Current News

The College of Humanities will host the 2^nd annual Meet Me at the Oval, 8:30 am, April 22, Hagerty Hall. The event is open to faculty, staff and students. An RSVP is required. Contact: College of Humanities, 292-1882, or visit our : College of Humanities Alumni page.

The 2006 College of Humanities Spring Forum "Seeing Ourselves as Others See Us: Whose Medium? Whose Message?" will be held 4:00-5:30 pm, May 5, 180 Hagerty Hall; a reception will follow. The Humanities Forum was established as a way to encourage dialogue and stimulate reflection on issues involving history, thought, languages, and literatures. This year's Forum is designed to give a broad understanding of how the U.S. is portrayed in the media of other countries and conversely, how these countries and cultures are portrayed in the U.S. media. The keynote speaker and moderator is Stephen Hess, Senior Fellow Emeritus, The Brookings Institution, Distinguished Research Professor of Media and Public Affairs, The George Washington University, and author of Through Their Eyes: Foreign Correspondents in the United States. Distinguished panelists are: Nadia Bilbassy Charters, Senior Correspondent, Al Arabiya Washington Bureau; Laura Bonilla, Latin Correspondent in Washington for Agence France-Presse (AFP); Piotr Krasko, U.S. Correspondent, Telewizja Polska (Polish Public TV); and Takashi Sakamoto, Washington Correspondent for The Yomiuri Shimbun,the most read newspaper in Japan.  Co-sponsors are the Office of International Affairs, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Slavic and East European Studies, East Asian Studies Center, , Foreign Language Center, Middle East Studies Center, and the World Media and Culture Center. Contact: 292-1882.

Jane Hathaway, History: Beshir Agha: Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Imperial Harem, Makers of the Muslim World, ed. Patricia Crone (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2006) and "Bilateral Factionalism in the Ottoman Provinces," in Provincial Elites in the Ottoman Empire - Halcyon Days in Crete V: A Symposium Held in Rethymno, 10-12 January 2003, ed. Antonis Anastasopoulos (Rethymno, Crete: Crete University Press, 2005), pp. 31-38.

Graduate student Brian Kennedy, History, received a travel fellowship from the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

Graduate student Gunhan Borekci, History, presented in Turkish "Rethinking Early Modern Ottoman Warfare: Military Revolution Debate and the Janissaries' Volley Fire Tactic" at the Istanbul Science and Art Foundation (Bilim ve Sanat Vakfi 305;), March 27. The original title in Turkish is: "Erken Modern Osmanli Harbiyesini Tekrar Düsünmek: Askeri Devrim ve Yeniçerilerin Yaylim-ates (Volley-fire) Taktigi."

Graduate student Erin Greenwald, History, presented "In Search of 'Personal and Political Freedom': William Charles Cole Claiborne and New Orleans's Free Men of Color, 1803-1806" at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical Association, Lafayette, Louisiana, March 24.

Jane Hathaway, History, presented several invited lectures: "The Libraries and Buildings of Hac Be ir A a (term 1717-46): Clues to the Religious and Intellectual Identity of an Ottoman Chief Harem Eunuch (Darüssaade; A as) ," Istanbul Bilgi University, March 2006; "Representations of an Ottoman Chief Harem Eunuch (Darüssaade A as): Hajji Beshir Agha," Bosphorus University, Istanbul, March 2006; "How Yusuf Agha (term 1671-87) Changed the Office of Ottoman Chief Harem Eunuch (Darüssaade A as)," Sabanc University, Istanbul, March 2006; and "Reconstructing the Life of an Ottoman Chief Harem Eunuch (Darüssaade A as): Hac Be ir A a (ca. 1657-1746), American Research Institute in Turkey, Istanbul, February 2006.

Senior Lecturer Dan Prior, History, presented "War Narrative, Tribal Chiefs, and the Roots of Kyrgyz Nationalism" at the 16th annual conference of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism ("Nations and Their Pasts: Representing the Past, Building the Future") at the London School of Economics, March 28-30.

Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, History, presented "Robert S. Browne and the Global/Personal Roots of Black Inter/Nationalism" at the Race, Roots, & Resistance: Revisiting the Legacies of Black Power Conference at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, March 29-April 1. She also introduced the film, "King of Chinatown" at the Museum of Moving Image, Astoria, New York, April 8; the museum is hosting a film retrospective on Anna May Wong, whose role in "King of Chinatown" was inspired by the life of Dr. Margaret Chung.

Koritha Mitchell, English, presented "The Theater-Lynching Alliance" at the Mid America Theater Association annual conference, Chicago, Illinois, in March.

Neil Tennant, Philosophy, presented The Thacher Lecture at George Washington University, Washington D.C., April 5.

John Broome (University of Oxford) will present "Are the Requirements of Rationality Normative?," 3:30 pm, April 17, 347 University Hall, as part of the Philosophy Department Spring 2006 Colloquia. Contact: Department of Philosophy, 292-7914.

Andreas Willi (Oxford Worcester College) will present "Unholy Diseases: or Why Agamemnon and Tuthaliya Should Not Have Offended the gods," 4:30 pm, April 18, 448 University Hall, sponsored by the Department of Linguistics, the Department of Greek and Latin, and the Program in Mediterranean Religions. Contact: Department of Linguistics, 292-4052.

The 4^th Annual CIRIT Gender & Ethnicity across Divides Symposium, Beyond the Language of Truth: Testimony, History, Fiction, begins at 4:00 pm, April 20, Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Avenue. Ileana Rodriguez, Spanish and Portuguese, will chair the event. The speaker is Nora Strejilevich (San Diego State University). Panelists include: Wendy Hesford, Theresa Kulbaga, and James Phelan, English, and Rebecca Wanzo, Women's Studies and African & African American Studies. The sponsors are: Women in Development, Center for Latin American Studies, and the Departments of English, Spanish and Portuguese, and Women's Studies. See the calendar on the CIRIT (Clusters of Interdisciplinary Research on International Themes) Web site.

The Ethnic Studies Research Group will meet at 2:00 pm, April 21, Knight House, 104 East 15^th Avenue. Contact: Maurice Stevens, stevens.368@osu.edu.

Nancy Mason Bradbury (Smith College) will present "Representing Peasant Wisdom: Folklore Genres in Late Medieval Literary Texts," 1:30 pm, April 21, 122 Main Library, in honor of Frances Lee Utley (English) in the Anniversaries Lecture Series. Contact: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 292-7495.

James Brown and Max Baber (Samford University) will present "Using Geographic Information Systems to Teach the Humanities," time TBA, April 24, location TBA, for the History Cartographic Working Group. Contact: Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, 688-0265.

Walter Burkert (University of Zurich) will present "East and West: Ancient Variations of a Eurasian Conflict," 8:00 pm, April 27, 20 Page Hall, the Annual Lecture in Memory of Professor Carl C. Schlam. Contact: Department of Greek and Latin, 292-2744.

The Center for Epigraphical and Palaeographical Studies and the American Society of Greek and Latin Epigraphy will host the Ritual Texts for the Afterlife: A Gold Tablet Conference, April 28-30. Contact: epig@osu.edu; 292-3280.

Wendy Hesford, English, will present "Staging Terror: Human Rights and Humanitarian Appeals," and Tanya Erzen, Comparative Studies, and Rebecca Wanzo, African-American and African Studies, will respond, 1:00 pm, April 28, Knight House, 104 East 15^th Avenue, for the Cultural Difference and Democracy Working Group. Contact: Barry Shank, shank.46@osu.edu.

Tom Priestly (The University of Alberta) will present "From Phonological Analysis at My Desk to Linguistic Activism with Slovene in the Austrian Alps," 3:30 pm, April 28, Faculty Club, for the Ninth Annual Kenneth E. Naylor Memorial Lecture in South Slavic Linguistics. Contact: Karen Nielsen, Nielsen.57@osu.edu; Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures, 292-6733; or Brian Joseph, 292-4981, joseph.1@osu.edu.

Barry Shank, History, will present "Silence, Noise, and Beauty: Listening to Music in an Age of Permanent War" in the College of Humanities' sixth Inaugural Lecture of the academic year, 4:30 pm, May 2, OSU Faculty Club. Theodor Adorno famously remarked "To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric." Is it possible that listening to music after Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib is barbaric? Is there a way to conceive of the value of musical beauty that is not stupefying? Can the experience of musical beauty be politically agentive? An attempt to address these questions will be made, using an analytical framework derived from the concepts of John Cage and Chantal Mouffe with reference to the music of the Velvet Underground and Yoko Ono. Contact: 292-1882.

Thomas Hurka (University of Toronto) will present "Asymmetries in Value," 3:30 pm, May 5, 347 University Hall, in the Philosophy Department Spring 2006 Colloquia. Contact: Department of Philosophy, 292-7914.

André Hajdu: Musical Visionary from Jerusalem takes place at 7:30 pm, May 8, Weigel Hall, in the Jewish Music, East & West series. Contact: Melton Center for Jewish Studies, 292-0967.

Lisa Zunshine (University of Kentucky) will present "How Jane Austen Learned to be Different; Or, Cognitive Science and Literary Explanations," 3:30 pm, May 9, Knight House, 104 East 15^th Avenue, co-sponsors include Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities and the Department of English and Project Narrative. Contact: James Phelan, phelan.1@osu.edu.

Michael Katz (University of Pennsylvania) will present "One Nation Divisible: What America Was and What It Is Becoming," 3:30 pm, May 10, Knight House, 104 East 15^th Avenue, for the Literacy Studies Working Group. Co-sponsors include Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities and the departments of History and Sociology. Contact: contact hanson.94@osu.edu.

Shirley Brice Heath (Stanford University and Brown University) will present "Vision, Language, and Learning: Why Literacy Depends on Much More Than We Can Ever Teach," 3:30 pm, May 11, Knight House, 104 East 15^th Avenue, for the Literacy Studies Working Group. Contact: hanson.94@osu.edu.

Barbara Rosenwein (Loyola University, Chicago) will present "Representing Peasant Wisdom: Folklore Genres in Late Medieval Literary Texts," 1:30 pm, May 12, 122 Main Library, in honor of Joseph Lynch (History) in the Anniversaries Lecture Series. Contact: Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 292-7495.

John Hawthorn (Rutgers University) will present "Singular Thought," 3:30 pm, May 12, 347 University Hall, in the Philosophy Department Spring 2006 Colloquia. Contact: Department of Philosophy, 292-7914.

The Folklore Colloquium, "Colonization and Narrative Migrations: Legends of Occupation from the Mediterranean to the Americas," takes place 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, May 12, Knight House, 104 East 15^th Avenue. Co-sponsors are the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, the Center for Folklore Studies, CIRIT, and the Department of Greek and Latin. Contact: Dorothy Noyes, noyes.10@osu.edu.

Alexander Wendt, Political Sciences, will present "Sovereignty and the UFO," with responses by Nancy Ettlinger, Geography, and Eugene Holland, Comparative Studies, 1:00 pm, May 12, location TBA, for the Cultural Difference and Democracy Working Group. Contact: Barry Shank, shank.46@osu.edu.

Holly Near (singer/songwriter) and Amy Horowitz, International Studies, will present "Protest Music as Responsible Citizenship Pilot," 1:30 pm, May 15, location TBA, for the Cultured in Disputed Territory Working Group. Sponsored by the Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities and the Mershon Center. Contact: Amy Shuman, shuman.1@osu.edu