Steve Negus, a reporter specializing on the Middle East, and Sumita Pahwa, a former adjunct professor, will be holding a discussion regarding the recent, historic changes in the Arab world.  The talk is being held from 2-4 on Tuesday in Davis. Unfortunately this is a fairly awkward time but this lecture sounds fantastic.

Negus will discuss “Rebels and Regime Change in Libya,” drawing on first-hand observations of events in Benghazi and Tripoli, from which he recently returned. He will share insight on Libya’s new rebel-led government and what a post-Qaddafi Libya may look like.
Pahwa’s piece of the program, titled “Islamists in Post-Revolution Egypt: Careful What You Wish For,” will focus on how the Muslim Brothers and Salafi movements have shifted gears after the revolution. She’ll discuss the role of religion in a democratic Egypt. <via Scope Online>

So if you got some time tomorrow, put down that Chaucer you’ve been slogging through and head on over to Davis.

Tuesday 2-4 @ Davis Auditorium
Free and open to the public

"We thought you should know"

So part of being in College (yes with a capital C) is that you get to attend mind-expanding lectures given by people who are very, very good at what they do or study, and the lectures don’t cost you a thing. Just look at all the old people and townies that come to these events – they love ‘em! So you can enjoy them now in your youth and have those experiences to help you shape your future, or you can wait until you’re older and care about these sorts of things and move to a college town and mooch off the next generation. Both are valid options, but I’m all for getting my money’s worth, so I’d say do both.

Which brings us to the lecture tomorrow night – Dr. Frances Kendall will be giving a talk entitled “What Will Move Us To Act? Understanding and Interrupting Bias in Our Community”, which will be (as promised) mind-expanding. Many thanks to the Bias Response Group for deviating from their M.O. of highly formatted emails and instead bringing in a nationally recognized speaker.

Monday @ Gannett 7:00pm

Interested in finding out how a culture of greed among rich, white baby boomers has essentially guaranteed that many of you will never achieve the level of financial success made available to your parents? Then you should come see  Associate Professor of Economics Professor Jorg Bibow give the annual William E. Weiss Lecture in Economics on the “The Global Crisis And Its Aftermath” this Tuesday at 5:30pm in Davis.

Bibow’s lecture is built on a Keynesian foundation and feature his own research on the role of central banking and financial systems and the effects of monetary policy on economic performance.

The William E. Weiss Lecture in Economics is made possible with the assistance  of former trustee Arturo Peralto-Ramos III, a member of Skidmore’s Class of 1974. Named in honor of Peralta-Ramos’ stepfather, William E. Weis, the lecture series fosters discussion of contemporary economic issues.

The English Dept.’s  Siri Hustvedt lecture and panel discussion that was canceled at the end of last month because New York was buried under a mountain of snow has been rescheduled for this Tuesday (2/22) at 8pm in Emerson.

Siri Hustvedt, who has written several novels, memoirs, books of essays and short stories, will be on campus for a lecture and panel this Thursday Jan. 27th TUESDAY FEB. 22nd thanks to Salmagundi Magazine and the English Dept..

The evening will begin with a lecture by Hustvedt ‘exploring the relationship between fiction and memoir’ followed by a panel discussion featuring English Dept. fixtures Robert Boyers, Melora Wolff and Greg Hrbek.

Hustvedt has written three novels: The Blindfold, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl, and What I Loved. The New York Times Book Review called the international best seller What I Loved “superb,” and continued, “What I Loved is a rare thing, a page-turner written at full intellectual stretch, serious but witty, large-minded and morally engaged.” Publisher’s Weekly called it “a gripping, seductive, break-out novel.” Hustvedt is also the author of several memoirs, including last year’s The Shaking Woman: A History of My Nerves, a neurological memoir about Hustvedt own recently developed seizure disorder. Hustvedt will deliver the 2011 Sigmund Freud Lecture in Vienna in May of this year.

Siri Hustvedt’s books are available online here.

Siri Hustvedt, who has written several novels, memoirs, books of essays and short stories, will be on campus for a lecture and panel this Thursday Jan. 27th thanks to Salmagundi Magazine and the English Dept..

The evening will begin with a lecture by Hustvedt ‘exploring the relationship between fiction and memoir’ followed by a panel discussion featuring English Dept. fixtures Robert Boyers, Melora Wolff and Greg Hrbek.

Hustvedt has written three novels: The Blindfold, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl, and What I Loved. The New York Times Book Review called the international best seller What I Loved “superb,” and continued, “What I Loved is a rare thing, a page-turner written at full intellectual stretch, serious but witty, large-minded and morally engaged.” Publisher’s Weekly called it “a gripping, seductive, break-out novel.” Hustvedt is also the author of several memoirs, including last year’s The Shaking Woman: A History of My Nerves, a neurological memoir about Hustvedt own recently developed seizure disorder. Hustvedt will deliver the 2011 Sigmund Freud Lecture in Vienna in May of this year.

Siri Hustvedt’s books are available online here.

That lovely picture of Hustvedt’s work space via this feature from TheGuardian.co.uk

Hjerm’s talk will focus on the effect of territorial and national difference on our prejudices and address the “empty spots on our knowledge map”. A few minutes on the Umeå University website and a quick run through Google Translator clues us in to the fact that:

“Michael Hjerm studies of nationalism and xenophobia in a comparative perspective, Focusing on how institutionalists Differences Can explain peoples’ perception of Themselves and Others. He also works with questions of integration and multiculturalism. He also “works with questions of integration and Multiculturalism. He is the National Coordinator for the European Social Survey”<soc.umu.se>

Monday, 5:30pm in Davis Aud.

During the golden age of postcard production, c. 1898 to c. 1920, it is estimated that 200 to 300 billion postcards were being printed for circulation worldwide. In Africa, their production during this period paralleled the consolidation of colonies and implementation of administrative structures by European powers. African photographers soon engaged in this lucrative endeavor. This lecture examines the life histories of several important image makers/postcard producers, aspects of their business, and their ability to cater to foreign clienteles through the appropriation of photographic conventions current among their European peers. <skidmore.edu>

The lecture is sponsored by the Art History Dept. (fbook)

The Rapanui are notorious for their destructive treatment of the environment of Easter Island. But little-used oral histories from Rapanui elders from the mid-19th century demonstrate that this indigenous people had developed an elaborate ecological understanding of and adaptation to their isolated home and its difficult environment. A La Niña event during the U.S. Civil War brought severe drought to the Central Pacific and mobilization of migrant peoples and organisms across much of the earth. Several indications, including reconstruction of 1862 celestial portents visible to the Rapanui, suggest that many left Easter Island by choice, bringing slave traders and epidemic disease in their wake. These circumstances compel us to reconsider the usual explanations for Easter Island’s colonization, including self-induced “ecocide” and illustrate, more broadly, the significance of Latin America’s historical membership as part of the Pacific World. <skidmore.edu>

Greg Cushman is an Assistant Professor of International Environmental History (Ph.D. UT Austin, 2003) at the University of Kansas and his book Guano & the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History comes out later this year and demonstrates how modern existence and the role of the Pacific is predicated on bird shit.

Tuesday 7pm @ Emerson

This Book!

This year as part of their first year experience the Class of 2014 was required to—but probably didn’t—read a book called Your Inner Fish which is about this guy Neil Shubin finding the missing evolutionary link between land and sea creatures and like dismantling intelligent design or something. I didn’t read it but this girl in my Anthropology class told me it was good and she seemed pretty sincere.

Free and open to the public. 8pm @ Zankell

Miles Davis and John Coltrane- So What

Lewis Porter, guest jazz pianist, will give a presentation on Miles Davis and John Coltrane in Emerson Auditorium Monday November 16th at 1pm.

(who schedules these things? do they know some of us take classes?)