Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington
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Mike Davis
Are Great Famines Still Possible?
Climate Change and World Food Security
Micro-seminar • Autumn 2008 • HUM 597B • 1 credit • arrow Download e-Flyer
A native Southern Californian with a varied background in activism, journalism, and urban studies, Mike Davis (Creative Writing, UC Riverside) is the author of City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (1990) and Planet of Slums (2006), among many other books of public scholarship. As the Distinguished Katz Lecturer for Autumn 2008, he will give a one-week Micro-seminar for graduate students during early November.

Matthew Sparke (Geography) will also offer a Micro-seminar on Mike Davis and the Production of Space (HUM 587A) starting in late October which is recommended in preparation for and in conjunction with this course.

Shannon Dudley
Music From Behind the Bridge:
Steelband Spirit and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago
New Books in Print Lecture Series
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 • 4:30 pm • Communications 202 • Info
In his most recent book, Music From Behind the Bridge: Steelband Spirit and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago, Shannon Dudley (Ethnomusicology) examines the rise of steelband music from a disparaged underclass pastime to a symbol of Trinidadian culture. Dudley tells the story of the steelband in the context of Afro-Trinidadian tradition, carnival, colonial authority, and nationalist politics, and connects the history of the steelband to the powerful relationship between popular culture and nationalism.
Toby Miller
Green Cultural Citizenship:
A Future for Cultural Studies
Weds. November 12 • 6:00-8:00 pm • North Creek Events Center, UW Bothell • Info
Are demands for more media, more speech, and more publicity the best response to every question or controversy? Toby Miller (Media & Cultural Studies, UC Riverside) points to some of the limitations of this assumption, especially with regard to how cultural citizenship has been theorized and applied in cultural studies and media studies. He suggests that future work in those fields needs to think through a "green" model of cultural citizenship, one that places demands for more media, speech, and publicity in the context of the disastrous environmental impact of an uncritical emphasis on growth as an end in itself.
Fall 2008 Funding Round
Applying for Support
Applications open October 12 • Due November 12
The Simpson Center invites project proposals in the humanities from UW faculty and graduate students. Proposals are evaluated by members of the Simpson Center Executive Board in the Fall for support for the subsequent academic year.
Outside Opportunities
Digital Media & Learning Competition
HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation • Due October 15
The MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration the HASTAC consortium, announces a second annual open-call competition that will provide $2 million in awards to innovators shaping the field of digital media & learning.
Digital Humanities
HASTAC Scholars

Six outstanding UW graduate students are representing the Simpson Center in the newly-created HASTAC Scholars Program. As students and teachers leading the way in participatory learning, HASTAC Scholars receive scholarships to encourage innovative uses of technology in their work.

Deborah Kimmey (English) administers the online interactive "keyword collaboratories" that extend the work of Keywords for American Cultural Studies to classes and working groups.

Eric Meyers (Information School) investigates how children from ages 6-12 interact in shared virtual environments online.

Angela Rounsaville (English) approaches technological literacy and media access from a social justice perspective.

Jentery Sayers (English) examines sound reproduction technologies in the context of Anglo-American literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Ramsey Tesdell (Technical Communications and International Studies) studies the role of technology in social movements in the Middle East, and runs 7iber.com, a media website from Jordan.

Matthew Wilson (Geography) explores how geographic information technologies enable neighborhood assessment endeavors.


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More details about the HASTAC Scholars program
Digital Humanities
Digital Initiatives on Campus
From reusable toolsets to scholarly databases to collaborative online learning environments, UW faculty, staff, and students are deeply involved in the digital transformation of the humanities.

The Simpson Center is working to seed, support, and strengthen work in the digital humanities, through participating in consortia, sponsoring classes and hosting hands-on workshops on digital scholarship.
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UW - Highschool Partnership
Texts and Teachers
Odai Johnson, "Staging Shakespeare Then and Now"For ten years, this program has brought University of Washington faculty and local high school teachers together each summer to co-design a literature class to be taught simultaneously at both levels. Led by Gary Handwerk (English and Comparative Literature), Texts and Teachers is currently looking to parter with more UW faculty for the 2008-09 academic year. Students at both the UW and Eastlake, Lake Washington, and Roosevelt high schools will be reading and discussing Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner, and Wild Seed by Octavia Butler.
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K-12 Professional Development
Teachers as Scholars Registration Open
A joint program of Seattle Arts and Lectures and the Simpson Center for the Humanities • K-12 Professional development • Washington State-Approved Clock Hour Workshops
Odai Johnson, "Staging Shakespeare Then and Now"Teachers as Scholars is a professional development program designed to ignite and sustain the intellectual interests of K-12 teachers. It joins primary and secondary school teachers with university faculty in an educational environment. The 2008-2009 program includes: "Understanding Evolution" with Becca Price (Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell), "Young People, New Technologies" with Crispin Thurlow (Communication), "Sherman Alexie on Page and Screen" with Tom Grayson Colonnese (American Indian Studies), "Artists and Intellectuals as Icons" with Jessica Burstein (English and Women Studies), "Staging Shakespeare Then & Now" with Odai Johnson (Drama), "A Human Rights for the 21st Century" with Bruce Kochis (Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, UW Bothell), "Teaching Racial Literacy" with Jonathan Warren (International Studies), "Graphic Novels: Reading the New Genre" with Caroline Simpson (English), "Youth in Global Times" with Craig Jeffrey (International Studies and Geography), and "Ethics and Climate Change" with Stephen Gardiner (Philosophy). Register online or call (206) 621-2230 x16. arrow Details

Kathleen Woodward Receives University of Washington Leadership Award
Kathleen WoodwardKathleen Woodward (Director, Simpson Center for the Humanities and Professor, English) has been named the 2008 faculty recipient of the David B. Thorud Leadership Award. First awarded in 2006, this award is given to one faculty member and one staff member who have demonstrated exceptional abilities to lead, serve, inspire, and collaborate with broad impact. The award is named in honor of David B. Thorud, who has effectively served the University in leadership positions for 25 years.  arrow Details
 
Norm Dicks Receives National Humanities Alliance Award
On March 4, 2008, Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA) was honored with the Sidney R. Yates Award for Distinguished Public Service to the Humanities at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Dicks represents the 6th District of Washington State in the U.S. Congress, and has been a longtime advocate for the humanities and the arts in the Northwest. The award was presented as part of the national Humanities Advocacy Day by Raymond Jonas (History). Jonas traveled to Capitol Hill together with Jentery Sayers (Graduate Student, English) and Sarah Spreitzer (Assistant Director, Federal Relations, UW) to meet Congressional representatives and national leaders engaged in shaping national humanities policy.
Digital Humanities
Keywords for American Cultural Studies
book coverAn interactive website accompanies the release of Keywords for American Cultural Studies, edited by Bruce Burgett (Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, UW Bothell) and Glenn Hendler (English, Fordham University). Developed through a partnership between the Simpson Center for the Humanities and New York University Press, this website enables users to revise, extend, and add to the research conversation contained in the volume. The website will provide spaces where classes and working groups can create, experiment with, and publish new keywords projects. arrow Details


multimediaHear & see some of the world's leading scholars from the convenience of your desktop or iPod!

NOW PLAYING
Education & Society in the Contemporary Era
Symposium: Education & Society in the Contemporary Era

Wendy Brown
Porous Sovereignty, Walled Democracy

Young Jean Lee
On the Boards lecture with Ji-Young Um on Young Jean Lee

Vicente L. Rafael
Translation
in Wartime


Derek Attridge Reading and Responsibility

Hey Girl! On the Boards lecture with Ruby Blondell about Hey Girl!

Science Studies Network logo Science Studies Network panel on the history & philosophy of science

Faustin Linyekula On the Boards lecture with Danny Hoffman about Faustin Linyekula

Multimedia Archives


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John Oleson
"Arena sine calce": Building Disasters, Incompetent Architects, and Construction Fraud in Ancient Rome
Friday, Oct. 10, 7:30 PM (Kane 210)


Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq
Sunday, Oct. 12, 4:00 PM (Odegaard Undergraduate Library and Kane 120)


Information Session: UW Bothell Master of Arts in Cultural Studies
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 1:00 PM (CMU 202)


Penelope Eckert
Why Do Adolescents Talk the Way They Do?
Tuesday, Oct. 14, 6:30 PM (Kane 120)


Steven Miles
Medical Complicity With Torture: Getting Out of Abu Ghraib
Wednesday, Oct. 15, 7:00 PM (Kane 110)


Forum on US Energy Policy: Science, Economics, and Future Outlook
Thursday, Oct. 16, 7:00 PM (Kane Hall Room 130)


Roundtable on Human Rights Public Culture
Friday, Oct. 17, 12:00 PM (Communications 202)


Taiwan Film Festival 2008
Monday, Oct. 20, 5:30 PM (Kane Hall)


Aniruddh D. Patel
Music Colloquium: Rhythm and Melody in Music and Language: Empirical Comparisons
Tuesday, Oct. 21, 6:00 PM (Music Building Room 213)


Colloquium: Why Race Now?
Tuesday, Oct. 21, 6:00 PM (Electrical Engineering 303)


Les Roberts
Iraqi Civilian Deaths and the U.S. Press
Wednesday, Oct. 22, 6:30 PM (Kane Hall, Room 130)


Richa Nagar & Amanda Lock Swarr
Workshop on Collaborative Research and Praxis
Thursday, Oct. 23, 3:30 PM (Communications 206)


Steven Morrison
Who's Musical? Music, Learning, and Enculturation
Friday, Oct. 24, 2:00 PM (The Summit at First Hill Retirement Community, 1200 University Street, Seattle)


Seyyed Vali Nasr
Shi'i Politics in the Middle East
Monday, Oct. 27, 7:30 PM (Kane 120)


Hubert Locke
A Nation Within: Black Religion, the Black Church, and the National Election
Tuesday, Oct. 28, 7:30 PM (Kane 120)


Anand Yang
The Rise of Asia: A New World Order?
Wednesday, Oct. 29, 7:00 PM (Kane 120)


John Hammerback
The Rhetorical Career of César Chávez
Thursday, Oct. 30, 12:30 PM (Gowen Hall 1A, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98125)


Steven Demorest
Music, Culture, and the Brain: How Culture Influences Musical Thinking
Friday, Oct. 31, 2:00 PM (The Summit at First Hill Retirement Community, 1200 University Street, Seattle)


Juan Cole
Iraq and the U.S. Presidential Election
Friday, Oct. 31, 7:30 PM (Kane 120)


Jose Pliya
Playing French Seattle Festival
Saturday, Nov. 1, 11:00 AM (Ethnic Cultural Theatre (39th and Brooklyn))


Jonathan Brown
Islam and Sexuality: Beyond the Headlines
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 7:00 PM (Kane 120)


Mike Davis
Who Will Build the Ark? The Architectural Imagination in an Age of Catastrophic Convergence
Thursday, Nov. 6, 7:00 PM (Kane 120)


Eric Hershberg
The International Context and Development Strategies of the Latin American Lefts
Friday, Nov. 7, 1:30 PM (Mary Gates 389)


Shannon Dudley
Music, Culture, and Community
Friday, Nov. 7, 2:00 PM (The Summit at First Hill Retirement Community, 1200 University Street, Seattle)


Toby Miller
Green Cultural Citizenship: A Future for Cultural Studies
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 6:00 PM (North Creek Events Center, UW Bothell)


Christine Ingebritsen
The Power of Scandinavia
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 7:00 PM (Kane 120)


Patricia Shehan Campbell
Born to Groove: Music in the Lives of Children
Friday, Nov. 14, 2:00 PM (The Summit at First Hill Retirement Community, 1200 University Street, Seattle)


Leah Middlebrook
Poiesis and Modernity in the Old and New Worlds
Monday, Nov. 17, 4:00 PM (Communications 202)


Takashi Fujitani
Race for Empire: Japanese as Americans and Koreans as Japanese in World War II
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 4:00 PM (Communications 202)


Cynthea J. Bogel
Importing and Localizing Ritual Paintings in Ninth-Century Japan
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 6:00 PM (Henry Art Gallery Auditorium)


Michael Shapiro
A Fire Pot of Tongues: Asian Languages in a New Global Environment
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 7:00 PM (Kane 120)


Farnaz Arbabi
Staging Migration and Post-National Identities: The Performance of Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Europe
Thursday, Nov. 20, 2:30 PM (Communications 202)


Achille Mbembe
Rethinking the Future in a Neo-Liberal Age
Thursday, Nov. 20, 6:30 PM (Kane 110)


Christine Goettler
Setting Fire to the Visual Arts: The Invention of the Flemish Style Abroad
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 6:00 PM (Henry Art Gallery Auditorium)


Janelle S. Taylor
The Public Life of the Fetal Sonogram: Technology, Consumption, and the Politics of Reproduction
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 4:00 PM (Communications 202)


Eleni Vlachos
Documentary Presentation: Seeing through the Fence
Thursday, Dec. 4, 7:00 PM (Allen Auditorium, Suzzallo Library)


Dava Sobel
Galileo and the International Year of Astronomy
Tuesday, Jan. 13, 6:30 PM (Kane 130)


Hazard Adams
The Academic Child
Thursday, Jan. 15, 3:30 PM (Communications 202)


Steven Ungar, "Making Waves: Documentary Film in Context"
Thursday, Jan. 29, 7:00 PM (Kane 120)


Davinder Bhowmik
Writing Okinawa: Narrative Acts of Identity and Resistance
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 4:00 PM (Communications 202)


James Kugel
Has Biblical Research Killed the Bible?
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 6:30 PM (Kane 120)


Michael Mackey
Bifurcations at the Bedside: How Non-Linear Dynamics Can Help to Understand Periodic and Dynamical Disease
Thursday, Apr. 9, 6:30 PM (Kane 120)


Conference: "Global Justice in the 21st Century"
Friday, Apr. 17, 9:00 AM (Kane 225)


Conference: "Global Justice in the 21st Century"
Saturday, Apr. 18, 9:00 AM (Kane 225)



Opportunities:
(See full list)

For Graduate Students

For Postdocs
Apply by Oct 17:
American Academy of Arts & Sciences Visiting Scholars Program
Apply by Dec 10:
Brown University Pembroke Fellowships

For Faculty
Apply by Oct 15:
Stanford Humanities Center Fellowships

Calls for Papers
Submit by Dec 22:
Literature, Art and Culture in an Age of Global Risk

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Difficult Dialogues: Southeast Asian American Pluralism
Reclaiming Childhood
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Project for Critical Asian Studies (1995-2006)
Silk Road
Climate Change and World Food Security with Mike Davis | Autumn 2008
Mike Davis and the Production of Space with Matthew Sparke | Autumn 2008
Science | Justice | Knowledge
Popular Culture & the Arts in Africa
Queer Worlds
The Race/Knowledge Project
(dis)Orienting Asian American Studies
Human Rights Public Culture
Early Modern Research Group
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Global Justice in the 21st Century
Ethical & Policy Implications of Growth Attenuation
Metropolis & Micropolitics: South Asia’s Sutured Cities
Seeing What Queer Youth Know
Music, Culture, and the Human Experience
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