University Symposium Calendar of Events, 2009-10
The Symposium's public events will be organized by semester-long themes. The theme for Fall 2009 is "How Do We Know the Body?"
Thursday, December 10
"A View from the Cradle: Tort Law and Assisted Reproduction": A presentation by Michele Goodwin
Michelle Goodwin is Everett Fraser Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota where she holds joint appointments at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Professor Goodwin lectures internationally on topics such as biotechnology, assisted reproductive technologies, mental health, stem cell manipulation, and organ transplantation. Her most recent book is Black Markets: The Supply & Demand of Body Parts (2006).
Anita Allen was forced to reschedule, but will hopefully be joining us sometime in the spring semester.
4:00-5:30 p.m., 125 Nolte Center
Tuesday, February 9
A Presentation by Walt Schalick
Walton O. Schalick, III, MD, PhD is Assistant Professor of Medical History, Rehabilitation Medicine, History of Science and Pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Prof. Schalick's research embraces a triptych of: the history of medieval medicine and pharmacology, the history of children with physical disabilities in 19th- and 20th-century Europe and the US, and the practical ethics of pediatric emergency research. In his talk, Prof. Schalick will focus on the impact of disease and disability on children in the Middle Ages.
Cosponsored by the Center for Medieval Studies
4:00-5:30 p.m., 140 Nolte Center
Wednesday, March 24
"The Virtual Body": A talk with Tom Boellstorff
Tom Boellstorff is a professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, and Editor-in-Chief of American Anthropologist. In this talk, Prof. Boellstorff will draw upon my ethnographic research in the virtual world Second Life to provide a basic history and overview of virtual worlds. He will then focus on questions of the virtual body: how are avatars not just “representations” of the body, but new forms of embodiment that raise fascinating new questions for the relationship between technology and the self?
Previous Symposium Events
Thursday, September 10
"Choreography and the Brain": A conversation with Random Dance Founder Wayne McGregor
Wayne McGregor is a multi award-winning British choreographer, renowned for his physically testing choreography and ground-breaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. He is the Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, Resident Company at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London; Resident Choreographer of The Royal Ballet (appointed 2006) and the government's first Youth Dance Champion (appointed 2008). His current work, Entity (performance at Northrop on Friday, Sept. 11), is based on collaborative research with psychologists, neuroscientists, and software engineers about the relationship between the brain and the moving body and has been described as technically astonishing, emotionally uncompromising and hard-hitting.
Cosponsored by Northrop Concerts and Lectures.
4:00-5:30 p.m., 125 Nolte Center
Monday, October 12
"Body Language: Human Dissection, Professional Identity, and the Aesthetic Grounding of Modern Medicine": A presentation by John Harley Warner
John Harley Warner is a professor of History and the Avalon Professor and Chair of the History of Medicine at Yale University. His research interests include the cultural and social history of medicine in 19th and 20th century America, and medical cultures since the late 18th century. Among other works, Warner is the author of "Medicine, Media, and the Dramaturgy of Biomedical Research: Historical Perspectives" (forthcoming), and the editor (with Frank Huisman) of Locating Medical History: The Stories and Their Meanings (2006). His current research includes looking at dissection-room photographic portraiture, medical student identity, and professional formation in the United States.
12:00 - 1:20 p.m., Mayo Auditorium
Thursday, October 22
"Embodiment and the Sense of the Self: Views from Meditation and Cognitive Neuroscience": A talk by Evan Thompson
Evan Thompson is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto who works in the areas of cognitive science, phenomenology, and philosophy of mind. He is the author of The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (with Francisco Varela, 1991) and Mind in Life: Biology, Phenomenology, and the Sciences of Mind (2007).
Organized by the Thinking Body, Moving Mind Collaborative.
4:00 to 5:30 p.m., 100 Rapson Hall.
Wednesday, October 28
"What is it that Makes a Body Whole?": A presentation by Joseph Grigely
Joseph Grigely is a member of the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he is a professor of Visual and Critical Studies. He is an artist and a critical theorist with a specialty in bibliography and textual criticism. His articles include "White" in Cabinet (Fall 2007), "Blindness and Deafness as Metaphors: An Anthological Essay" in the Journal of Visual Culture (Summer 2006), "The Next Documenta Should Be Curated By An Artist" in Revolver (2004), and a book-length-study, Textualterity: Art, Theory, and Textual Criticism, published by the University of Michigan Press (1995). Grigely wants to question what it is that makes the body 'whole' and how legislation, particularly the relationship between the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, fails to address this question.
Cosponsored by the Department of Art.
4:00 to 5:30 p.m., 125 Nolte Center
Friday, October 30
Conversations about Body & Knowing
Discussions in which we will ask questions about what we know about the body and how we know it, and how people in different times and places have articulated their knowledges about the body. The ideas from these meetings will help to stimulate academic discussion and to shape the course of the symposium over the course of the next year. Open to all, feel free to bring lunch and enjoy the conversation
12:00 pm - 1:15 pm, 125 Nolte
Tuesday, November 3
"Bodily Natures: Science, Environment, and the Material Self": A presentation by Stacy Alaimo
Thursday, November 5
"Deviant Agents: The Science, Culture, and Politics of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity": A workshop with Stacy Alaimo
Stacy Alaimo is a professor of English at the University of Texas at Arlington. She has published essays on feminist theory, eco-theory, green cultural studies, American literature, and film, as well as a book entitled Undomesticated Ground: Recasting Nature as Feminist Space (2000). Her interest in formulating new theories of materiality has also led her to co-edit a volume of feminist theory, Material Feminisms (2008), which brings together innovative theories of nature, human bodies, and science.
For the workshop, a reading and a number of images are available in advance, contact Anne Carter at cart0227@umn for password information.
Organized by the the Environment, Culture, and Sustainability Quadrant.
Presentation, Tuesday, 4:00 p.m., 125 Nolte Center
Workshop, Thursday, 12:00 to 1:30 p.m., 125 Nolte Cente
Wednesday, November 4
"Music of the Hemispheres": A presentation by Roger Dumas
We are all familiar with the stethoscope, the Geiger counter and SONAR. They're some of the tools we use to listen to our bodies and our environment. Just as the acoustic events generated by our hearts can be monitored for specific rhythms, so can the electro-magnetic fluxuations emanating from our brains be heard as musical events. Join researcher Roger Dumas from the Brain Sciences Center in an exploration of "musical sonification," an innovative way to listen to the workings of the human brain.
4:00 to 5:30 p.m., 125 Nolte Center
Friday, November 13
"What Is Sexual Difference Now?": Symposium and conversation with Elizabeth Grosz and Joan Copjec
This event brings two leading theorists together with Minnesota faculty to discuss where the question of sexual difference stands today. Feminist theory has always held that "the body" comes in at least two, male and female, but there is productive disagreement as to what conceptual framework is best suited to address this difference. The debate on sexual difference has nonetheless a profound effect on practically all disciplines.
!0:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., 140 Nolte Center
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Body & Knowing events, 2008-2009
Symposium 2006-2008: Time
Symposium 2005-06: The Politics of Populations
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