This panel brings together the nation's foremost experts in the humanities to discuss the direction of the Humanities in the 21st century. Moderated by UW-Madison Chancellor Carolyn 'Biddy' Martin, the panel will include comments from Jim Leach, Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities; Don Randel, President of the Mellon Foundation; and Pauline Yu, President of the American Council of Learned Societies.

Chris Abani's prose includes Song For Night (Akashic, 2007); The Virgin of Flames (Penguin, 2007); Becoming Abigail (Akashic, 2006); GraceLand (FSG, 2004); and Masters of the Board (Delta, 1985). His poetry collections are Hands Washing Water (Copper Canyon, 2006); Dog Woman (Red Hen, 2004); Daphne's Lot (Red Hen, 2003); and Kalakuta Republic (Saqi, 2001). He is a Professor at the University of California, Riverside and the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, the Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a PEN Beyond the Margins Award, the PEN Hemingway Book Prize, and a Guggenheim Award.
 

Pagels is best known as the author of The Gnostic Gospels; The Origin of Satan; and Adam, Eve and the
Serpent. Her most recent books include Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (a New York Times bestseller) and Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity.

This event is co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin Press and the Wisconsin Union Directorate

The summer of 2009 saw the passing of two of the 20th Century’s great choreographers: Merce Cunningham and Pina Bausch. This panel pays tribute to their art and influence.

Panelists will include Andrea Harris (Dance); Michael Jay McClure (Art); Jane Simon (MMoCA); and Jin-Wen Yu (Dance). Moderated by Caroline Levine (English), author of Provoking Democracy: Why We Need the Arts. Cosponsored with MMoCA.

This panel has been organized in conjunction with Cage and Cunningham: Chance, Time, and Concept in the Visual Arts at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Book Festival, this lecture brings Jonah Lehrer, author of How We Decide and Proust was a Neuroscientist to Madison.

Jonah Lehrer is a Contributing Editor at Wired and the author of several acclaimed books.  He graduated from Columbia University and studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has written for The New Yorker, Nature, Seed, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe and also is a Contributing Editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio's Radio Lab.

Jonah Lehrer Interviews, Articles, and Links:
'On Point with Tom Ashbrook'
'Fresh Air'
New Yorker
Blog: Frontal Cortex

Butler is the author of Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France; Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity; Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of "Sex"; Antigone's Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death; and Precarious Life: Powers of Violence and Mourning.

Her award-winning books include: The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy; Women and Human Development; Sex and Social Justice; and Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of the Emotions

See poetry and performance by Martín Espada, winner of the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement and Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2007, and a UW-Madison alum. His politics of poetry, rebellion, and laughter will take you on an unforgettable voyage of passion, edge, humor, and social conscience, from Puerto Rico and Chile to New York and Wisconsin. The Americas will never look the same.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities,the Vice-Provost Office, the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, the Department of History, LACIS (Latin American, Caribbean, Iberian Studies), The Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History, the Comparative  US Cultures Cluster, and Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program.

Martín Espada will also participate in the following campus events:

Thursday, April 30th, NOON Brown Bag, 5233 Humanities- the Curti Lounge of the History Department 
"The Redemption of Pablo Neruda," Join prize-winning poet Martin Espada for a brownbag lecture/reading on the great Nobel Prize winning poet Pablo Neruda and Chile.

Friday, May 1st, NOON Brown Bag, 5233 Humanities- the Curti Lounge of the History Department
"Colonialism and the Poetry of Rebellion," Join Martin Espada for a brownbag lecture on Puerto Rico and the poetry of rebellion and unacknowledged colonalism.

A community forum on the influence and impact of games, virtual worlds, and other interactive media on our culture. Featuring Thomas Malaby, author of the forthcoming book "Making Virtual Worlds: Linden Lab and Second Life" (Cornell University Press, June 2009) and contributing author to the blog Terra Nova.

This event is co-sponsored by The Games, Learning, and Society group and DoIT Academic Technology

Articles and Links of Interest:

Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked, PBS

Games, The New Lively Art, by Henry Jenkins

Game Design As Narrative Architecture, By Henry Jenkins

The War Between Effects And Meaning: Rethinking The Video Game Violence Debate, by Henry Jenkins

What Would Herman Melville Say to Soulja Boy?: Remix Culture and the New Media, by Henry Jenkins

Is it Art?, by John Lanchester in London Review of Books

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for European Studies, the Institute for Legal Studies, and the Human Rights Initiative.

Christoph Menke will also participate in a seminar titled "Law and Violence" April 3rd, 10:30-11:50 AM, Lubar Commons- Room 7200 at the Law School.

Click below for readings related to Professor Menke's seminar:
Law and Violence

Excess of Judgment

Hosted by Len Kaplan and Sara Guyer.

Translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky give the Keynote Lecture for "The Brothers Karamazov in Wisconsin" Student Conference.

Schedule Overview

Schedule of Presentation Sessions

Keynote Audio Part One

Keynote Audio Part Two

Keynote Video Part One

Keynote Video Part Two

A one-day symposium on uncomfortable inheritances, ambivalent feelings, and complex responses to the past. Participants will include: Ned Blackhawk (History, UW-Madison), Sara Guyer (English, UW-Madison), Deborah Jenson (French, Duke), Amaud Jamaul Johnson (English, UW-Madison), Steve Kantrowitz (History, UW-Madison), John Rowe (UW Alum, Exelon Corp), Jane Simon (MMOCA), Steve Stern (History, UW-Madison), Lara Trubowitz (English, University of Iowa).Please click HERE to register for the event. Registration is FREE and open to the public, but required.

Sara Guyer (Center Director), Introduction
Steve Stern (History, UW-Madison), "From Coping to Democratic Reckoning: Pinochet, Cheney, and the Problem of Torture."
Sara Guyer's Introduction and Steve Stern's Remarks
Lara Trubowitz (English, Iowa), "'The Jews are News': Wyndham Lewis, 'Coo-ing' Antisemitism, and the Jewish Refugee Crisis in Britain, 1938-1939"
Amaud Jamaul Johnson (English, UW-Madison), "History is Intimate": a Poet's Guide to the Archives"
Lara Trubowitz and Amaud Jamaul Johnson's Remarks
Jane Simon (MMoCA), "Picturing Your Idols: Contemporary Artists and Influence"
Jane Simon's Remarks
Ned Blackhawk (History, UW-Madison)"Surviving the American Conquest: Perspectives on American Indian History"
Unfortunately, Ned Blackhawk's remarks were not recorded due to technical difficulties.
Deborah Jenson (Romance Languages, Duke), "American Reactions to the Haitian Independence (1804) in the Era of American Slavery"
Deborah Jenson's Remarks
John Rowe (UW Alum/Exelon Corp.), "Forgiving without Forgetting"Concluding Discussion and New Directions for Research
John Rowe's Remarks
Stephen Kantrowitz (History, UW-Madison), Moderator