 | April brings with it a fresh growth of activities at the Humanities Institute. Our April 2019 Newsletter announces the next installment in our Distinguished Visiting Lecture Series on "Narrative and Social Justice", featuring a talk by Dr. Doris Sommer on "Pre-Texts in a Dublin Prison: StoryDads Tell Tall Tales." We share details on our second Difficult Dialogue / Planet Texas 2050 Public Forum on the Environment with guest speaker, Dr. Paige West, and the April Controversy & Conversation film screening of the Oscar-winning film Icarus with guest speaker Dr. John Hoberman. We conclude with news describing the 2019 Paul and Mary Ho Distinguished Visiting Lecture and announcing applications for the 2019-2020 Free Minds class. Please read below to find further details on our April 2019 events and programs. We hope to see you this month! |  Dr. Doris Sommer, Harvard University | Wednesday, April 3, 2019
7:00 - 8:30 PM: Lecture and Discussion
Auditorium, Blanton Museum of Art
Edgar A. Smith Building
200 E. Martin Luther King Blvd. Doris Sommer, the Ira and Jewell Williams Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of African and African American Studies at Harvard University, will deliver the second lecture in the Humanities Institute's Distinguished Visiting Lecture Series, "Narrative and Social Justice." Dr. Sommer's lecture, "Pre-Texts in a Dublin Prison: StoryDads Tell Tall Tales" will take place on Wednesday, April 3, 2019 at 7 PM at the Blanton Auditorium (Edgar A. Smith Building, 200 E Martin Luther King Jr Blvd). This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are appreciated but not required; your guests are welcome to attend. This event will take place in the Blanton Auditorium, located across the plaza from the Museum in the Smith Building. Parking is available in the Brazos Garage on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Brazos Street. Bring your ticket with you to the event for validation and a reduced rate. | Dr. Sommer is the 2019 C.L. and Henriette Cline Visiting Professor in the Humanities. Her visit is a partnership between the Humanities Institute and the Blanton Museum of Art. Dr. Sommer will return in Fall 2019 for additional community activities. |  Dr. Paige West, Barnard College and Columbia University | Tuesday, April 16, 2019
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Texas Union, Quadrangle Room (3.304)
2308 Whitis Avenue Free and open to the public. | On April 16, the Humanities Institute is partnering with Planet Texas 2050 to host a Difficult Dialogues Public Forum featuring a presentation by Paige West, Professor of Anthropology at Barnard College and Columbia University. Her presentation is titled “Hard Choices & Opportunities: Environment and Economy" and will draw on her research in Papua New Guinea to discuss questions such as: How can researchers galvanize social and political action for change around climate-related issues? How can writing about climate change ethnographically allow scholars to reach a broader public? The forum will also feature a panel of respondents including Jason Cons, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at UT Austin. The discussion will be moderated by Pauline Strong, director of the Humanities Institute. This event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP here if you would like to attend. | Free and open to the public.
Thursday, April 4, 2019
6:30-9:00 PM Screening & Discussion
Terrazas Branch, Austin Public Library
1105 E. Cesar Chavez Street, Austin, TX 78702 April's Controversy & Conversation documentary screening of Icarus (2017) will feature a discussion with John Hoberman, Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas. The film won the 2018 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Icarus tells the story of the ruthless worlds of international sports and politics colliding. While investigating the furtive world of illegal doping in sports, director Bryan Fogel connects with renegade Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov—a pillar of his country’s “anti-doping” program. Over dozens of Skype calls, urine samples, and badly administered hormone injections, Fogel and Rodchenkov grow closer despite shocking allegations that place Rodchenkov at the center of Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program. When the truth is more complex than imagined, and accusations of illegalities run to Russia’s highest chains of command, the two realize they hold the power to reveal the biggest international sports scandal in living memory. |  Professor John Hoberman | The screening will begin at 6:30PM, to be followed by a dialogue facilitated by John Hoberman, Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Hoberman has taught in UT’s College of Liberal Arts since 1979. He has been active in the field of sports studies in the areas of politics, race, and performance-enhancing drugs. He has a special interest in the corrupt officials and practices that have infiltrated the major international sports organizations over many years. Controversy & Conversation is a collaboration between the Humanities Institute's Difficult Dialogues Program and the Austin Public Library. Documentary screenings take place the first Thursday of the month at the Terrazas Branch of the Austin Public Library. Screenings begin at 6:30 PM and are followed by a 30-50 minute community conversation. Light refreshments are provided. |  Dr. Paul Farmer, Harvard University | Monday, April 15, 2019
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Zlotnik Ballroom
AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center
Rowling Hall on B4 level
1900 University Avenue This lecture is open to everyone. There is no required RSVP, but if you let us know you will be coming by registering, we will send you a reminder. The biennial Joe Thorne Gilbert Lecture Series, hosted by the College of Natural Science's Health Professions Office, brings outstanding, community-focused individuals in the field of medicine to discuss great ideas and vital issues current in the health professions. This distinguished event honors the legacy of Dr. Gilbert, a physician whose kindness and expertise healed many people in the Austin community. This year The Health Professions Office presents Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, the Kolokotrones University Professor and the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A leading voice on global health equity and social justice, Dr. Farmer will discuss how to harness creativity, passion, teamwork, and determination to make the world a better place. Dr. Farmer promotes the idea of a more secure and humane world, where health care, safe drinking water, and other basic human rights are the norm. He outlines his philosophies in multiple best-selling books, including his most recent, Reimagining Global Health: An Introduction. Parking is available in the Rowling Hall Garage at 300 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (entrance is off of 20th Street). About the Speaker:
Dr. Paul Farmer is co-founder and chief strategist of Partners In Health (PIH), an international non-profit organization that since 1987 has provided direct health care services and undertaken research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. He is professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Additionally, Dr. Farmer serves as the United Nations Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti. Dr. Farmer is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Bronislaw Malinowski Award and the Margaret Mead Award from the Society for Applied Anthropology, the Outstanding International Physician (Nathan Davis) Award from the American Medical Association, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, and, with his PIH colleagues, the Hilton Humanitarian Prize. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. |  Dr. Paul Ho, Dr. Judith Farquhar and Mrs. Mary Ho (Photo by Daniel Cavazos) | by Alissa Williams, HI Undergraduate Program Assistant On February 26, 2019, Dr. Judith Farquhar visited The University of Texas at Austin to give a lecture on “Gathering Medicines: Plants and Powers in China’s Southern Mountains” as part of the Dr. Paul and Mary Ho Distinguished Visiting Lecture in China Studies. The Humanities Institute was honored to have Dr. Farquhar, the Max Palevsky Professor in the Department of Anthropology at The University of Chicago (Emeritus), as this year’s lecturer in the Ho series, which was co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies. Dr. Farquhar shared photos and findings from her ethnographic work in the rural areas of China’s south and southwest mountains, which is the topic of her forthcoming book. Her personal anecdotes conveyed the cultural persistence of Chinese herbalists in the region, including their ability to connect people to the land and to ancestral knowledge. As a central component of her findings, Dr. Farquhar quoted the proverb by Zhuangzi entitled “10,000 Things,” which contextualized the idea of connectivity between all living and nonliving things on earth, and how gaining knowledge of the earth and its botanical offerings can bring health and understanding to human beings. Dr. Farquhar’s presentation emphasized and showed appreciation for the capabilities of Chinese herbal medicine practitioners to cultivate personal expertise that link a wide array of botanical resources to the medical needs of human bodies. The herbalists she studies contend that “flowers, like feelings, lead us toward goodness.” Dr. Farquhar’s lecture was preceded by a reception where attendees enjoyed refreshments and mingled. The lecture was followed by a Q&A session with Dr. Farquhar and the audience. Affiliates of both the Humanities Institute and the Center for East Asian Studies were in attendance, in addition to various UT faculty, staff, and students and members of the greater Austin Community. The Q&A session prompted a lively discussion between Dr. Farquhar and the audience. The Paul and Mary Ho Lecture in China Studies was endowed in 2006 by Dr. Paul Ho, Professor Emeritus in the Cockrell School of Engineering, and Mrs. Mary Ho, a Chinese language specialist and former lecturer in the Department of Asian Studies, and aims to deepen understanding and extend engagement with China in the University community and among the general public. Previous Ho lecturers include Evan Osnos, New Yorker correspondent and Author; Dr. Eugenia Lean of the Department of Chinese History, Columbia University; Dr. Jeffrey Wasserstrom of the Department of History at The University of California at Irvine; Dr. Lisa Rofel of the Department of Anthropology at The University of California Santa Cruz; Dr. Jing Wang of the Department of Chinese Cultural Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Andrew Nathan of the Department of Political Science at Columbia University; Dr. Erik Mueggler of the Department of Anthropology at The University of Michigan; and Dr. Gail Hershatter of the Department of History at The University of California, Santa Cruz. We were honored by the presence of Paul and Mary Ho at the lecture and reception. | The Free Minds Project has officially opened the application for 2019-20. Free Minds, founded by the Humanities Institute in partnership with Austin Community College and Foundation Communities, offers a free two-semester college course in the humanities for motivated individuals who have faced barriers to higher education. Free Minds students explore literature, philosophy, history, art history, and writing with top faculty from the University of Texas and Austin Community College, earning six credit hours from ACC upon completion. Classes meet two evenings a week in East Austin between August and May, and Free Minds offers tuition, books, child care and supportive services at no cost to participants. Students graduate feeling empowered as leaders in their communities and stewards of their families' educations. Free Minds is now administered by Foundation Communities, which seeks assistance in recruiting the 2019-2020 class. If Free Minds sounds like a good fit for someone in your circle, please encourage them to learn more and apply at the Free Minds website, or call (512) 610-7961 with questions. You may also schedule a Free Minds presentation at your educational, health or social services organization. Applications are due July 8. | A Message from the Director The motto of the Humanities Institute at the University of Texas is “thinking in community.” We are grateful to the UT and Central Texas communities for participating in our dialogues and activities across the campus and Central Texas. In order to help support our public and campus programs, we ask that you consider making a donation to the Humanities Institute during the 40 Hours for the Forty Acres campaign on April 3 and 4. Gifts of $40 and $100 will be recognized by membership in our Friends of the Humanities Institute and Director’s Circle respectively. We very much appreciate your support in helping us bring together people. -- Pauline Strong | The Humanities Institute's Newsletter is edited by Kathryn North, Administrative Program Coordinator. For more information on the University of Texas Humanities Institute, please visit our website. To contact us, please write to Kathryn at knnorth@austin.utexas.edu or call (512) 471-9056. | | |
