Events Archive

Third Annual Daniel S. Sanders Memorial Lecture Internationally known as a leader in efforts to achieve world peace, human rights, and social justice, Daniel S. Sanders was Dean of the UIUC School of Social Work from 1986 to 1989. Cosponsored by: Office of the Chancellor, Office of the Vice…

Mary Ann Battis was a girl of Creek and black descent who attended the Asbury Mission School for Indian children in the 1820s. When her mother and other Creeks were "removed" from the Alabama-Georgia area, Battis chose to stay at the school. While Indian removal allowed Battis to separate herself…

Throughout its history, African-American dance has evolved as a complex synthesis of aesthetic elements from different cultures and has been a major influence on America's social dance, popular entertainment, and concert dance. Three Contemporary Visions Three African-American dance artists known…

Even when they embody everything the nation claims to respect, African Americans cannot count on being treated like citizens. Simply consider the black soldiers and nurses who served in the Civil War, WWI, and WWII only to be disfranchised and denigrated … or consider the Ivy League-educated…

I'm interested in music that keeps you on the edge of your seat. You're listening and it can be constantly different, so it constantly stimulates; there's not any time where you say, "Oh, I know what's coming next." Cosponsored by School of Music, Afro-American Studies and Research Program,…

When Cortez and his small band of Spanish explorers entered the city of Tenochtitlan in 1519, they were entering the capital of the Aztec empire. Dominating this city of 150,000 inhabitants was the huge main pyramid—the Templo Mayor. Cortez and the Aztec emperor, Montezuma, met at the base of the…

It is fashionable to view the 21st-century global system as dominated by US, China and India.  Andrew Moravcsik disagrees, arguing that Europe is becoming the "Quiet Superpower."  Indeed, the European Union has emerged as an ambitious and successful international organization, pioneering practices…

"Brings a startling perspective to terrorism, which she sees as arising out of patriarchal societies' emphasis on power, control, domination, and violence." Publisher's Weekly   In conjunction with: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, Student Leadership Fund, College of…

Morgan's poetry is finally religious poetry in the very best sense of the word: it transcends all parochial boundaries and works through the quiet compelling music of its language, to affirm the human spirit. Joyce Carol Oates   In conjunction with: Rober J. Carr Visiting Author Series, Department…

"The allure of this cyberspace was the impression that is was responsive to me, as if my gaze was creating (or performing) this world and that I was to some extent enunciating it according to my own desire" —Margaret Morse Dr. Morse's lecture coincides with the major exhibition "Art as Signal:…

Outbreaks of devastating diseases and drug-related microbes are increasing throughout the world. These diseases have no boundaries–disciplinary, economic, social or cultural. The list of resurging old scourges and newly emerging diseases seems overwhelming: HIV, hantavirus, tuberculosis, Ebola…

Watch the video HERE In conversation with University of Illinois graduate student Helen Makhdoumian, Syrian-born Armenian artist Kevork Mourad will discuss how he conceptualizes migration, memory and place-making through his paintings and visual performances. Mourad depicts the Syrian refugee…

Although English is indeed now spreading rapidly all over the world, it is not necessarily endangering the indigenous vernaculars of the populations that have been embracing it as an international lingua franca. Much of this has to do with the fact that globalization is far from being a uniform…

Micere M. Githae Mugo is a Kenyan-born poet and playwright. Cosponsored by Department of Anthropology, Department of English, Department of History, Department of Theatre, African-American Cultural Program, Afro-American Studies and Research Program, Center for African Studies, Committee on the…

Clark Blaise and Bharati Mukherjee address, in their fiction and their collaborative non-fiction, the borders of the multicultural experience in our contemporary world. Bharati Mukherjee, born in Calcutta, India, is the author of nine books, including the story collection The Middleman and Other…

CANCELLED Tristan Murail, the controversial leading figure in the French "Spectral School" of composition, will discuss the theoretical and philosophical premises of his music.  In this combined lecture and performance of his music, Murail will explain and demonstrate the origins of the artistic…

Having lived  the activism of the 1960s, Diane Nash questions the relevance and usefulness of nonviolent, direct-action protest in contemporary efforts to counter racism, sexism, and classism.  She then turns to challenge whether this approach can remain a viable philosophy for social change…

June Nash is an internationally recognized scholar of social movements in Latin America.  Her publications focus on identity, women's rights, popular movements, and community organizations.  After fifty years of studying indigenous communities in Mexico and Guatemala, she is a leading authority on…

Professor Neblett has argued that the only acceptable and legitimate form of psychological science is one that incorporates diversity. Diversity is not a "special" topic or interest. Psychological science must consider and capture the full breadth of human experience and understand how culture…

John Hallmark Neff is currently writing the catalog essay on German artist Anselm Kiefer for the first American retrospective of Kiefer's art, which will open at the Art Institute of Chicago on December 5, 1987 and continue through January 31, 1988. Kiefer is regarded as one of the pre-eminent…

This lecture takes three ideas from Socrates' famous speech on love (eros) in Plato's Symposium and advances them as providing a plausible contemporary understanding of beauty: first, love desires to possess beauty; second, love desires to 'give birth' in beauty's presence; and third, love drives…

Philosophy Annual Public Lecture Cosponsored by Department of the Classics, Department of Educational Policy Studies; Department of English; Department of French; Department of Philosophy; Department of Sociology; Humanities Council/LAS; Program for the Study of Religion; Program in Comparative…

"After all, I came here [to the Washington Post] to write and be successful. I'm willing to be a token, but not an unused one. I figure everyone, including white men, gets hired because of who they are. It's just that because white men run things, they're able to pretend that when they hire one…

Race and space play an important role in shaping the midlife years. While affluent Americans contemplate the empty nest and a long stretch of time free of the burdens of their earlier years, mature adults in the inner city confront a very different scenario. They reach middle age with fewer…

Audrey Niffenegger gained international recognition in 2003 for her first novel, The Time Traveler's Wife. In addition to being an imaginative writer, she is a visual artist who has published several narrative visual novels created in her chosen medium the traditional aquatint. Her unique and…