules. Even as molecules violently collide, microtubules still form, but then ultimately collapse. The rise and fall of microtubules is essential to move chromosomes and to sustain a growing neuron. This project combines cell biology and dance, allowing catastrophe to be reenacted on a larger scale using real bodies in place of molecules and microtubules.
Conveners: Carl Flink (Dance) and David Odde (Biomedical Engineering)
Embodying Gilgamesh: new physical language for staging epic texts
Recreating ancient texts as modern performance and incoprorating a careful study of ancient Sumerian culture and religion provides the basis for this cooperation between Theatre Arts and Dance and Classical and Near Eastern Studies.
Conveners: Lisa Channer
(Theatre Arts and Dance) and Eva Von Dassow (Classical and Near Eastern Studies)
The HumanNonhuman Research Collaborative
How do particular kinds of nonhuman–human encounters in theory, philosophy, and daily life shape our understanding of relationships among human and nonhuman entities? How do categories of modern political and humanist thought impede the imagination of a positive biopolitics of life rather than a politics of mastery and negation of life? What are the cultural and ideological stakes in attending to the place of the nonhuman in the world and in thought, and how did we arrive in a space where it seems essential to discuss such a subject?
Convener: Christine Marran (Asian Languages and Literatures), Bruce Braun (Geography), and Dan Philippon (English)
Identity in the Mediterranean World: From the Middle Ages to Today
Modern Spain, medieval Cairo, renaissance Italy and the Ottoman Empire all factor in to this collaboration of scholars from across the disciplines.
Conveners: Kathryn Reyerson (History), Patricia Lorcin (History), John Watkins (English)
Intersecting Performance and Social Justice
In what ways can artistic performance developed through community/university collaborations advance the struggle against racial and environmental injustice throughout the world?
In what ways can participation in an artistic performance community build creative energy, political awareness, and community activism among marginalized groups, particularly women of color?
How can performance arts inform other academic disciplines and inquiries?
Conveners: Ananya Chatterjea (Dance), Jigna Desai (Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies), Omese'eke Natasha Tinsley (English)
Locating Heritage
As a multi-disciplinary field, heritage studies draws upon disciplines as diverse as anthropology, art history, historic preservation, cultural studies, tourism studies, planning and more. Recently, scholars and practitioners have opened a dialogue about ways to identify, interpret, and conserve a broader range of heritage resources, and the field is beginning to investigate manifestations of heritage that are neither static, fixed, or contiguous.
Conveners: Kate Solomonson (College of Design), Gregory Donofrio (Architecture), Nancy A. Miller (Architecture)
The Modern Rhetoric Project
To what extent is modern rhetorical theory a rearticulation or transformation of classical rhetorical theories?
To what extent is modern rhetorical theory a rupture from its classical roots in response to social, aesthetic or technological changes?
Can we use modern rhetorical theories to generate contemporary rhetorical criticism?
Convener: David Beard (Writing Studies, UMN Duluth)
Social Networks Collaborative: Strengthening Human Relationships
How can human behavior and social relationships be better facilitated and structured by modern technologies, especially in academic settings such as the University of Minnesota?
Conveners: Christine Greenhow
(Learning Technologies)
Theorizing Early Modern Studies (TEMS)
TEMS is a collaborative, interdisciplinary workshop investigating Europe and the wider world during the early modern period (late 16th-early 19th centuries). During the 2009-10 year, TEMS will also be an interdisciplinary graduate group.
Conveners: Juliette Cherbuliez (French and Italian), Michael Gaudio (Art History), JB Shank (History)
Thinking Body, Moving Mind: Repatterning the Scholar's Bodymind
This collaborative uses the tools of Body Mind Centering to create knowledge and experience within the body. While the biological sciences can evaluate the physical and chemical processes and ramifications of life, work, illness, and movement, they do little to explain how individuals experience their own bodies and the changes that take place within them. In workshops and movement sessions, this project looks to body subjectivity and intersubjectivity and their impact on scholarship and expectations about knowledge.
Conveners: Craig Hassel (Food Science and Nutrition) and Margaret Adamek (Local Foods, Sustainability and Wellness)
Vocal Tracts and Vocal Behaviors in Ontogeny and Phylogeny
Three projects intersect to highlight the importance of vocal changes in evaluating gender difference, mechanical signs of pubesence, and evolutionary development. With a focus on the first decade of life, this collaborative investigates the cultural, social and scientific ramifications of alterations in the human voice.
Conveners: Benjamin Munson (Speech, Language, and Hearing), John Himes (Epidemiology), Michael Wilson (Anthropology)