Calendar: Fall 2009 Thursdays at Four
December 3
Imagining the River: The Mississippi Gorge
Panel discussion examining the only stretch of the Mississippi river that forms a gorge -- right through the University's campus -- from the perspective of history, geology, policy, and art.
Organized by Telling River Stories, a multi-disciplinary project created by the University of Minnesota's River Life Program that researches and disseminates the stories of how communities and individuals live with the Mississippi River.
December 10
"A View from the Cradle: Tort Law and Assisted Reproduction": A presentation by Michele Goodwin
Michele 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).
Previous Thursdays at Four
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 is based on collaborative research with psychologists, neuroscientists, and software engineers about the relationship between the brain and the moving body and will be performed at Northrop Auditorium on Friday, September 11. In conversation with McGregor will be Matt Chafee, professor of Neuroscience and primary investigator at the University of Minnesota's Brain Sciences Center.
Cosponsored by the Brain Sciences Center, the Center for Cognitive Sciences, the Department of Neuroscience, and Northrop Concerts and Lectures.
September 17
"In Fragile Hope/Dancing Conviction": A talk with Ananya Chatterjea
Ananya Chatterjea is a professor of Dance at the University of Minnesota and founder and artistic director of Ananya Dance Theatre, a company of women artists of color, diverse in age, race, nationality, and sexual orientation, but uniformly committed to artistic excellence and passionate articulation of dreams, hopes, and desires. She is also an organizer of the Performance and Social justice Collaborative continues its research on environmental racism and the trauma and resistance of communities of women of color across global North and South.
Cosponsored by the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance and organized by the Performance and Social Justice Collaborative.
September 24
"Food From Here, For Here: Rekindling the Intimacy of our Food System": A talk by Randel Hanson
Randel Hanson is a professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, where he is an expert on food systems planning and foodshed analysis. He is a leader in local foods issues in Duluth, convening the Superior Grown Food Summit this November 14th and chairing the Zeppa Foundation's Green Jobs Action Planning Committee on Food Localization. He is spearheading curricular and research initiatives around sustainable agriculture at UMD, including the uses of the former NE Agricultural Extension Farm, orchard and historical records as a laboratory for teaching and learning about food systems past, present and future.
October 1
"Two Hearts, Three Eyes, and Four Ears: Sami theater and heritage": A presentation by Harriet Nordlund
Harriet Nordlund is a Sámi playwright and former Artistic Director of Beaivváš Sámi Teáhter - The Norwegian National Sámi Theatre Company and is currently the head of the Cultural Department within the council of Jokkmokk, Sweden, the center for the native Sámi people of Lule valley.
Cosponsored by the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Theater Arts and Dance.
October 8
"Eastern European Folk Song Traditions": Performance and Discussion with Natalie Nowytski and Mila Ensemble
Mila is a professional women's vocal ensemble committed to the authentic reproduction of vocal traditions from over 30 countries.Mila's nine singers all hail from unique musical backgrounds and have studied with renowned vocalists from Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Macedonia, Serbia, Spain and Ukraine. Mila owes its accuracy and authenticity to passionate research and rigorous training with native speakers and performers.
Natalie Nowytski works with Mila Ensemble as a production and voice coach. She is a first-generation Ukrainian-American and Minnesota native, trained classically by her grandmother, the legendary vocal coach Oksana Bryn.
October 15
"The Colonial Aesthetic: Slavery and the Culture of Taste": A Presentation by Simon Gikandi
Simon Gikandi is the Robert Schirmer Professor of English at Princeton University. His many books include Reading the African Novel, Reading Chinua Achebe, Writing in Limbo: Modernism and Caribbean Literature, Maps of Englishness: Writing Identity in the Culture of Colonialism, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o. He is currently completing a book on the relation between slavery and the culture of taste.
Cosponsored by the Department of English and the Ofiice of International Programs.
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.
To be held in 100 Rapson Hall.
October 29
"On the Making of a Pop Icon: 'Chairman Mao Goes to Anyuan' and Contemporary Chinese Art": A talk by Tang Xiaobing
Tang Xiaobing is Helmut F. Stern Professor of Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan. Most recently, he is the author of Origins of the Chinese Avant-garde: The Modern Woodcut Movement (2008) and Chinese Modern: The Heroic and the Quotidian (2000).
Cosponsored by the Consortium for the Study of the Asias and the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures.
November 5
"Merchant Identities in the Medieval Mediterranean World": A talk by Dominique Valérian
Dominique Valérian is maître de conférences at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is the author of Les sources italiennes de l'histoire du Maghreb médieéval (2006) and Bougie, port maghrébin, 1067-1510 (2006), and a co-editor of Chemins d'outre-mer (2005) and Espaces et réseaux en Méditerranée médiévale (2007).
Cosponsored by the Center for Medieval Studies and the Identity in the Mediterranean World Collaborative.
November 12
"Writing Constitutions into British History": A talk by Linda Colley
Linda Colley is the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University. Her research covers Britain since 1700 and her books include In Defiance of Oligarchy: The Tory Party 1714-1760 (1982), Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837 (1992), Captives (2002), and The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: The World in a Life (2007). Her current project studies the dynamics of nationalism in the 1860s, including the unification of Italy and Germany and the American Civil War.
Cosponsored by the Center for Early Modern History.
November 19
"Anaesthesia; or, The Chair as Image": A talk by John Harwood
John Harwood is a professor of Art History at Oberlin college, where he specializes in modern and contemporary architectural history. Harwood's research centers on the relationships between science, technology, corporate organization and their architectural articulation. He is co-author, with Janet Parks, of The Troubled Search: The Work of Max Abramovitz (2004). He is currently completing a book - The Redesign of Design: Computer, Architect, Corporation - on the spatial and temporal aspects of computing technology, ergonomics, and corporate architecture.
Organized by the by the Design, Architecture, and Culture Group of Quadrant.