The Joyce and ElizabethHall Center for the Humanities
Spring 1995 Communiqué
The Hall Center Communiqué is published twice a year. It circulates to humanities faculty at the University of Kansas, to other humanities centers around the country, and to other agencies which fund humanities programs.
Editor: Elizabeth Barnhill. Queries, responses or submissions may be directed to the Joyce and Elizabeth Hall Center for the Humanities, 211 Watkins Home, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-2967; telephone (785) 864-4798; fax (785) 864-3884; e-mail: hallcntr@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu.
Our newest endeavor, the Humanities Resource Center (HRC), is becoming busier by the week. Lesley Brown, coordinator of the HRC, reports that since September, she has assisted twenty-four faculty members from seventeen departments in identifying potential funding sources for their research. We are pleased with this initial response from faculty, and are confident the numbers will grow as more faculty become aware of the HRC. We appreciate the cooperation of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Office of Research, Graduate Studies and Public Service in making the Resource Center a reality. If you are a KU faculty member in the Humanities and would like assistance in locating grant resources, please call Lesley at the Center. Of course, it is still too early to know results of proposals submitted so stay tuned for further details!
While Bill Andrews is enjoying sunny California at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, sixty-six faculty will be participating in the Spring mini-course, "Bridging Disciplines: Methodological Links between the Humanities and the Social Sciences." Allan Hanson (Anthropology), Pete Casagrande (English), Burdett Loomis (Political Science), Thomas Lewin (History), Don Stull (Anthropology), Akira Yamamoto (Linguistics), William Staples (Sociology), and Carl Strikwerda (History) will lead the discussions. Faculty attending represent forty-one different units on campus.
The 1995-96 Humanities Lecture Series Committee has just announced the slate of lecturers for the next academic year. Daniel T. Politoske, KU Professor of Music History, will begin the series on September 7, 1995. Carol Gluck, George Sansom Professor of History at the East Asian Institute, Columbia University, continues the Series October 5. The final lecture for fall, November 16, will be delivered by Bernard Williams, Monroe Deutsch Professor of Philosophy, UC-Berkeley. Kwame Anthony Appiah will conclude the 1995-96 Series March 7, 1996. The committee will be calling for nominations for the 1996-97 series early in the Spring semester. Watch for the announcement.
On behalf of the Center staff, I want to wish you each a pleasant and productive New Year. Janet Crow, Acting Director In this issue...
Within the past twenty years, gender has become a critical component of a wide range of academic disciplines. Historians have found gender to be a "useful category of analysis"; literary scholars have studied the relationship between both gender and creativity and gender and literary tradition; scholars studying "race" have been challenged to incorporate concepts of gender; and gender has been integrated into poststructuralist discourse. Moreover, debates about the meaning and importance of gender have reverberated outside the academy, in popular culture and political life.
Papers included in the seminar might address the following questions, among others: What is the relationship between sex and gender? How is gender mediated through and represented by high and popular culture? What is the political nature or meaning of gender? How do definitions of gender vary across time and in different cultures? How do other categories of social identity interact with and modify gender? What are the practical applications of gender analysis in such areas as law or social welfare?
The seminar will meet Thursdays from 3:00 to 5:00 during fall 1995. Applications, due 1 March, will be solicited from faculty members across the university who will discuss common readings, present papers, and agree to attend all sessions. Eight participants will be chosen; each will receive a $500 stipend in the form of a travel grant or summer salary. Further information and application forms will be sent to faculty at the end of January. In this issue...
The final lecturer in the Humanities Lecture Series will be Drucilla Cornell, Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New York, who will speak on "Pornography's Temptation," March 15 in the Spencer Museum of Art Auditorium.
A series entitled "Ideas/Images/Power: Feminist Challenges" will feature Cornell as well as two other feminist scholars. On February 22, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Professor of Medical Science in the Division of Biology and Medicine at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, will speak on "Making a Difference: Biology and the Scientific Construction of Sexuality," in the Kansas Room, Kansas Union. Dr. Patricia Hill Collins, Professor of Sociology and African-American Studies at the University of Cincinnati, will present a lecture March 6 on "Fighting Words: Black Feminist Thought as Social Theory," also in the Kansas Room.
Each of the three lecturers in this series will conduct a workshop which will be open to faculty and students. Space will be limited and registration will be required. These lecturers are co-sponsored by the Hall Fund for the Improvement of Teaching, Women's Studies, the College Office, the Friends of Women's Studies, the departments of Math, Philosophy, Physics, and Sociology. Watch for announcements and registration information early in the spring semester. In this issue...
"Charles Johnson is director of the Creative Writing Program and holds the Pollock chair in Humanities at the University of Washington. His distinguished scholarly background is evident in the lush detail of Middle Passage which was the result of a six year research effort that included studying virtually every seafaring novel written, nautical dictionaries, and slave narratives of their hellish ocean crossing." (Forum Associates, Inc.)
The Hall Center will sponsor a "Conversation with Charles Johnson" on February 8 from 3:00-4:30 pm in the Centennial Room at the Kansas Union. Everyone is welcome to attend.
The Office of Minority Affairs presents a Reading and Lecture on African American Literary Form in Honor of African American History Month 1995 by Charles Johnson, Wednesday, February 8, 8:00 Alderson Auditorium Kansas Union. Admission Free. In this issue...
Two major products came out of my semester. One was the writing of seventeen biographies with appended sources for a historical dictionary of Christian missions and world Christianity. The other, much larger, was the completion of what will be, I hope, a landmark volume on the history of Christianity in China. This is the capstone of a large project which I directed a few years ago, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation of New York. The volume, to be published by Stanford University Press, contains twenty essays, by nineteen different authors, and lays out new themes and directions for work in both Chinese history and the history of Christianity in the non-Western world.
The time and freedom from distractions provided by my Hall fellowship were crucial in finishing the tasks of editing and writing connecting links for the parts of the volume. Otherwise I fear it would not have been completed until the summer of 1995, if then. 13 December 1994, Dan Bays, Dept. of History In this issue...
These grants are provided to KU faculty members for research and scholarly consultation that cannot be accomplished in any way other than by travel to locations where materials and collaborators reside. Applications for travel during the July 1 through December 31, 1995 award period are due at the Hall Center by March 15, 1995. In this issue...
We would especially like to thank the members of the Advisory Committee for their service as peer reviewers. These dedicated volunteers, many of whom were called upon during the busiest part of the semester, provided welcome advice to their colleagues. Those faculty members who took advantage of the Advisory Committee's services had nothing but the highest praise for the feedback they received. The HRC Advisory Committee members for 1994-95 are Victor Bailey, Spring '95, (History); Maria Carlson, Chair, (REES/Slavics); Richard DeGeorge (Philosophy/REES); Marc Greenberg (REES/Slavics); Elizabeth Kuznesof (History/Latin American Studies); Marilyn Stokstad (Art History/REES); Terry Weidner (Ctr for International Programs); and James Woelfel, Fall '94 (Western Civilization).
The HRC, located in Room 3 of the Hall Center, is open from 1:00- 5:00 p.m. daily and provides the following services:
We look forward to continued work with Humanities faculty in their efforts to secure external funding for their research. In this issue...
Later in the semester there will be a second panel on "Teaching in a Diverse Classroom" with Elizabeth Schultz serving as chair. Further details on these events will be forthcoming. In this issue...
Session I. February 1--Analyzing Structure and Creativity in Culture and the Arts. Allan Hanson (Anthropology) and Peter Casagrande (English), Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Union
Session II. February 8--There are No Engineers in this Group: Collaborative Research in Anthropology and Linguistics. Don Stull (Anthropology) and Akira Yamamoto (Linguistics), Kansas Room, Kansas Union
Session III. February 15--Anecdotes, Stories, and Data: Explorations in Interviewing. Burdett Loomis (Political Science) and Thomas Lewin (History), Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Union
Session IV. February 22--Understanding Social Change: The Intersection of Sociology and History. William Staples (Sociology) and Carl Strikwerda (History), Kansas Room, Kansas Union
All sessions to be held Wednesdays from 3:30-5:30 pm - Preregistration required. In this issue...
The residency site postdoctoral fellowships were funded for a three-year period, of which we are currently in the final year. Altogether, we have brought six fellows to campus for year-long residencies, two each year. They have included Paul Hirt of Washington State University, Leos Jelecek of Charles University (the Czech Republic), Wenhui Hou of Qingdao University (China), David Abram (an independent scholar from New Mexico), Elinor Melville of York University (Canada), and Kat Anderson, a recent Ph.D. graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. Two books have recently appeared in print from these scholars, with more on the way. Their presence has added much to the conversations at the Hall Center.
The Environmental Colloquium will continue on, though perhaps on a less regular schedule. Faculty and students from a wide array of departments (History, English, Philosophy, Anthropology, Art History, Systematics and Ecology, etc.) have presented their work for critical discussion, and the audiences have averaged 15 to 25 per colloquium. Recent international presenters have come from Sweden, Finland, and Panama. We expect to sponsor more such visitors in the future, and to provide a working space for researchers from time to time. Our mission will continue to be to encourage humanistic perspectives on environmental issues, past and present. In this issue...
Aquilino will continue her project, "The Ruined Map: Re- presenting Nineteenth-Century Paris as Public Space." She is preparing a book of essays on nineteenth-century Paris that re- examines how representations of public space help to construct our perception of the city. Aquilino pairs a series of historical investigations of the radical transformation of Paris with analyses of poststructural critiques of representation.
Gordon will develop her project, "Outsiders in the Garden: Women and Slaves in the School of Epicurus," which examines the Garden, a philosophical school and community that was founded by Epicurus in Athens in 306 B.C.E., and that survived without interruption for almost seven centuries. Gordon's aim is not only to describe the original Epicurean community and the social theory that shaped it, but also to write a history of the way the Garden captured the Graeco-Roman imagination.
Saul will complete research and begin writing on the third part of a long-term project on the history of Russian-American relations. The goal of Saul's project, "A Time of Troubles: The United States and Russia, 1914-1924," will be divided topically-diplomacy, business and commerce, and culture-within four distinct periods: from the outbreak of the Great War to the February Revolution (and U.S. entry into the war) in 1917; the revolutionary year of 1917 through the peace treaty of March 1918; civil war and intervention from 1918 to 1920; and humanitarian relief and non-recognition, 1920-24.
Strikwerda further develops his project, "The World at the Crossroads: Internationalism and Nationalism in the Era of the First World War," in which he proposes to challenge the picture of World War I as the inexorable outcome of nationalism. Strikwerda will use the fellowship term to complete the research for chapters two, four and five of his book.
The Creative Fellowship will be held by Gerald Lubensky (Fine Arts), who will develop a new series of paintings that transform the symbolic vocabulary of Islamic art into abstract images. This work will go beyond the simple appropriation of the motifs and composition he discovered in Islamic tribal arts. In this issue...
The School of Business and the Philosophy Department will work together on a series of workshops designed to integrate rationality theory and public policy issues in either new course work or interdisciplinary courses. The aim of these workshops will be to bring philosophers and psychologists together with faculty from a variety of departments which may include Business, Social Welfare, and Environmental Studies.
Music and Dance has received funding to arrange orchestral excerpts for cello ensemble to closely approximate the variety of sounds of a full orchestra. The excerpts, which may serve as a study guide for musicians in other areas such as theory, orchestration, and conducting, will be arranged and transcribed to computer to produce a legible printout for use in classes.
African & African-American Studies will implement a seminar during fall of 1995 designed to develop and integrate an Africa- Centered perspective within and across the African-American curriculum. Dr. Tsehloane Keto of Temple University, an expert on the African-American perspective, will be a featured guest of the seminar.
The Cataloging Department at Watson Library will purchase a collection of African-related videocassettes, including both feature films and documentaries, to be used for classroom instruction and outreach. The purchase review committee will be composed of professors from Anthropology, Linguistics, African & Africa-American Studies, Art History, Theatre and Film, and the bibliographer for African Studies at Watson Library.
The Department of English will sponsor a symposium in early September 1995 to address the question: "Is Graduate Education in Language and Literature Losing Its Moral Base?" The conference will aim to increase awareness of the extent of the employment crisis faced by graduate students in English and the modern languages. Events at the conference will address matters relevant to the profession at large and to the situation at KU. Guest speakers Herbert Lindenberger, Stanford University, and Michael Berube, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will present perspectives on the big picture of graduate education and employment in both foreign languages and literatures and American literature. In this issue...
A grant awarded by the Hall Center to the Watson Library staff is addressing this problem. During the fall, librarians worked with three faculty members to learn more about the successful incorporation of library-research skills into the curriculum. Professors Elizabeth Schultz (English), Carl Strikwerda (History), and Elaine Gerbert (EALC) agreed to work with Cindy Pierard, Instruction Coordinator, and Mary Rosenbloom, Reference Librarian, in creating course-specific instruction components for their classes. These included pre- and post-testing of library research skills, customized instruction sessions and handouts, and individual research consultation sessions for the sixty student participants.
The final step of the project will be an examination of what library and teaching partners have learned from each other and the publication of a handbook on the design and implementation of library skills assignments for the KU teaching community. Pat McQueeney, Associate Director of the Writing Center, will be assisting the project participants in the creation of the handbook, which should be available for interested teaching faculty and staff in the spring. If you would like to know more about this project, or wish to design something similar for any of your 1995-96 classes, contact Cindy Pierard via phone (864- 3366) or e-mail (cpierard@ukanvm.cc.ukans.edu) for further information.
Submitted by Cindy Pierard, Instruction Coordinator, and Rob Melton, Publications Coordinator, of the Libraries. In this issue...
Faculty Participant Applications--Hall Center Faculty Seminar on Gender (Fall 95), Mar 1
1995 Byron Caldwell Smith Award Nominations, Mar 1
The Spring 1995 Communique Calendar will serve as a reminder of the events you may wish to attend. If you have not received this semester's calendar, please call Susan at the Hall Center at 864- 4798. In this issue...
Staff: William L. Andrews, Director; Janet S. Crow, Acting Director; Donald Worster, Faculty Advisor; Elizabeth A. Barnhill, Secretary; Susan E. Pauls, Secretary.
Executive Committee: Stephen Goddard, Art History; John GronbeckTedesco, Theatre & Film; Roberta Johnson, Spanish & Portuguese; Elizabeth Kuznesof, Latin American Studies; Cheryl Lester, English; Donald Worster, History. Exofficio: Robert Bearse, Assoc. Vice Chancellor-RGSPS; Peter Casagrande, Dean- Liberal Arts; Stan Shumway, Assoc. Dean-Fine Arts; John Sweets, History-Chair, 1994 Humanities Lecture Committee; Vicky Unruh, Spanish & Portuguese-Chair, 1995-97 Humanities Lecture Committee.
Advisory Board: Charles Battey--Chairman, KN Energy, Inc.; Robert P. Cobb--Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas; Michael Fields--William T. Kemper Foundation; Harold Herd Justice, Kansas Supreme Court; Clifford Hope, Jr.--Hope, Mills, Bolin, Collins & Ramsey; John Laney--The Hall Family Foundations; Connie Menninger--Kansas State Historical Society; Tom Murray--Barber, Emerson, Springer, Zinn & Murray; James W. Scott--Kansas City Star (retired); Estelle Sosland--A Civic Volunteer; John H. Stauffer--Stauffer Communications, Inc.; Deanell Reece Tacha--Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals. In this issue...
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Updated July 23, 1997