Lecture Notes
Feb. 1-14, 2009
Salome and the Sphinx: the Emergence of Symbolism in the Naturalist Novel
Feb. 2, 5:30 p.m., Indiana Memorial Union Maple Room, Bloomington -- Nicolas Valazza, doctoral candidate at the Johns Hopkins University, with a specialty in 19th century French literature, will examine some novels by Émile Zola that are considered as emblematic of his ambition to paint a "Natural and Social History of a Family under the Second Empire." Valazza will explain how certain symbolic elements, ascribed to Gustave Moreau's painting, emerge in Zola's narrative, to the point of challenging his naturalist doctrine. In particular, such figures as Salome or the Sphinx appear in the text as archaic symbols that cast into doubt Zola's confidence in the march of time. For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~frithome/.
Networks and Complex Systems Talk
Feb. 2, 6 p.m., Wells Library 001, Bloomington -- David Salt of Purdue University will present the Networks and Complex Systems Talk titled "Mapping connections between the genome, ionome and the physical landscape." For more information, visit http://psych.indiana.edu/.
"From Policy to Politics: An Inside View of the Indiana Property Tax Reforms and the Kernan/Shepard Government Streamlining Restructuring"
Feb. 4, 3 p.m., SPEA Atrium, Bloomington -- General Counsel and Policy Director Indiana Office of Management and Budget and SPEA graduate Chris Atkins will present "From Policy to Politics: An Inside View of the Indiana Property Tax Reforms and the Kernan/Shepard Government Streamlining Restructuring." For more information, call 812-856-0509.
"Physics of Virus-inspired Self-Assembly"
Feb. 4, 4-5 p.m., Swain West 119, Bloomington -- Bogdan Dragnea, Indiana University, will present a Joseph and Sophia Konopinski Colloquium titled "Physics of Virus-inspired Self-Assembly." Dragnea's group uses photonics to manipulate and investigate self-assembling supramolecular systems inspired by biology, with potential applications in nanomedicine and materials science. This presentation will mainly concern the second area: the physical principles involved in the assembly of hybrid inorganic/biological virus-like particles and their applications. For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~iubphys/.
Beyond Slavery: Africanizing Atlantic World History
Feb. 5, 11:30 a.m., Indiana Memorial Union Dogwood Room, Bloomington -- The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies & The Americas Series present James Sweet, Department of History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Sweet will present "Beyond Slavery: Africanizing Atlantic World History." For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~clacs/.
The Reiberg Reading Series featuring Joe Bonomo
Feb. 5, 7:30 to 9 p.m., IUPUI University Library Lilly Auditorium, Indianapolis -- The Department of English in the IU School of Liberal Arts, the University Library and University College present The Rufus and Louise Reiberg Reading Series featuring Joe Bonomo Reading from Sweat: The Story of the Fleshtones, America's Garage Band and Installations. For more information, visit http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/.
"Conflict in China"
Feb. 6, noon to 1:30 p.m., Ballantine Hall 004, Bloomington -- In recent years, the IU Bloomington campus has become home to a growing group of scholars pursuing research on various dimensions of conflict and state strategies for managing conflict in China. What, if any, are the synergistic possibilities of this unique coalescence? Is it a harbinger of a new Indiana "school" of Chinese conflict studies? Does interdisciplinarity (including political science, history, sociology and law), methodological diversity (including archival, ethnographic, interview and survey research techniques), topical diversity (including urban labor, rural disputes, ethnic and minority relations and criminal justice), and temporal diversity (including mid-Qing, Republican, Mao-era and contemporary China) facilitate or stymie such institutional "branding"? Before considering the possibilities posed by this unique confluence of scholarship, four panelists will introduce their conflict-related research. For more information, contact easc@indiana.edu.
Stones and Bones: The Archeological Imaginary of Modern French Crime Fiction
Feb. 6, 3:30 p.m., College Arts & Humanities Institute, 1211 E. Atwater, Bloomington -- Andrea Goulet, University of Pennsylvania, will present "Stones and Bones: The Archeological Imaginary of Modern French Crime Fiction." Nineteenth-century fossil discoveries under European cities and in coastal cliff side caves revealed the troubling "deep time" of our human prehistory. This talk links new notions of primitivism to the spatial imaginary of popular Second Empire catacomb fictions and the early detective novels of Gaston Leroux and Maurice Leblanc. For more information, call 812-855-5458.
A Field-Guide to "Level"
Feb. 6, 4 to 6 p.m., Ballantine 003, Bloomington -- Carl Craver, Washington University, St. Louis, will distinguish several senses of level common in neuroscience, and identify one sense, levels of mechanisms, as especially important for thinking about the explanations and theories of contemporary neuroscience. Few terms are more abused than "level." There are levels of abstraction, being, complexity, description, explanation, generality, regularity, organization, size and theory. There are Marr's levels, Dennet's levels, Lycan's homuncular levels and Oppenheim and Putnam's hierarchical levels. To make matters worse, the personal/subpersonal distinction, the role/occupant distinction, and the function/mechanism distinction are all frequently described using the levels metaphor. For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~hpscdept/.
Chelo: A Story of Artistic Vision from the Mexico-Texas Border
Feb. 6, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., IUPUI Campus Center 268, Indianapolis -- Nancey Newton, associate professor of Spanish and adjunct associate professor of Women's Studies, offers a summary view of the life and art of Consuelo Gonzalez Amezcua -- born in northern Mexico in 1903. Amezcua moved with her family to Del Rio, Texas, in 1913 in the middle of the Mexican Revolution. Unable to pursue her dream of studying art in Mexico City, she taught herself how to carve sandstone and how to produce distinctive line drawings that she named "Filigree Art, a new Texas culture." For more information, visit http://events.iupui.edu/.
Networks and Complex Systems Talk
Feb. 9, 6 p.m., Wells Library 001, Bloomington -- The topic of this Networks and Complex Systems Talk is "Endogenous networks and strategic stability." For more information, visit http://psych.indiana.edu/.
The Expansion of Executive Power: From Lincoln to Obama
Feb. 10, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., the Indiana Memorial Union, Whittenberger Auditorium, Bloomington -- Celebrate the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln by joining Abe for a guest panel on "The Expansion of Executive Power: From Lincoln to Obama." The panel will feature Charlie Savage, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy, who will discuss the expansion of executive power in recent administrations, and Michael Grossberg of the IU Maurer School of Law, who will address Lincoln's use of executive power during the Civil War and how it compares to the use of executive power in the modern day. A question and answer session will follow. For more information, contact jgillard@indiana.edu.
Pregnancy Prevention in the Context of Pleasure-seeking: Relationships between Contraceptive Use and Women's Sexuality
Feb. 11, noon to 1 p.m., Kinsey Institute, Morrison Hall, second floor, Bloomington -- Jenny Higgins, Princeton University, Office of Population Research and The Center for Health & Wellbeing, will present "Pregnancy prevention in the context of pleasure-seeking: Relationships between contraceptive use and women's sexuality." For more information, visit http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/.
Over A Cup of Tea presents "Remembering Michi Weglyn and the Japanese American Internment"
Feb. 11, 7 to 8 p.m., Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave., Bloomington -- Phil Tajitsu Nash, literary executor of Michi Weglyn, will present "Remembering Michi Weglyn and the Japanese American Internment." In February 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed presidential Exec. Order 6066, which led to the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans in the U.S. The late author Michi Weglyn, who was interned herself when she was a teenager, wrote a "conscience-wrenching book of major significance, which every American concerned with human liberty should know of this bleak period of our national history," according to Mike Mansfield, American Ambassador to Japan. In 2009, it will be 10 years since the passing of Weglyn, but her book based largely on government documents continues to be an important source of the truth about this grim subject. For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~acc/.
Intersections: Op Art and Kinetic Art/Minimalist and Chance Music
Feb. 11, 12:15 to 1:00 p.m., IU Art Museum, Gallery of the Art of the Western World, Doris Steinmetz Kellett Endowed Gallery of Twentieth-Century Art, first floor, Bloomington -- David Ward-Steinman, adjunct professor in IU's Jacob School of Music and distinguished professor emeritus of San Diego State University, will discuss parallel processes and their equivalents in modern music and in the artworks of Richard Anuszkiewicz, Yaacov Agam, Victor Vasarely, George Rickey and Jesús Rafael Soto. For more information, visit http://www.artmuseum.iu.edu or call 812-855-5445.
Bioethics at the Movies
Feb. 12, 4 to 5:30 p.m., Poynter Center, 618 E. Third St., Bloomington -- IU Professor Sandra Shapshay from the philosophy department will speak about her new book, Bioethics at the Movies. She will discuss how bioethical issues have been portrayed in movies. Her presentation is part of the Poynter Center Roundtable series to highlight the recent work of faculty members. For more information, visit http://poynter.indiana.edu/roundtable.shtml.
Zulu Ceramics—Both Sides of the Atlantic: Engaging with an Emerging Market in South Africa and the U.S.
Feb. 13, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. (lecture), Hope School of Fine Arts, Room 102, Bloomington -- Elizabeth Perrill, assistant professor of art history at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and guest curator of Ukucwebezela: To Shine --Contemporary Zulu Ceramics, will discuss the exhibition. After the lecture, visit the show and enjoy refreshments in the Atrium -- the gallery will be open from 6:30 until 7:30 p.m. A reception follows the lecture from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Thomas T. Solley Atrium, second-floor of the IU Art Museum. For more information, visit http://www.artmuseum.iu.edu or call 812-855-5445.
Collaboration Engineering: Overview and Experiences
Feb. 13, 10 to 11 a.m., Informatics and Communications Complex IT 252, Indianapolis -- Gert-Jan de Vreede of the University of Nebraska at Omaha will present "Collaboration Engineering: Overview and Experiences." This presentation will provide a detailed overview of the collaboration engineering design approach and current advances and outline promising avenues for future research will be discussed. For more information, visit http://informatics.iupui.edu/events/event.php?id=872.
East Asia's First Modern War: The First Great East Asian War (1592-1598) in Global Context
Feb. 13, noon to 1:30 p.m., Ballantine Hall 004, Bloomington -- Kenneth Swope, Ball State University, will consider the First Great East Asian War (1592-1598), better known to Koreans as the Imjin War, within the broader context of world military history and military developments. In addition to discussing salient elements of the conflict itself, he will present the argument that this was also East Asia's first "modern" war and that its outcome was critical in helping shape the subsequent trajectory of political and economic development in East Asia. For more information, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~easc/.
For more events around the state, visit http://events.iu.edu.
