Spring 2008
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17 January, Thursday, 4 p.m.
Outside In: Diego de Ocaca's Long Journey Home, 1599-1608
119 Humanities Building
Kenneth Mills, Professor of History, Director of Latin American Studies, University of Toronto
Co-editor with Anthony Grafton of two collections Conversion: Old Worlds and New and Conversion in Late Antiquity and The Early Middle Ages: Seeing and Believing, Dr. Mills’ current research examines religious change and the proliferation of local Christianities in Spanish South America. Dr. Mills' lecture will examine Ocaca's report on his journey through Spanish South America as an alternative history of Christianisation and an extraordinary opportunity to gain a glimpse in the human and cultural dimensions of evangelisation.
This talk is part of the Americas Colloquium and is co-sponsored by the Center on Race, Religious & Urban Life. Contact Alexander X. Byrd at axb@rice.edu.
18 Janurary, Friday, 4 p.m.
Masonic Genealogies: Modernity & Revolution in the Atlantic Caribbean
302 Rayzor Hall
Jossianna Arroyo, Associate Professor of Latin American and Caribbean Literatures and Cultures, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Arroyo will explore the concept of border through the experiences of Freemasons in the Americas.
This talk is part of "Transnational Caribbean Cultures," a series organized by HRC's Global Hispanism Workshop. Contact Juan Carlos Rodriguez, jcr3@rice.edu, or x5707. Co-sponsored by the Hispanic Studies Department, the Institute of Hispanic Cultures, and the Houston Arts Alliance.
24 Janurary, Thursday, 4 p.m.
Competing Strategies in Person Marking: Double-Marking vs. Economy
125 Herring Hall
Marja-Liisa Helasvuo, University of Turku, Finland
Dr. Helasvuo is a collaborator with HRC Collaborative Research Fellow Robert Englebretson. Read more about their project here.
25 January, Saturday - 27 January, Sunday
First Annual Conference of the Leibniz Society of North America
Kyle Morrow Room, Fondren Library
This major conference is designed to coincide with Hans Poser's (TU-Berlin) appointment as Lynette S. Autrey Visiting Professor in the Humanities Research Center. Poser is a leading international figure in Leibniz scholarship, Vice President of the International Leibniz Society for almost thirty years, and former president of the German Philosophical Society. The Leibniz Society of North America (LSNA) endorsed this as the inaugural conference in its initiative to launch an annual conference series, with the aim of further energizing and improving Leibniz scholarship on this continent. The conference in part celebrates the thirty-year anniversary of LSNA.
Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy. Contact Mark A. Kulstad at kulstad@rice.edu.
7 February, Thursday, 4:30 p.m.
From Gaul to Francia: Archaeology, Legend, and Ideology in the Construction of Frankish Identity
117 Humanities Building
8 February, Friday, 12 p.m.
Brown bag seminar on Medieval Archaeology
Bailey Young, Professor of History, Eastern Illinois University
An internationally regarded scholar of medieval archaeology, Dr. Young will speak on the role of the Merovingians in the construction of a Frankish/"French" identity between the time of Clovis and the twelfth to the thirteenth century, when the Capetians integrated them as royal ancestors. Co-sponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop and the Medieval Studies Program. Contact Jane Chance at jchance@rice.edu or x2625.
19 February, Tuesday, 4 p.m.
Taking a New Head: Nineteenth-Century Images of Black Women's Head Adornments
119 Humanities Building
Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Basset Professor of Art and Art History and Professor of African/African American Studies, Duke University
This talk will focus on headties and bonnets in black diasporic portraiture and is based on Powell's forthcoming book Cutting A Figure: Fashioning Black Portraiture.
This talk is part of the Americas Colloquium and is co-sponsored by the Center on Race, Religious & Urban Life. Contact Alexander X. Byrd, axb@rice.edu.
21 February, Thursday, 4 p.m.
Poor, Bare, Forked: Animal Sovereignty, Human Negative Exceptionalism, and the Natural History of King Lear
117 Humanities Building
Laurie Shannon, E. Blake Byrne Associate Professor of English and Associate Professor of Theatre Studies, Duke University.
This lecture is part of the HRC's Early Modern Reading Group. Contact Meredith Skura at skura@rice.edu or x2467
25 February, Monday - 1 March, Saturday
Houston and Katrina
Grand Hall, Rice Memorial Center
As part of our Public Humanities Initiative, we are pleased to welcome you to a series of various discussions the last week of February. This series features speakers who will address the social, cultural, economic, educational, judicial, and demographic impact of Hurricane Katrina on Houston. The last day's event is an opening reception for the art show Katrina: Evacuation and Inspiration. For more information on this series, please visit the website.
28 February, Thursday, 4 p.m.
Representing Islam in Early Modern England: Commercial Expansion, Cultural Exchange and Identity Formation
117 Humanities Building
Daniel Vitkus, Associate Professor of English, Florida State University
This lecture is part of the HRC's Early Modern Reading Group. Contact Meredith Skura at skura@rice.edu or x2467
12 March, Wednesday, 3 p.m.
Samuel Johnson and the Sublime
118 Humanities Building
Dwight Codr, Assistant Professor of English, Tulane University
This lecture is part of the HRC's Early Modern Reading Group. Contact Meredith Skura at skura@rice.edu or x2467.
****New Date****
12 March, Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Atraidas por la aventura: Gender, Migration, and Mass Culture in Postrevolutionary Mexico
117 Humanities Building
Laura Isabel Serna, Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, Rice University
Wherever she appeared, the "Modern Girl" of the 1920s was characterized by her engagement with consumer culture, her embrace of new modes of sexuality and defiance of gender norms, and her status as an object of debate. Dr. Serna will discuss her Mexican avatar, the pelona (literally “shorn woman”), who unsettled observers with her desire for self-definition and determination and became a focal point in debates about the influence of American mass culture on Mexican women and about women's role in Mexico's nation-building project.
Contact Laura Isabel Serna, lserna@rice.edu or x2788.
****New Date****
13 March, Thursday, 7 p.m.
The Image of Thomas Aquinas in Dominican Painting
117 Humanities Building
M. Michèle Mulchahey, Leonard E. Boyle Professor, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto
Mulchaehy's landmark book is "First the Bow is Bent in Study...': Dominican Education Before 1350." She currently is undertaking book length studies of Dante's teacher, Remigio de' Girolami, and of Jacopo Passavanti, a popular preacher in late-medieval Florence.
This talk is the keynote speech of the Medieval Studies Undergraduate Symposium and is sponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop, the Medieval Studies Program, and the Department of Philosophy. Contact Jane Chance at jchance@rice.eduor x2625.
See Rice News preview here (03/06/08).
14 March, Friday, 4 p.m.
Other Caribbean Confederations: Sexiles
302 Rayzor Hall
Yolanda Martinez-San Miguel, Associate Professor of Romance Languages,
University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Martinez-San Miguel is currently working on her third book project From Lack to Excess: 'Minor ' Readings of Latin American Colonial Discourse, and a comparative study on internal Caribbean migrations between former/actual
metropolis and colonies, using Puerto Rico and Martinique as case
studies, to question transnational and postcolonial approaches to
massive population displacements and their cultural productions.
This talk is part of "Transnational Caribbean Cultures," a series organized by HRC's Global Hispanism Workshop. Contact Juan Carlos Rodriguez, jcr3@rice.edu, or x5707. Co-sponsored by the Hispanic Studies Department, the Institute of Hispanic Cultures, and the Houston Arts Alliance.
18 March, Tuesday, 4:30 p.m.
Philosophy in Germany after 1945
120 Humanities Building
Hans Poser, Lynette S. Autrey Visiting Professor, Rice University
Professor Poser will discuss major trends in postwar philosophy in Germany. In times of dire existential needs, Existential Philosophy (Jaspers and Heidegger) and Existentialism (Sartre, Camus) found broad acceptance. With living conditions much improved by the end of the 50’s, the ground was prepared for the reception of Analytic Philosophy (Wittgenstein, Carnap) and Critical Rationalism (Popper) as well as Critical Theory (Adorno, H. Marcuse). At the same time, the Hermeneutic School (Gadamer) and the Erlangen School of Constructivism (Lorenzen) developed their positions. Although
the contest of the schools has lost much of its appeal, it still forms the background of philosophy in Germany today.
Sponsored by the German & Slavic Studies Department and the HRC's History of Philosophy Workshop. Contact the German Department at german@rice.edu or x4868.
19 March, Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Empire of Ice Cream: How Life Got Sweeter in the Postwar Soviet Union
119 Humanities Building
Jenny Smith, Postdoctoral Associate in the History of Science and Medicine Program, Duke University.
This lecture is part of the HRC's Cultural Studies of Science and Technology Workshop. Contact Amy Ninetto at aninetto@rice.edu or x3117.
21 March, Friday
The Role of Black Loyalists in the American Revolution
460 Sewall Hall
Cassandra Pybus, Professor of History, University of Sydney
This lecture is part of the HRC African Studies Workshop. Contact
Kerry Ward at kward@rice.edu or x2443.
21 March, Friday - 22 March, Saturday
Writing the History of Human Rights in Twentieth-Century Europe
Farnsworth Pavilion - Rice Memorial Center
This conference examines the topics of the law of war, refugees and expellees, the politicization of human rights organizations, the Nuremberg Trial's concept of crimes against humanity, and antiracism in the Cold War, through settings and actors in Imperial Russia, Armenia, France, and Germany. At the conference's concluding session, participants will discuss the promise and problems of creating historical narratives about human rights.
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Humanities and the Department of History. Contact Lora Wildenthal at wildenth@rice.edu or Daniel Cohen at gdcohen@rice.edu.
26 March, Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Education and Womens' Activism
226 Humanities Building
Leslie Brown, Associate Professor, Williams College
Dr. Brown is a guest of HRC Collaborative Research Fellow Alexander X. Byrd. Read more about his project here.
Co-sponsored by the History Department. Contact Dr. Byrd at axb@rice.edu.
27 March, Thursday - 29 March, Saturday
The Genesis of Syntactic Complexity
This interdisciplinary conference aims to bring together work on language evolution, historical change, language acquisition, and evolutionary biology, as well as cognitive and neurological studies.
Sponsored primarily by the Department of Linguistics. The conference is open to all, but a registration fee is required. To register for the event or for more information contact Masayoshi Shibitani at shibo@rice.edu.
8 April, Tuesday, 4 p.m.
117 Humanities Buildling
Complexity as a New World View: Perspectives and Problems
Hans Poser, Lynette S. Autrey Visiting Professor of Philosophy, from Technische Universität Berlin. See Dr. Poser's profile here.
8 April, Tuesday, 6:30 - 8:30 p .m.
210 Herzstein Hall
Educating Houston
Moderator:
Siva Kumari, Advisor to the Provost, K-12 Initiatives, Rice University
Panelists:
Daniel De Leon, Principal, Chavez High School
Julia Dimmitt, Executive Principal, Central Regional Office, HISD
Ronald L. Mumphery, Principal, Cullen Middle School
Cynthia Wilson, Regional Superintendent, HISD
This panel is presented by Houston Enriches Rice Education (H.E.R.E.). For more information, contact here@rice.edu or 713-348-5550.
9 April, Wednesday, 4 p.m.
Crania Americana and the Ghost of Incas Past
119 Humanities Building
Ruth A. Hill, Associate Professor of Spanish, University of Virginia
Dr. Hill’s current research aims to illuminate the genealogy and ideological purchase of the popular notion that the majority of Latin Americans are racially mixed unlike the majority of North Americans.
This talk is part of the Americas Colloquium and is co-sponsored by the Center on Race, Religious & Urban Life. Contact Alexander X. Byrd at axb@rice.edu.
12 April, Saturday - 14 April, Monday
Orality and Literacy VII: Oral-scribal dimensions of scripture, piety, and practice in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Benefiting from the distinct field of oral traditional literature, which concers itself with the study of compositional, performative, and aesthetic aspects of living oral traditions and texts dependent on them, the conference proposes to examine the three faiths in their historically appropriate media context, seeking to overcome assumptions about the verbal arts that are entrenched in typographic modes of thinking. The conference will provide the philological, textual study of the monotheistic religions with fresh insights and significant challenges as it seeks to reexamine the largely Western paradigm of the three monotheistic faiths as quintessential religions of the book.
Co-sponsors include the Boniuk Center for Religious Tolerance, the Office of the Dean of Humanities, and the History and Religious Studies Departments. Contact Paula Sanders at sanders@rice.edu or Werner Kelber at kelber@rice.edu.
18 April, Friday, 4 p.m.
The Neo-Liberal "Thin" State and the Transition to "Enclave Extraction" in the Post-Apartheid Fisheries
117 Humanities Building
Lance van Sittert, Mellon Global Scholar, Department of Environmental
Studies, Bowdoin College
This lecture is part of the HRC's African Studies Workshop. Contact
Kerry Ward at kward@rice.edu or x2443.
19 April, Saturday, 9 a.m.
After Brown
327 Humanities Building
Dennis Shirley, Professor of Education, Lynch School of Education, Boston College
Dr. Shirley is a guest of HRC Collaborative Research Fellow Alexander X. Byrd. Read more about his project here.
Co-sponsored by the History Department. Contact Dr. Byrd at axb@rice.edu.
21 April, Monday
Transnational Caribbean Cultures
310 Rayzor Hall
Angel Quintero Rivera (UPR) will explore the impact of dancing in the creation of a corporeal experience of culture. He has been visiting professor at Havard, the University of Warwick, Illinois and Sao Paulo.
This talk is part of "Transnational Caribbean Cultures," a series organized by HRC's Global Hispanism Workshop. Contact Juan Carlos Rodriguez, jcr3@rice.edu, or x5707. Co-sponsored by the Hispanic Studies Department, the Institute of Hispanic Cultures, and the Houston Arts Alliance.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Preparing for a Lifetime of Leadership
4:00 - 5:30 pm
301 Sewall Hall
Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell
This panel is presented by Houston Enriches Rice Education (H.E.R.E.). For more information, contact here@rice.edu or 713-348-5550.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
6:30 - 8:00 pm
100 Herring Hall
Edith Irby Jones, M.D., M.A.C.P, Chief of Medical Staff, Riverside General Hospital.
Dr. Jones was the first black graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Medicine. Based on her outstanding contributions to medicine, she was elected the first female president of the National Medical Association and was the first black woman resident at Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals. Dr. Jones founded the Edith Irby Jones Foundation to fund scholarships for the needy and has achieved local and national recognition through her many contributions to civil religious and political issues.
This panel is presented by Houston Enriches Rice Education (H.E.R.E.). For more information, contact here@rice.edu or 713-348-5550.
Out of Africa
As part of this year's Houston International Festival, this series of presentations and discussions by Houston area scholars considers the theme "out of Africa" as a sequence of three journeys.
24 April, Thursday, 4 p.m.
The First Journey
Re-envisioning West Africa's Past through Archaeology and Art
Susan Keech McIntosh, Professor of Archaeology, Rice University
The Menil Collection
1515 Sul Ross
Houston, Texas 77006
25 April, Friday, 10 a.m.
The Second Journey
Round Table on Africa and its Diasporas
Jew Don Boney, Associate Director, Mickey Leland Center on World Hunger and Peace at Texas Southern University
Alexander Byrd, Assistant Professor of History, Rice University
James Conyers, Director and Professor of African American Studies, University of Houston
Edward Cox, Associate Professor of History, Rice University
Merline Pitre, Professor of History and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Behavioral Sciences, Texas Southern University
Kerry Ward, Assistant Professor of History, Rice University
The University Museum
Texas Southern University
3100 Cleburne Street
Houston, TX 77004
28 April, Monday, 5 p.m.
The Third Journey
Africa in the Age of Globalization: Du Bois in Africa
Earl Wright II, Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology, Texas Southern University
117 Humanities Building
Rice University
6100 Main Street
Houston, TX 77005
This series is part of the HRC's African Studies Workshop, and is co-sponsored by the Houston Area African Studies Group, the Menil Collection, the Mickey Leland Center at Texas Southern University, and the Houston International Festiva. For more informantion contact Kerry Ward at kward@rice.edu or x2443.
