Kling Undergraduate Honors Fellowship information session

WashU sophomores in the humanities and humanistic social sciences are invited to apply for the Center for the Humanities’ Merle Kling Undergraduate Honors Fellowship Program. This nearly 20-year-old program selects a cohort of five to seven ArtSci sophomores who want to conduct independent research in the humanities or humanistic social sciences. The humanities center provides a significant stipend each semester as well as a weekly writing-intensive seminar here at the center.  

2025 Biggs Family Residency in Classics

The 2025 Biggs Family Resident in Classics will be Emily Greenwood of Harvard University. Professor Greenwood has published groundbreaking scholarship on ancient Greek literature and its reception, especially as that relates to black studies and postcolonial literature and theory. All events are scheduled for 4PM Central Daylight Time and will be followed by receptions.

Colloquium 

"‘Suffering is not seldom the reward for service …’: Anna Julia Cooper and the Black Feminist Prometheus"
Monday, April 7
4PM
Umrath Lounge 

Co-sponsored by the Department of African and African American Studies

Seminar 

"Language Use and the Language of Use: Fictions of Normativity in Apollodorus"
Wednesday, April 9
4PM
Seigle 301

Lecture 

"Classical Slave Names and Container Theory: An African American History"
Thursday, April 10
4PM
Steinberg Auditorium

Co-sponsored by the Department of African and African American Studies

Dr. Nadje Al-Ali Talk

Dr. Nadje Al-Ali

Robert Family Professor of International Studies and Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies, Brown University

"Beyond Exceptionalism and Area Studies: Transnational Feminist Perspectives on Anti-Gender/Feminist Discourses and Politics"

• Friday, 28 February 2025
• 1-2:15 pm
• McMillan Cafe, McMillan Hall

Co-Sponsored by The Department of Women, Gender, & Sexuality Studies; The Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, & Equity; The Department of Jewish, Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies; and Global Studies

 

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Please be advised that our Friday and Saturday evening performances are fully SOLD OUT. If you still wish to attend the show on one of these evenings, please contact the Edison Theatre box office and request to be added to the waitlist.

It's time for the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and six contestants are poised to out-spell the rest. These six adolescents are the brightest and best, and the only thing they fear is the "ding" of the bell...and maybe some other things too. With four audience participant spots to fill, you might even get the chance to prove yourself as Putnam County's champion speller.  

Performing Arts Department Alum Brenna Jones (BA ‘23) will be returning to campus to direct this lighthearted musical with quick remarks and even quicker definitions.

Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Music & Lyrics by William Finn, Conceived by Rebecca Feldman
Additional Material by Jay Reiss
Originally Directed on Broadway by James Lapine
Directed by Brenna Jones (BA '23) 
Musical Direction by Larry D. Pry
Choreography by Jo Palisoc (BA '24)
April 17, 18, & 19 at 7:30 p.m.
April 19 & 20 at 2 p.m.
A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre

Content Warning: This show includes mature themes, adult humor, and content that may not be suitable for all audiences. Recommended for audiences aged 13 and above.

THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI).All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mitshows.com 

Tickets are FREE to all WashU students with valid ID. To reserve your ticket, please visit the Washington University Box Office or call 314-935-6543. You can also claim a free ticket the night of at the box office window

The Wolves

The Wolves, by Sarah DeLappe, is a 21st century coming-of-age tale. A finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the play offers a glimpse into the lives of nine teenage girls who are teammates on an indoor soccer team. In a series of scenes depicting their pre-game warm-up routine, the girls engage in seemingly frivolous banter, but under the surface, they are vying for power, understanding, and acceptance as they figure out their place in a changing world. 

By Sarah DeLappe
Directed by Annamaria Pileggi
February 21, 22, & 28, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.
February 23 and March 2 at 2 p.m.
Edison Theatre

Show attendees will be entered to win two tickets to the upcoming St. Louis City SC game against the Seattle Sounders on March 15th! 

Please note that seating for this performance is general admission bleacher-style seating on the Edison stage.

“The Wolves” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com 

Tickets are FREE to all WashU students with valid ID. To reserve your ticket, please visit the Washington University Box Office or call 314-935-6543. You can also claim a free ticket the night of at the box office window

2025 MFA Dance Concert: ¿Te puedo contar algo?

Our 8th MFA Dance Concert, ¿Te puedo contar algo?, showcases original dance works crafted by our MFA candidates, Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall and Lourdes del Mar Santiago Lebrón. With exclusively female ensembles, these choreographers will use dance to illuminate various facets of the diasporic experience. Losada-Tindall delves into themes of exile, lamentation, and longing, pondering what it is to mourn for a lost homeland. Meanwhile, Santiago Lebron dissects notions of abundance and scarcity through a sequence of interlinked vignettes. Join us for an unforgettable evening of dance.

Artistic Direction by Elinor Harrison
March 21 at 7:30 p.m.
March 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Edison Theatre

 

This event is free and open to the public.

WashU Dance Collective: Transcendence

Transcendence explores the ability to push past the norm and, through our own efforts or a nudge from something outside of ourselves, heighten our mundane experience beyond usual comforts. Through a blend of contemporary and avant-garde choreography, Transcendence pushes boundaries, questions limits, and reaches beyond the expected. Join us for an evening of performance where movement breaks through the margins of the physical world as we ask: How do you respond to limits? Compliance or rebellion? 

Washington University Dance Collective serves as the Performing Arts Department’s resident dance company.  WUDC is a unique blending of talented and expressive movers from very diverse backgrounds who bring with them a wide range of movement styles and performance acumen. The dancers work with faculty, community, graduate and undergraduate student choreographers, as well as perform throughout the St. Louis community.

Artistic Direction by Cecil Slaughter and Ryadah Heiskell
April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
April 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Edison Theatre

Tickets are FREE to all WashU students with valid ID. To reserve your ticket, please visit the Washington University Box Office or call 314-935-6543. You can also claim a free ticket the night of at the box office window.

Spring 2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) hosts Undergraduate Research Symposia twice a year, showcasing the diverse range of research and creative inquiry conducted by WashU undergraduate students and mentored by WashU faculty. Visit the Spring 2026 Symposium webpage for more information. 

The symposia provide an opportunity for undergraduate students to share their work, engage in peer networking and cross-disciplinary conversations, and develop presentation skills. Any WashU student is welcome to present their project, including works in progress.

For students who are interested in getting started in research, the symposium is a great opportunity to learn about the process from your peers. All WashU community members are encouraged to attend! 

Key Dates

• Wednesday, February 4: Registration opens. Registration is required for all symposium participants; no students are automatically registered. Registration includes a tentative title and abstract.
• Wednesday, March 4: Registration closes
• Wednesday, March 11: Presenters notified of session assignment
• Wednesday, March 18: Deadline for presenters to confirm participation
• Wednesday April 8: Submission deadline - final title, abstract, and presentation file for online program due*
• Friday, April 17: Symposium from 10 am - 4:30 pm in Frick Forum (1st floor) and other locations in Bauer/Knight Halls

*All presenters must submit a presentation file (e.g., PDF of poster, slides, or exhibit) for the online program (see the Fall 2025 URS program). This file will be VISIBLE TO THE PUBLIC as submitted, so it is critical for students to discuss their submissions with their faculty mentors. If there are IP concerns and data cannot be publicly disclosed, students should coordinate with the OUR to protect sensitive information.

Performance and Social Theory: Reification and Role in Marx’s Political Economy

While twentieth-century Western Marxist thought might suggest that we explain performance, whether in artistic productions or in everyday interactions, with reference to the effects that reification or ideology have upon performing subjects, recent scholarship on Marx's critique of political economy points to a different sort of behavior-shaping power seated in the capitalist mode of production: the "mute compulsion" generated by capital's ability to affect the economic and social contexts of human action. This category of social power indicates that the impersonal processes and roles that proliferate in capitalist societies offer a new locus of examination for understanding how dominant social relationships might explain the way we create art and manage our expressive abilities. 

About Pannill Camp

Pannill Camp is an Associate Professor of Drama, where he teaches theater history and theory, dramatic literature, and performance theory. His research focuses on exchanges between theater, architecture, and philosophy in eighteenth-century France, French freemasonry as a set of performance practices, and the antecedents of performance theory in social thought from the eighteenth through twentieth centuries. He is the author of The First Frame: Theatre Space in Enlightenment France (Cambridge University Press, 2014), which received an honorable mention for the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Outstanding Book Award for 2015, and was short-listed for the 2015 Kenshur Prize, awarded by the Indiana University Center for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

He is at work on two new book projects that explore the social dimensions of performance in the modern era. One, entitled Arts of Brotherhood: French Freemasonry in Performance, looks at the ways embodied performances helped freemasons in eighteenth-century France forge models of masculine homosocial behavior and preserve an esoteric body of knowledge. The other, entitled Performance and Social Theory, traces theatrical ideas in social theory from Montesquieu and Adam Smith to the mid-twentieth century sociology of Erving Goffman. 

Before arriving at Washington University, Pannill was a postdoctoral fellow at the Mahindra Center for the Humanities at Harvard and taught in Harvard’s History of Art and Architecture department. His articles have appeared in journals including Theatre Journal, Philological Quarterly, the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and Performance Research. Pannill has directed several productions, including plays by Molière, Ibsen, Strindberg, and Mac Wellman. He is also a co-host of On TAP: A Theatre & Performance Studies Podcast along with Sarah Bay-Cheng and Harvey Young.  

¡Habla!: Embodied Code-Switching and Listening to Our Dances

Jade Power-Sotomayor is a Cali-Rican educator, scholar and performer who works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego. Her forthcoming monograph from NYU Press ¡Habla!:Speaking Bodies and Dancing Our América theorizes the concept of "embodied code-switching" across distinct social dance spaces, examining how relationships between dancing and sounding indexes counter-histories rooted in Latinidad’s blackness that continue to challenge the violent afterlives of the colonial encounter. She has published in Centro Journal for Puerto Rican Studies, TDR, Theatre Journal, The Oxford Handbook of Theatre and Dance, Latino Studies Journal, Latin American Theatre Review, and Performance Matters. Her writing has been recognized with awards from the Dance Studies Association (DSA), American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR), Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), and the American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS). She is also a dramaturg and co-directs and performs with the San Diego-based group Bomba Liberté.

 

Lynn Nottage – Washington University International Humanities Prize

Playwright Lynn Nottage, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat and Ruined, will deliver a lecture as she receives the Washington University International Humanities Prize, presented by the Center for the Humanities. The biennial award honors a person who has contributed significantly to the humanities through a body of work that has dramatically impacted how we understand the human condition. 

FMS Colloquium Lecture Series: Lisa Nakamura "The Queen of MySpace: Tila Tequila and the Asian American Roots of Social Media"

Technology & Society

Kim Stanley Robinson on "The Ministry for the Future"

How do we confront the planetary crises of our time with imagination, urgency, and justice? The Global Futures course, a core part of the Global Studies curriculum, has been exploring this question in depth. What better way to do so than by engaging with The Ministry for the Future?  

Acclaimed science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson joins us for a thought-provoking discussion of his 2020 novel The Ministry for the Future, a gripping exploration of the climate catastrophe, political struggle, and collective resilience.  

Part of our 2025 Spring Speaker Series, this event reflects our program’s commitment to interdisciplinary approaches for understanding our interconnected world and addressing the upheavals of the twenty-first century, including climate change, forced migration, global inequalities, and technological revolutions. Robinson’s speculative storytelling provides the opportunity to contemplate all of these elements in a single novel and, moreover, to envision a more humane future.  

Human Rights, Terrorism, and Anarchism in Spain: Past and Present

This talk compares the impact of alleged anarchist bombings in Spain on state repression and human rights organizing at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Based on his book, The Anarchist Inquisition, Bray will explore how anarchist bombings in theaters and cafes in the 1890s provoked mass arrests and executions and catalyzed the formation of a transnational human rights network composed of journalists, lawyers, union activists, anarchists, and other dissidents. Similarly, a movement against state repression emerged in 2013 in response to the Spanish state's infamous "Operation Pandora" which aimed to clamp down on the anarchist movement after the bombing of a church in Zaragoza.

Robert L. Williams Lecture Series - The Psychology of Struggle and Hope: John Henryism and the Health of Black Americans

Abstract:  For reasons not fully understood, Black Americans develop hypertension, heart failure, stroke, renal failure, and type 2 diabetes at younger ages than White Americans. These chronic, degenerative diseases are leading causes of the 5–7-year deficit in life expectancy for Black Americans compared to White Americans. For both groups, however, the prevalence of these cardio-renal-metabolic disorders follows an inverse socioeconomic gradient with poor and working-class individuals having 1 ½ to 2 times greater risk than their middle and upper-middle class counterparts. While statistical models that control for individual differences in standard risk factors like obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, education, etc., reduce the observed excess risks, statstically significant excess risk usually persists. Interdisciplinary research models that integrate insights from US labor history with insights from the psychological, sociological, and medical sciences could lead to a more holistic understanding of the cardiometabolic disease epidemic that affects Black Americans disproportionately. The John Henryism Hypothesis is a modest step toward such a model. Briefly, this hypothesis posits that, for Black Americans, especially the poor and working class, the widespread physiological wear and tear resulting from repeated, but hopeful, “high-effort coping” – John Henryism – with systemic adversity (e.g., poverty and racial discrimination) accelerates biological aging of multiple organ systems with the heart, kidney, and brain being major targets. This presentation will discuss the origins of the John Henryism Hypothesis; how John Henryism, a personality construct, is measured by the John Henryism Scale for Active Coping (JHAC); key psychological, social, and economic correlates of “high” JHAC scores; major research findings from tests of the hypothesis; potential health care and social policy implications; and future research priorities.

Cannibal Capitalism: The View from Trump’s America - 2025 Faculty Book Celebration

Quick links

Keynote lecture

Faculty speakers

Pane

Building Language-Content Connection with Translation

Research of the past decade began to focus on the merging of language and literary/cultural content in advanced-level foreign language teaching in collegiate contexts (Kramsch, 2006; Paesani & Allen, 2012).   However, the cold divide between language and culture is still the norm rather than an exception. Arguing against the assumption that KFL courses are a "service" program that is in step toward fulfilling the ultimate goal of Korean Studies (KS), Professor Cho proposes that the relationship between language, literature, and culture needs to be radically reconceptualized. Building linguistic proficiency is not a separate endeavor, and the current practice of incorporating incoherent cultural elements in KFL instruction is too narrow a goal.  Korean studies scholars in North American academia rarely deal with primary materials in literature, history, cinema, and/or gender studies, thus removing the students from the language in undergraduate education. At the same time,  KFL curricula are designed with little connection to content courses offered in the same program.  Through a curricular innovation of incorporating translation and translanguaging, Professor Cho suggests a concrete way of building a two-way bridge where an integrated curriculum simultaneously promotes linguistic and academic proficiencies.

FMS Colloquium Lecture Series: Gaylyn Studlar "Women's Erotic Labor and the Negotiation of Class Identity in 'Pre-Code' Hollywood Stardom, 1924-1934"

"Women's Erotic Labor and the Negotiation of Class Identity in 'Pre-Code' Hollywood Stardom, 1924-1934"

A Wonder to Behold: Jesus’ Miracles and Late Ancient Receptions of the Story of the Woman Taken in Adultery

As Jesus’s own materiality illustrated to late ancient Christians, flesh can change quality, degrees of corruption can be altered, and carnal weakness can be overcome. Miracle scenes were therefore sources of physics and metaphysics as well as invitations to faith, with the raising of Lazarus, the healing of the paralytic, the casting out of demons, and other Gospel wonders taken as evidence of the malleability of bodily nature. Featured among other Johannine signs and carved on late ancient ivory boxes, the forgiven adulteress also played a role in Christian reflections on the physical world. If virtue was written on bodies and in bodies, as the physiognomists insisted, then the restoration of a weak woman or, even worse, an adulteress, truly was a wonder to behold. 

Deciphering Globalization: Making and Knowing the World Through Things

The experience of living in a world constantly shaped by strangers, foreign customs, and unfamiliar objects dates back to the beginning of human history. This interconnectedness and interdependence among different value systems and cultures—what we now call globalization—has long served as both an inspiration and a challenge to individuals, communities and political entities.

This workshop aims to explore the diverse historical processes of globalization through the lenses of things. It focuses on the adaption, friction, and transformation caused by  things, both natural and human-made,  when they enter new social environments: the integration of Anatolian foodways into Chinese cuisine in the second millennium BCE and subsequent food globalization processes til the early modern era; the political and cultural encounters between the Mughal and Qing empires through technological and artistic exchanges driven by the production of Inner Asian minerals; the adoption of the Chinese furniture and ceramics into Euro-American lifeways since the 17th century; and the evolving values and aesthetic expressions of textile and silk production as it adapted to the global market in the 19th century.

Things, and the flow of them, remade the world by incubating ideas, creating demands, connecting markets, and blending cultures. By bringing together scholarship from diverse fields—history, archaeology, anthropology, and historical geography—this interdisciplinary workshop seeks to create an intellectual platform for a deeper understanding of globalization, both past and present, while envisioning the future of humanity in globalized social conditions.

Organized by:

Zhao Ma (EALC, Washington University in St. Louis)

Xinyi Liu (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis)

Participants:

• Kyoungjin Bae (History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
• Yamile Ferreira (the StudioLab, Washington University in St. Louis)
• Michael Frachetti (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis)
• T. R. Kidder (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis)
• Ge Jianxiong (Chinese University of Hong Kong / Fudan University)
• Min Li (Anthropology, UCLA)
• George Liu (Fudan University / Washington University in St. Louis)
• Eugenio Menegon (History, Boston University)
• Tobie Meyer-Fong (History, Johns Hopkins University)
• Trevor Sangrey (Women, Gender and Sexual Studies, Washington University in St. Louis)
• Monica Smith (Anthropology, UCLA)
• Jim Wertsch (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, em)
• Yulian Wu (History, Michigan State University)
• Lingran Zhang (Museum Education, Ohio State University)
• Students of the StudioLab and Ampersand Programs

April 4 Friday

9:45-10:00 Arrive at McMillan Café

10:00-10:15 Opening remarks by Zhao Ma and Xinyi Liu

10:15-12:00 Panel One (McMillan Café)

• Yulian Wu, “Imagined Skill: Hindustan Jade and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Qing China”
• Eugenio Menegon, “Materiality and Meaning in the Circulation of Daily-Use and Luxury Commodities through Missionary Networks between China and Europe”
• Kyoungjin Bae, “The Tea Chest Dilemma in Colonial Assam”
• Tobie Meyer-Fong, discussant

12:15-13:45 Luncheon (Bowen Room, McMillan 150)

Ge Jianxiong, “American Crops, Chinese Life”

14:00-15:45 Panel Two (McMillan Café)

• Xinyi Liu, “Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis Revisited”
• Michael Frachetti, “Emerging Globalization and Eurasia’s Bronze Age Open Ecumene”
• Min Li, “Shimao at the Intersection of Middle, North, and East Asian Intersection Spheres”
• T. R. Kidder, discussant

16:00-17:00 Friday Archaeology Series (McMillan G052)

Monica Smith, “Globalization in Daily Life: Materialized Long-Distance Contacts from the Perspective of Ordinary People”

17:00-18:00 Reception at McMillan G Level Gallery

18:30 Dinner (by invitation)

April 5 Saturday

9:00 Arrive at the Lewis Collaborative

9:15-10:15 Special presentation

Zhao Ma, Trevor Sangrey, Yamile Ferreira, and students of the StudioLab and Ampersand Programs, “Knowing Through Objects: The World of an Antique Chinese Wedding Bed”

10:30-11:00 Mini-gallery talk

George Liu, “Sino-US Silk Trade and Silk Products in Wedding Beds”

11:15-12:15 Roundtable Discussion

closing remarks by Jim Wertsch, “The Role of Narrative Tools in Deciphering Globalization”

12:30-17:00 Lunch and site visit (by invitation)

18:00 Dinner (by invitation)

 

University-Wide Commencement Ceremony

The university-wide Commencement Ceremony will take place on Monday, May 12, 2024, at 9:00 a.m. on Francis Olympic Field. Additional climate-controlled and accessible viewing locations will also be available.

Commencement is a rain or shine event. Seats are available first come, first served. Please review the bag policy for guests and list of prohibited items. 

An all-school Commencement festival will immediately follow the university-wide Commencement ceremony on Monday, May 12. The celebration will include local food and beverage, games, photo opportunities, live entertainment, and will stretch from Mudd Field to Tisch Park. Festival will start at the conclusion of the Commencement Ceremony and end at 3:00 p.m.

Arab Brazil: Ternary Orientalism and the Question of South-South Comparison

^{COMPARATIVE METHODS LECTURE SERIES}

Eric Hayot - Structure and Style in Humanities Writing

Lecture Overview:

In this workshop, I will explain why I wrote The Elements of Academic Style (2014) and talk about some of the things I learned since 2014. Then we’ll do two exercises. The first will involve practicing the Uneven U by rebuilding a paragraph from an existing academic book. The second will involve introductions: we will look at a sampling of introductions to pieces of published writing done by people with PhDs in the humanities. We’ll use them to think through some of the differences between writing for public-facing venues and writing scholarship, and to open onto bigger questions about writing. Participants should read in advance the sections on the Uneven U in The Elements of Academic Style and the samples of public-facing introductions (available in the English office).

Eric Hayot is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature and Asian Studies at Penn State University. He’s the author of five books, including On Literary Worlds (2012), The Elements of Academic Style (2014), and Humanist Reason (2021), and co-editor of three volumes, including, most recently, Information: A Reader (with Anatoly Detwyler and Lea Pao). He is the translator, with Lea Pao, of Peter Janich’s What is Information?

Eric Hayot - Comparative Method at the End of Aesthetic History; or, The Possibilities and Limits of Historical Relativism

Lecture Overview:

The present seems to demand of us a special kind of epistemological modesty. We know that people living 1,000 years ago were wrong about many things. We may ourselves feel right about them. But we have to imagine that 1,000 years from now we will be as wrong, relative to then, as our ancestors were relative to us. This talk frames claims about the present as a problem: if we imagine that much of what we know will turn out to be wrong, if we understand that the present is partially unknowable because we do not, and cannot, know its future—then surely it pays, epistemologically speaking, to be careful.

Soviet Koreans as Disseminators of Communism in East Asia

Shortly after Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II, the Soviet Union sought to consolidate its sphere of influence in East Asia. Whether it be in North Korea or the reclaimed half of Sakhalin Island, Soviet Koreans came to play an important role as intermediaries, seen as both (or not quite) Soviet and East Asian. In this presentation, Lacey examines how the changing geopolitics of the mid-1940s and ’50s led the Soviet government to adopt a new view of Soviet Koreans, from “enemies of the people” to convenient tools for indoctrinating the region. Through close analysis of personal interviews and archival materials of Soviet Korean figures like Ten San Din (Yuriy Danilovich), Lacey also asks how Soviet Koreans themselves processed this sudden transition, especially after the traumatic mass arrests, executions, and deportations from the Russian Far East to Central Asia during Stalin's Great Purge only a decade earlier, as well as their relations with other Koreans in northern Korea and Sakhalin. Her findings reveal not only tension and uncertainty, but also hope and solidarity during this chaotic (post)war period.

WU Cinema Presents: PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE

Directed by: Céline Sciamma

Starring:  Adele Haenel, Noemie Merlant, Luana Bajrami, Valeria Golino

Rated R • Length 131 min • Year 2019

---

Tickets

Doors open at 7:30pm

Unless otherwise noted, admission is:

Free for Washington University students with proper ID.

$7 for the general public
$5 for seniors, Washington University alumni and students from other schools
$4 for Washington University staff and faculty

We offer general admission seating with payment of cash or credit.

Note: Last-minute changes may occur.

"Decolonizing the Literary Curriculum: Means and Meanings" - Ato Quayson

Context specificity must be taken as a very important consideration for decolonizing the literary curriculum, such that to decolonize in New Zealand and Australia, both white settler colonies, is quite different from decolonizing in the United Kingdom, in Ghana, in Singapore, or in India. In this workshop, I will discuss calls for reforming the curriculum (not just the literary one) that have come from equity-seeking groups, a category that includes at least the following: Indigenous peoples (pertaining specifically to the settler communities of Australia, Canada, and the United States), people of color and racial minorities, persons with disabilities, persons with non-heteronormative sexual orientations, formerly colonized people, women, Jews, and Muslims, among various others. These all fall under the rubric of decolonizing but from different and often incompatible perspectives.

"Interdisciplinarity and Interpretation: A Comparative Method" - Ato Quayson

Different institutional arrangements have historically been devised to house and support what is described as interdisciplinary work. At the core of the efforts at interdisciplinarity are two central principles: First, that of integrative epistemologies that might be applicable to all fields of learning. The second principle is that of unified or collaborative modes of knowledge that might be deployed for addressing real-world problems. While discussing these ideas of interdisciplinarity, I will be introducing a third aspect, namely, the protocols of proposition making that emerge from different disciplines and ground them as disciplines. Understanding the different protocols of proposition making that apply in different disciplines is fundamental to what we understand as comparative studies of different kinds. I will elaborate a supple comparative method from this understanding.

Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts Grant Info Session – March 2025

The Center for the Literary Arts will host an informal Zoom workshop for students interested in applying for a Fulbright Creative and Performing Arts Grant during the 2025-2026 application cycle. Led by CLA Postdoctoral Fellow and 2018-2019 Fulbright grantee Ashley Colley, the workshop will focus on writing and honing the statement of grant purpose.

Kaira Jewel Lingo: Mindfulness & Anti-Racism Speaker Series 9th Speaker

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons

All humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate student writers — at any stage — are welcome to join the Humanities Graduate Student Writing Commons. It’s an opportunity for quiet, focused writing alongside peers, providing community and accountability.

Registration is required; sign up by clicking on the button below. Up to 10 students can be accommodated each meeting date.

Coffee and snacks provided!

Poetry and Conflict: Pádraig Ó Tuama Public Lecture

Socialism as Praxis: 'Second World'-'Third World' Relations and the Evolution of the Socialist Model During the Cold War

During the Cold War, the developing countries of the Global South, then called the “Third World,” provided a laboratory for socialist experimentation. This came at a time when anticommunist politics in the First World and bureaucratic resistance in the Second World made socialist experimentation more difficult in the Global North. What took place in the Third World, however, was not merely a struggle for aid and resources, or an attempt to propagate existing models – it was a global process of conversation and iteration about how to adapt socialism to conditions that neither Marx nor Lenin had foreseen.  By the end of the Cold War, socialists the world over were mining the lessons learned in these Third World experiments as they sought to find a way forward.

Jeremy Friedman is an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School.  Previously he was the Associate Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale University.  He received his PhD in History from Princeton in 2011 and has published two books, "Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Split in the Third World" (UNC Press, 2015) and "Ripe for Revolution: Building Socialism in the Third World" (Harvard University Press, 2022).

Intricacies and Intimacies: A Conversation on Black Queer/Trans Sexuality with Matt Richardson and Marlon M. Bailey

Date & Time: Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | 4:30–6:00 PM

• Reception 4:30 - 5:00pm
• Talk 5:00 - 6:00pm

Location: Umrath Lounge, Washington University

This engaging event will feature two distinguished speakers:

• Matt Richardson, Associate Professor in Feminist Studies and Affiliate Faculty in Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, discussing his latest work, Angels of Mercy, Light, and Fog, an erotic trilogy of novellas.
• Marlon M. Bailey, Professor and Associate Chair in African and African American Studies and Professor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University.

Don't miss this insightful discussion on the intersections of Black queer/trans sexuality and literature.

WU Cinema Presents: LA CHIMERA

Directed by: Alice Rohrwacher

Starring:  Josh O'Connor, Carol Duarte, Isabella Rossellini, Alba Rohrwacher

Not Rated• Length 133 min • Year 2023

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Tickets

Doors open at 7:30pm

Unless otherwise noted, admission is:

Free for Washington University students with proper ID.

$7 for the general public
$5 for seniors, Washington University alumni and students from other schools
$4 for Washington University staff and faculty

We offer general admission seating with payment of cash or credit.

Note: Last-minute changes may occur.

WU Cinema Presents: STOP MAKING SENSE

Directed by: Jonathan Demme

Starring:  David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, Steve Scales, Alex Weir

Rated PG • Length 88 min • Year 1984

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Tickets

Doors open at 7:30pm

Unless otherwise noted, admission is:

Free for Washington University students with proper ID.

$7 for the general public
$5 for seniors, Washington University alumni and students from other schools
$4 for Washington University staff and faculty

We offer general admission seating with payment of cash or credit.

Note: Last-minute changes may occur.

WU Cinema Presents: SPEED RACER

Directed by: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski

Starring:  Emille Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, Matthew Fox

Rated PG• Length 135 min • Year 2008

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Tickets

Doors open at 7:30pm

Unless otherwise noted, admission is:

Free for Washington University students with proper ID.

$7 for the general public
$5 for seniors, Washington University alumni and students from other schools
$4 for Washington University staff and faculty

We offer general admission seating with payment of cash or credit.

Note: Last-minute changes may occur.

WU Cinema Presents: MALCOLM X

Directed by: Spike Lee

Starring:  Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo

Rated R • Length 202 min • Year 1992

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Tickets

Doors open at 7:30pm

Unless otherwise noted, admission is:

Free for Washington University students with proper ID.

$7 for the general public
$5 for seniors, Washington University alumni and students from other schools
$4 for Washington University staff and faculty

We offer general admission seating with payment of cash or credit.

Note: Last-minute changes may occur.

Colloquium with Karl Appuhn

Join us as Karl Appuhn, Associate Professor of History And Italian at New York University, presents a lecture as part of the Department of History Colloquium series.

Light refreshments will be provided.
 

Film Screening: Taylor Mac's "24-Decade History of Popular Music"

 Join Spectrum, the Performing Arts Department, and Film and Media Studies for a film that captures Taylor Mac's exuberant one-time-only, 24-hour immersive theatrical experience in New York City. Featuring skilled musicians and creative costumes, the show examines and reframes American history through the experiences of marginalized communities recounted through sea shanties, disco, and sugary pop alike.

This screening coincides with Taylor's visit to campus the following day for the 2025 Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture.

Desert Placemaking: The Role of Atmosphere in the Artwork of James Turrell and Rafa Esparza

Crafting Your Humanities Resume - A Workshop for Graduate Students

You’ve diligently put together your academic CV throughout your time as a graduate student, but now you realize this format won’t work for most jobs beyond the professoriate. Join this session to gain tips and insights on how to translate your research activities, teaching and other traditional academic labors into skills and assets visible to a broader range of employers.

‘Where to Start?’ A Roundtable Conversation on Public Humanities for Graduate Students

Join this year’s RDE workshop guests, including representatives from MLA and ACLS, in a broader discussion of public humanities project work for graduate students.

What are the public humanities?

Why should students in traditional scholarly pathways pursue these methods of engagement? 

How do national organizations and funders support the public humanities? 

Where to Start? A Public Humanities Primer for Graduate Students

This year's RDE workshop is an opportunity for graduate students to take part in a series of sessions about the public humanities. What are the public humanities, and how are they practiced within higher education? How can graduate students incorporate its methods into their scholarship? How can they prepare to collaborate and engage with broader publics, during and after their doctoral training?

ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship - Application Prep Workshop

This virtual workshop session is designed for later-career PhDs interested in applying to the ACLS’ Leading Edge fellowship program, which places recent humanities PhDs into nonprofit organizations committed to promoting social justice in their communities.

Markus Hoffman - Going the Distance: How to Win the Publishing Steeplechase (or at Least Get on the Podium)

You have written a novel, a story collection, a book of poetry, or you have a great idea for a non-fiction book. You have heard about a strange creature called “literary agent” – apparently they can help writers find a publisher! But how to find the right agent for your project? There seem to be an awful lot of them out there, and yet hardly anybody is responding to your query letter. In this talk and the following Q&A session, I hope to shed light on my chosen profession and the book industry in general and offer tips for getting over the obstacles you may encounter as you try to get from manuscript to publication.

Indigenous Perspectives II: Museums, Stewardship, and Native American Art

The event begins at 4:30 p.m., with a reception including light refreshments. Between 4:45 and 5:45 p.m., short tours of two exhibitions including works by Native American artists will be offered by Kemper Museum curators Dana Ostrander and Meredith Malone. The panel with our three guest speakers starts at 6 p.m. and will include time for questions from the audience. The event will end by 7:30 p.m.

Presentations by: Dr. heather ahtone, Dakota Hoska, Dr. Meranda Roberts

 

 

heather ahtone is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and descendant of strong Choctaw women. She currently serves as Director, Curatorial Affairs, at First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and has worked in the Native arts community since 1993. Dr. ahtone has established a career as a curator, arts writer, and cultural researcher. She serves on numerous advisory boards and in professional capacities that advocate on behalf of Indigenous knowledge, museum practice, and scholarship in the field, including current service as President for the Native American Art Studies Association and on the American Art Journal editorial board. Her current research explores the intersection between Indigenous cultural knowledge and contemporary arts. ahtone has worked at the Institute of American Indian Arts Museum (MoCNA), the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts (Santa Fe, New Mexico), on contract with Ralph Appelbaum Associates (New York), and in several positions at the University of Oklahoma, where she served as the curator of Native American and Non-Western art at OU's Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art for over six years. She earned an associate degree in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts, bachelor degree in Printmaking at the University of Oklahoma, master degree in Art History, and a doctoral degree in Interdisciplinary Studies (Art History, Anthropology, Native American Studies). She continues to seek opportunities to broaden discourse on global contemporary Indigenous arts. In addition, she is committed to serving the global Indigenous arts community.

 

Dakota Hoska (Oglála Lakȟóta Nation, Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee) serves as the Associate Curator of Native Arts and NAGPRA coordinator at the Denver Art Museum where she has been employed since 2019. Hoska completed her MA in Art History, focusing on Native American Art History, at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN (2019). She also completed two years of Dakhóta language at the University of Minnesota (2016) and received her BFA in Drawing and Painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (2012). Dakota has participated in multiple curatorial programs such as the EPIC International Curatorial Exchange Program through the Association of Art Museum Curators, the Otsego Summer Seminar sponsored by the Fenimore Art Museum, and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Native American Museum Fellowship at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, to name a few. She currently serves on multiple national advisory councils and boards and frequently writes about and presents on issues related to curating Native North American art collections.

 

Dr. Meranda Roberts, a citizen of the Yerington Paiute Tribe and Chicana, holds a Ph.D. in History and an M.A. in Public History from the University of California, Riverside. She is a Visiting Professor in the Art History Department at Pomona College and serves on the Scholarly Advisory Committee for the Smithsonian Women’s History Museum, where she advocates for inclusive representation of Indigenous histories. An accomplished scholar and curator, Dr. Roberts co-curated Native Truths: Our Stories. Our Voices. at the Field Museum of Natural History. She also curated the 2023 Native American Invitational Exhibition at Idyllwild Arts, Still We Smile: Humor as Correction and Joy, and curated Continuity: Cahuilla Basket Weavers and their Legacies at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College. Most recently, she co-edited Surviving the Long War: Creative Rebellion at the Ends of Empire, published by Bridge Books in Chicago. Through her work, she is dedicated to advancing anti-colonial pedagogy and Indigenous methodologies, holding colonial institutions accountable for harmful narratives, and reconnecting cultural heritage items with descendant communities to ensure their stories reflect their enduring significance.

 

 

 

Registration for this event has closed.

Please contact Alison Eigel Zade (ealison@wustl.edu) to be placed on the waitlist.

 

 

 

 

L-R: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (Enrolled Salish member), Cahokia, 1989. Lithograph. Kemper Art Museum; James Lavadour (Walla Walla), Like Rain, 1995. Oil on panel. John and Susan Horseman Collection, courtesy of the Horseman Foundation; Duane Slick (Enrolled Meskawki member), Crafting a Consequential Narrative, 2020. Collagraph, relief, screen print, acrylic, and chine collé on Rives BFK white. Kemper Art Museum.

 

This program is supported through funding from the Department of Art History & Archaeology and the Program in American Culture Studies, both in Arts and Sciences, and is co-sponsored by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

 

Colloquium "Defining the Creole Corridor"

The colloquium "Defining the Creole Corridor" aims to explore the historical, cultural, and social connections along the Mississippi River, from Quebec to New Orleans, focusing on the unique intersection of French, Creole, Native American, and African cultures. This interdisciplinary event will delve into the rich heritage of the region, with particular emphasis on the role of communities like Sainte-Geneviève, Missouri, in shaping the cultural landscape of early French colonial America. Through panel discussions, presentations, and interactive sessions, the colloquium will examine the lasting impact of the "Creole Corridor" on language, identity, and regional development.  

Wednesday, April 23, 2025

Holmes Lounge (Ridgley Hall) | Danforth Campus | Washington University

Morning Session 

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM | Breakfast | Holmes Lounge 

 

9:00 AM – 9:15 AM | Opening Remarks 

Ella Allen (WashU) and Lionel Cuillé (French Connexions Center of Excellence)

 

9:15 AM – 10:30 AM | Panel 1: Corridor Creole Culture  

Moderator: Tili Boon Cuillé (WashU) 

Jay Gitlin (Yale University): Coining the Corridor Creole  

Michael S. Nassaney (Western Michigan University) & Erika K. Hartley (Western Michigan University): Probing the Gendered Dimensions of Creole Culture: Women’s Roles at Fort St. Joseph in Southwest Michigan 

Thomas Croisez (European University Institute): Lost in Transition: Moral Climate and Spiritual Survival in the Illinois Country (1763-1773) 

 

10:30 AM – 11:00 AM | Coffee Break 

 

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Panel 2: Collecting and Sharing Stories of Our Silenced Past 

Moderator: Robinson Etienne (WashU) 

Debra Downey (Independent scholar): The Story of Rodde Christi: Sainte Genevieve's Influence in Black American History  

Robert Englebert (University of Saskatchewan): Slavery and Mobility: Rethinking the French Creole Corridor 

Maurice Tetne (WashU): Trauma and Francophone Antislavery Literature in 19th-Century Louisiana 

 

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM | Lunch Break (Buffet in Holmes Lounge)

 

Afternoon Session 

1:00 PM – 2:30 PM | Panel 3: Creole Language, Literature, and Oral Traditions 

Moderator: Maëlle Zemirline (WashU) 

Stamos Metzidakis (WashU): Acadian Refugees and the Upper Creole Corridor 

Violaine White (University of Missouri – St. Louis): Integrating the Franco-American Folklore into the French Curriculum 

 

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Panel 4:  Interpreting the French (and) Creole History of the Ste. Geneviève Region

Roundtable and Q&A 

Moderator: Geoff Giglierano, Executive Director, French Colonial America 

Panelists: James Gass, Staff Historian, French Colonial America and Michael Weiler, President, Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve 

 

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Panel 5: Environment, Economy, and the Creole Corridor 

Moderator: Joël Gabriel (WashU) 

Patrick Allan Pospisek (Grand Valley State University): Mining the Upper Mississippi: French Creole Mineral Development in the Pays d’en Haut 

Nate Marvin (University of Arkansas): Mapping Creole Arkansas: The People Behind the Placenames 

Joseph Gagné (Archives nationales à Québec /BAnQ) : Des frères oubliés : la superposition de créolité et canadianité dans les archives du 18e siècle  

 

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM | Book Exhibit at the Olin Library Special Book Collection, in presence of Consul de France Yannick Tagand. 

 

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Holmes Lounge) | Reception and Cocktail and Keynote Address  

Consul de France Yannick Tagand

 

6:30 PM : Dinner with participants at private event. 

 

Saturday, April 26, 2025

(Optional Excursion): 9 AM-4 PM 

Guided Visit to Ste. Geneviève National Historic Park: Exploring the historical Franco-Québécois heritage of Upper Louisiana through preserved 18th-century Creole architecture. 

Free visit for our students and guest speakers (Coach bus to Ste Genevieve/ Lunch/ Cost of Historical French Village): RSVP Required

This event is made possible by the French Connexions Franco-American center (WashU), a grant from the cultural services of the French Embassy, the financial support of the Romance Languages & Literatures Department (WashU), and the Fondation Foyer.

The French Connexions Center of Excellence at Washington University in St. Louis (WashU), in collaboration with the French Heritage Society (FHS) and the Centre for French Colonial Life, invites proposals for its colloquium on “Creole Culture and Identity in Upper Louisiana,” to be held on April 23, 2025, on the Washington University campus.

This interdisciplinary and transatlantic event seeks to explore the newly emerging concept of the "Creole Corridor"—a vast and dynamic cultural nexus extending from Quebec to New Orleans along the Mississippi River. The conference will examine the intricate connections among French settlers, Indigenous nations, African-descended communities, as well as their enduring economic, environmental, and artistic legacies.

With the generous support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, this event reaffirms WashU’s leadership in fostering transatlantic dialogue and promoting the study of French and Francophone cultures. It also situates St. Louis—a city founded in 1764 by Franco-Québécois settlers—as a key site for understanding Francophone heritage in North America. 

The colloquium will feature scholars from France, Canada, and the United States, a keynote address from Yannick Tagand, consul of France, thematic panels, and roundtable discussions on topics including language, identity, migration, and the environment. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP below. 

This colloquium will be followed the next day (same place, Holmes Lounge) by the 5th Annual conference of the French Heritage Society (FHS) "Sustaining Life in the French Heritage Corridor," further expanding on themes of cultural preservation and historical sustainability. The program can be found here. We encourage all those interested in Franco-Québécois history, French colonial heritage, and the cultural landscapes of the Mississippi Valley to attend both events. 

Contact: Dr. Lionel Cuillé, lcuille@wustl.edu

 

 

 

 

 

William H. Matheson Lecture | March 6, 2025

Presentation Title: Acoustic Translation as Embodied Listening

Translation is an immersive experience more akin to listening to live music, and actively participating in a full acoustic event. Recreating how a source text sounds involves more than detecting figures of sound, phonic patterns that we try to approximate closely. Rather, sounds also communicate with our senses, prompt visual images, smells, tastes, tactile memories that we experience or intuit through simultaneous sensory associations.  Accordingly, acoustic translation attempts to bond English as closely as possible to the acoustic and affective range of the language of the source text and to make the tone, timbre and cadences of the original text breathe through the language of the translation as much as possible. 

Aron Aji, Director of MFA in Literary Translation, has joined the faculty in 2014. A native of Turkey, he has translated works by Bilge Karasu, Murathan Mungan, Elif Shafak, LatifeTekin, and other Turkish writers, including Karasu’s The Garden of Departed Cats, (2004 National Translation Award); and A Long Day’s Evening, (NEA Literature Fellowship; short-list, 2013 PEN Translation Prize). His forthcoming translations include Ferid Edgü’s Wounded Age and Eastern Tales (NYRB, 2022), and Mungan’s Tales of Valor (co-translated with David Gramling) (Global Humanities Translation Prize, Northwestern UP, 2022). Aji was president of The American Literary Translators Association between 2016-2019. He leads the Translation Workshop, and teaches courses on retranslation, poetry and translation; theory, and contemporary Turkish literature.

Iman Mersal in Conversation with Mona Kareem

The Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies and The Center for Literary Arts, in collaboration with the International Writers’ Series, will host a conversation featuring Egyptian writer and professor Iman Mersal, discussing her award-winning book Traces of Enayat (Transit Books, 2024).

Traces of Enayat is a luminous biographical detective story in which Mersal retraces the life and afterlife of a forgotten writer, Enayat al-Zayyat, though interviews with family members and friends, even tracking down the apartments, schools, and sanatoriums where Enayat spent her days. As Mersal maps two simultaneous psychogeographies-- from the glamor of golden-age Egyptian cinema to the Cairo of Mersal's own past-- a remarkable portrait emerges of two women striving to live on their own terms. With Traces of Enayat, Mersal embraces the reciprocal relationship between a text and its reader, between past and present, between author and subject.

The event is free and open to the public and will be held at Gingko room of the Olin Library, in the Danforth campus of Washington University in St. Louis. Copies of Mersal’s books will be available for purchase.

About the Author: Iman Mersal is an Egyptian writer, translator, and literary scholar. A professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Alberta, she is the author of five books of Arabic poetry. In English translation, her poems have appeared in The New Republic, the New York Review of Books, Parnassus, Paris Review, and the Nation, among others. Her selected poetry The Threshold was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize, and won the 2023 National Translation Award. Mersal received the 2021 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in Literature for Traces of Enayat, as well as James Tait Black Prize, and The Ibn Khaldoun-Senghor Award. She is currently a fellow at the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library.

About the Interlocutor: Mona Kareem is the author of four poetry collections, including I Will Not Fold These Maps (Worlds Poets’ series, 2023). She is an assistant professor of Arabic Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. Her poems and essays have appeared in POETRY, The Yale Review, Freeman’s, LitHub, The Offing, The Common, Guernica, Brooklyn Rail, Michigan Quarterly, Fence, Ambit, Poetry London, among others. Her translations include Ashraf Fayadh’s Instructions Within, Ra’ad Abdul Qadir’s Except for this Unseen Thread, and an Arabic translation of Octavia Butler’s Kindred.

Find more JIMES events at https://jimes.wustl.edu/events.
Those with specific inquiries about this event can contact Julia Clay at jclay@wustl.edu

Saint Louis’s Indie Publishing Scene

Humanities@Work Information Session

At this virtual information session, Center for Humanities staff will offer lots of information about the Humanities@Work internship program for graduate students as well as further details about the organizations and summer positions. Graduate students interested in the program are encouraged to attend.

Lost Plot Never Foils -A Philosophy Art Expo

Throughout history, people have used stories make sense of the world. It is more than entertainment; the archetypes and tropes created through literature, film, tarot, and more serve as our map as we navigate our own narratives. Join us in Wilson 214 at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, February 25 for an exhibition exploring why we need stories and art in Philosophy today, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Jason Gardner and works by Townsend Baird (BFA Studio Art 25’).

 

International Writers Series

Oksana Maksymchuk Reading

Colloquium with Carrie Benes

Join us as Carrie Beneš, Professor of History at New College of Florida, presents a lecture as part of the Department of History Colloquium series.

This event is sponsored by the Department of History, the Humanities Digital Workshop, and the Center for the Humanities.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Paul Reitter | Humanities Lecture "Translating and Teaching Capital in the 21st Century".

Marx’s Capital Revisited: Translating and Teaching Capital in the 21st Century.

In times of the global rise of right-wing authoritarianism, it becomes ever more urgent to rethink major works of critical theory. Karl Marx’s three-volume critique of political economy, Capital, ranks undoubtedly among the most impactful works of the long 19th century. Paul Reitter’s new translation of the first volume of Capital (Princeton UP 2024), the only one published during Marx’s lifetime, shines a light on aspects of Marx’s critique that have long remained obscured to its readers in English. Described as an “astounding achievement” (China Mieville) that “makes it possible to think about Capital anew and as a new kind of book” (Edwin Frank), Reitter’s translation highlights the contradictions immanent to the enduring substance of capital—value—and thus points us toward the continuing relevance of Marx’s work as we confront the mounting crises of the 21st century.

 

Paul Reitter is professor of Germanic languages and literatures and former director of the Humanities Institute at the Ohio State University. His translations include The Autobiography of Solomon Maimon (Princeton).

Department of Music Lecture: "Luminous Striations: Composing with Justly Tuned Unison Canons"

Connor Elias Way, Visiting Lecturer in Electronic Music and Composition, Washington University in St. Louis

Title:
Luminous Striations: Composing with Justly Tuned Unison Canons

Abstract:
In this talk, I will show some recent compositional work in which I’ve sought to create gradually morphing clouds of resonant harmony through densely layered, justly tuned unison canons and heterophonic counterpoint.  

Biography:

Connor Elias Way is a composer based in Brooklyn, NY whose work explores the tactile, sensuous presence of sound. His music has been performed by groups such as the Minnesota Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, JACK Quartet, Aizuri Quartet, Contemporaneous, So Percussion, Arx Duo, Bergamot Quartet, and the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, among others. Recent projects include a new work for multitracked violins written for Austin Wulliman which awaits a debut recording in 2025 on Sello Pasmoso Records, and a song cycle for the Irish singer Iarla Ó Lionáird and harpist Parker Ramsey which premiered in Dublin at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in 2024 thanks to a commission from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Connor holds a B.M. from Georgia State University (summa cum laude) and an M.M. from Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where he was presented with the Gustav Klemm Award in Composition. He is currently a PhD candidate at Princeton University, where he has taught courses in theory, music technology, and composition. Connor is the composer-in-residence at the Luzerne Music Center and a visiting lecturer in the Music Department at Washington University in St. Louis. 
 

The MedFrench Advantage: Interning at WashU Med School

Thinking about med school? Wondering how to stand out in the admissions process? Ever considered how French could give you a competitive advantage?

The French Connexions Center of Excellence at WashU invites you to an exciting discussion with the MedFrench group of medical students from WashU School of Medicine on February 28, 2025 in DUC 276.

Meet Zach Leatherman, Hans Hertzler, and Don Nguyen - current medical students at WashU School of Medicine - who successfully leveraged their French studies as pre-med students. They'll share insights on:

• What it's like to be a medical student at one of the top medical schools in the country
• How French proficiency helped them stand out in applications
• Tips for getting accepted into elite medical programs

The discussion will be moderated by Evan Xiao, double major in Biology and French at WashU.

This event is a unique opportunity to connect with future doctors while enjoying an apéro-dînatoire with French fromages!

Don't miss out! Join us and discover how French can give you an edge in medicine.

WGSS Senior Presentations

Dear WGSS Students and Faculty,

Please join us for this year’s WGSS Senior Presentations on Monday, April 28th from 10:30 am-1:00 pm in Seigle Hall 109 where our honors thesis students will be sharing their transformative research. Presentations will run from 10:30 am-12:00 pm, with pizza and fellowship to follow from 12:00-1:00 pm.

Please RSVP at https://wgss.wustl.edu/rsvp-wgss-senior-presentations.

Honors Thesis Presentations:

• Eric Lei
• Amelia Letson
• Renee Metzger
• Naomi Sladkus
• Maya Torres Colom

David T. Konig Lecture

"The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War"

Join us as Joanne B. Freeman, Class of 1954 Professor at Yale University, presents a lecture as part of the Konig Lecture series. Her work on the Founding Fathers helped inspire the writing of Hamilton.  Now Joanne Freeman explores the long history of violence in the U.S. Congress.

This lecture is sponsored by the David T. Konig Lecture Series Fund, with co-sponsorships from the Department of History, the School of Law, Political Science, and the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, & Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis.

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided.

We only request an RSVP in order to make certain we have enough refreshments and to track attendance numbers. Please complete the registration form no later than 3:00 PM on March 20, 2025.

Named in honor of Professor David T. Konig, a long-serving faculty member in the History Department and School of Law, this lecture series showcases speakers working in Professor Konig’s fields of American legal history and early American history.

Margot Canaday - Queer Career: Sexuality and Work in Modern America

NEH Fellowship Proposal Development Info Session

NEH Fellowships are competitive awards granted to individual scholars pursuing projects that embody exceptional research, rigorous analysis, and clear writing. This spring, the Research Development Office (RDO) is organizing a series of proposal-development check-ins with Charlotte Forstall, an art history PhD and a member of the RDO team, for humanities and humanistic social sciences faculty who plan to apply for the FY2025 competition.

Comparing the Literatures of the Global South

^{COMPARATIVE METHODS LECTURE SERIES}

Suing for Freedom in Early St. Louis

On Thin Ice: Curating Old Master Drawings for Contemporary Audiences

The Three Bodies of Horikoshi Hideshi: Corporeality, Performance, and Medium in Meiji Kabuki

Jonathan Zwicker teaches Japanese literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he holds the Agassiz Professorship in Japanese Studies. He is the author of Practices of the Sentimental Imagination: Melodrama, the Novel, and the Social Imaginary in Nineteenth-Century Japan (Harvard: 2006) and Kabuki's Nineteenth Century: Stage and Print in Early Modern Edo (Oxford, 2023).

 

Vision: Film Screening & Panel Discussion

The film follows Louis, a 17-year-old visual artist from North St. Louis who meets a mysterious man who gives him a pair of sunglasses that empowers him to see the potential all around him. Louis must decide if he will use his newfound vision for his own purposes or for the greater good of the community around him.

Free and open to the public. RSVP recommended.

 

Panelists:

Bobby Norfolk, actor and activist

Lucas Rouggly, founder of LovetheLou

Christin Simpson, FNP-C and co-founder of The Village Keepers

Nat Hilterbrand, Sam Fox School (moderator)

RSVP and Info: https://samfoxschool.washu.edu/calendar/events/1478-vision-a-short-film-screening

Middle East / North Africa Film Series - Session Two: Ten'ja

Join us for the second session of the Spring 2025 Middle East / North Africa (MENA) Film Series.

Ten'ja (2004 / 80 min.) - Directed by Hassan Legzouli

"Nordine, the son of a Moroccan miner, has grown up in Sallaumines in Northern France. His father wishes to be buried in his native village in the Atlas mountains; in order to respect the elderly man’s wishes, Nordine accompanies him on his final journey home, thereby following the path of his roots back to a country that he’s never known. Along the way, memories rise to the surface. His encounters with Mimoun, a slightly crazy man from Tangiers, and Nora, a young woman searching for new horizons, allow him to discover more about his father, about whom he knows next to nothing, and the palpable reality of a country that he’s only caught glimpses of via a few family tales. “Tenja” echoes like a song that has been rolling around in our minds since childhood but whose lyrics have only just become clear."

The viewing will be facilitated by Dr. Younasse Tarbouni of the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies department.

Middle East / North Africa Film Series - Session One: Hassan wa Morcus

Join us for the first session of the Spring 2025 Middle East / North Africa (MENA) Film Series.

Hassan wa Morcus (2008 / 120 min.) - Directed by Rami Iman

"When the lives of Mahmoud, a Muslim Sheikh (Omar Sharif) and Boulos, a Christian Priest (Adel Imam) are threatened by religious extremists on both sides, the Egyptian government inducts them into a witness protection program that requires them to disguise themselves as the Christian Marcus and a Muslim Sheikh, Hassan el-Attar, respectively. When, unwittingly, they move into the same building, a friendship blossoms that must, along with a romance between the protagonists' children, withstand the difficulties of prejudice and social persecution."

The viewing will be facilitated by Dr. Younasse Tarbouni of the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies department.

Distinguished Visiting Scholar Lecture: Mariela Noles Cotito

Join the AFAS department as we welcome Mariela Noles Cotito, our Distinguished Visiting Scholar, for a thought-provoking lecture on the state of Black citizenship in the Andean countries of Latin America. This discussion will explore historical and contemporary issues surrounding race, identity, and belonging in the region. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with critical perspectives on Afro-Latin American experiences. Light refreshments will be served.

 

The Department of Sociology Presents: Dr. Alyasah Ali Sewell

Colloquia Title and Topic: All It Takes Is One Block: Residential Redlining, Police Surveillance, and the Legacy of Systemic Racism

This talk examines the enduring impact of residential redlining on the systemic inequities that define contemporary urban landscapes, with a specific focus on police surveillance in marginalized neighborhoods. Drawing on historical data and sociological research, I explore how the spatial boundaries of redlining continue to shape patterns of social control, public safety, and health inequities in these communities. By centering the experiences of residents in lethally surveilled neighborhoods, this analysis highlights the intersection of systemic racism, institutional policing practices, and structural neglect. I argue that redlining not only established the foundation for racialized policing but also perpetuates a cycle of disinvestment, surveillance, and harm. This presentation will discuss how these dynamics manifest at the neighborhood level and will interrogate the role of systemic racism in sustaining these inequities across generations.

The Department of Sociology Presents: Dr. Jenny Van Hook

Colloquia Title and Topic: Texas-Style Exclusion: Mexican Americans and the Legacy of Limited Opportunity

While Americans largely support legal immigration, this support is conditional on the basis that immigrants “make it on their own”. European-origin Industrial Era immigrants came to U.S. impoverished, worked hard, and achieved the American Dream seemingly on their own. Mexican immigrants, the nation’s largest contemporary immigrant group, are often accused of being dependent on the government and refusing to integrate into American society the “right way.” In their new book, Texas-Style Exclusion, Jennifer Van Hook and James D. Bachmeier evaluate these claims by using linked census and archival schooling data to investigate how American society has responded to different groups of immigrants over time.

WU Cinema at the Hi-Pointe: Pink Flamingos

WU Cinema Presents: Dark Waters

WU Cinema presents, in partnership with the Center for the Environment, the Law School, the School for Public Health, the School of Arts and Sciences, and Here and Next present a free (including for staff and faculty!) screening of DARK WATERS, the thrilling biopic of attorney Rob Bilott, in advance of Bilott’s speaking event at WashU!

 

Rob Bilott is a lawyer whose specialization is defending corporate entities. One day, a farmer named Wilbur Tennant barges into his office and blackmails him into helping him sue the Dupont company for poisoning the Dry Run Creek. Rob decides to check out the situation himself, and what he sees convinces him to take on the case. His boss, Tom Terp, is supportive of his endeavor to stop the company from causing any more harm to the environment, but his wife Sarah isn't as receptive.

Movie starring Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman.

Department of Music Lecture: "Adventures in Functional Space, an Expanded Map of Harmonic Function"

Title:
"Adventures in Functional Space, an Expanded Map of Harmonic Function"

Abstract:
Theories of harmonic function usually fall into content and context-based theories. The former theorizes function in terms of similarity to prototypical triads, generally the tonic, dominant, and subdominant chords. The latter categorizes chords into functions based on their movement to and from other harmonies. While context-based theories provide insightful methods for tracking how chords behave, why chords behave this way cannot be fully explained without some reference to their scale-degree content. Previous content-based approaches have also left a gap, as they do not present a space for chromatic chords that includes precise placement for the degree of similarity to a prototype.

To fill this gap, I provide an expanded space of functional similarity for minor and major triads in tonal classical music. Single applications of P, L, and R generate the first level of similarity to a prototype, and compound operations, such as PL and PLP, produce the second and third levels of functional similarity. The theory presented possesses both theoretical and analytical advantages. In addition to refining the criteria by which harmonies belong in a given function class, the space also provides great power to deal with functional, but highly chromatic textures, excavating both functional coherency and expressive flexibility.

Biography:
John is pursuing a Ph.D. in music theory at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on musical grammars and syntax in romantic piano music, and the ways these relate to linguistic syntax. John also researches semiotic connections between music and language in video game and film music, particularly in respect to the concept of musical affect. Additionally, John is also interested in generative theories of music, and the ways these relate to musical cognition. Particularly, he wishes to examine the way the human mind processes the hierarchical structure of tonal music, and the way multiple levels in the musical structure emerge from a defined ruleset. He also examines questions in the overlaps between philosophy and music, and has published a paper on possible worlds theory entitled “On the Nature of Possible Worlds.”

Prior to Washington University, John received his undergraduate degree as a double major in music theory and philosophy at Furman University. His undergraduate senior thesis, “Decatonic Symmetry, Formal and Tonal Structure in Stravinsky's Sonata for Piano" examined the use of ten-notes scales in Stravinsky’s tonal language.

CCHP Speaker Series and Public Forum

CCHP, aka "chip," is an acronym for Crisis & Conflict in Historical Perspective, and serves undergraduates considering careers in policy who are seeking historically informed discussion about global events.

Forums are open to all in the Washington University and Greater St. Louis Community; light refreshments will be available. No RSVP needed.

The CCHP is generously sponsored and funded by the Office of the Dean of Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

For more information, please contact Professor Krister Knapp via email at kknapp@wustl.edu, or via phone at 314-935-6838.

We're Making History!

• Induction of new Phi Alpha Theta members
• Awarding of the Wallace, Konig, and Izenberg Prizes
• Induction of senior honors thesis writers into the Roland Berthoff Society
• Awarding of the Goldstein Prize for best senior honors thesis
• Presentation of the Living History Projects

Please RSVP to this event by 3:00pm on April 21, 2025.

Light refreshments will be served.

"Futures in Black Studies," featuring visiting scholar Dr. Peniel E. Joseph

Dr. Joseph, who holds the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and Political Values at the University of Texas at Austin, is a professor in the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and the College of Liberal Arts, as well as the Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy.

In this talk, Dr. Joseph will explore the 2020 racial reckoning as a transformative moment in the ongoing fight for justice and equality for Black Americans. By drawing connections to the historical legacies of the Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement, he examines how contemporary movements continue the pursuit of racial justice, tracing this struggle through key moments, including the election of Barack Obama and the social activism of today.

Join us for an insightful discussion about the past, present, and future of Black Studies and the enduring quest for a more just and inclusive society.

All are welcome!

 

Faculty Fellow Workshop with Dalen Wakeley-Smith

Dr. Wakeley-Smith writes and teaches about race, ethnicity, and migration in the 20th century. His research focuses on the history of American Roma (often problematically called Gypsies) in the United States. His current book project entitled "Gypsy Madness": American Roma, Immigration Regimes, and Race in New York City explores the history of Romani immigration, racialization, and representations in New York City. His work shows the way Americans embraced the "Gypsy" stereotype while policing Romani people and destroying Romani homes and businesses.

 

This talk is supported through the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity (CRE²).

Russian Film Festival Presents "The Government Inspector"

A special HD presentation of Yury Butusovs award-winning production featuring Konstantin Raikin, Timofey Tribuntsev and Maryana Spivak. Presented in Russian with English subtitles.

Get your tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/6560391

The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market

Professor Oreskes’ lecture will explore how a century-long propaganda campaign transformed America's view on government and markets. In the 19th century, the U.S. government actively shaped the economy through regulation and infrastructure. But by the 20th century, a powerful business-driven narrative shifted public opinion, framing government intervention as a threat to economic growth. This shift has had significant impacts on American society, including a housing crisis, the opioid scourge, climate destruction, and a baleful response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• 4:00 PM: Lecture and Q&A.
• 5:00 PM: Reception.

About Naomi Oreskes

Professor Oreskes is an internationally renowned earth scientist, historian, and author of both scholarly and popular books and articles on the history of earth and environmental science. She recently published "Why Trust Science?" (2019) and "Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean" (2021), which was awarded the Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science by the American Philosophical Society. Professor Oreskes’ new book, with Erik Conway, "The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loath Government and Love the Free Market," was published by Bloomsbury Press in 2023.

This lecture was made possible by the William C. Ferguson Fund.

The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market

Professor Oreskes’ lecture will explore how a century-long propaganda campaign transformed America's view on government and markets. In the 19th century, the U.S. government actively shaped the economy through regulation and infrastructure. But by the 20th century, a powerful business-driven narrative shifted public opinion, framing government intervention as a threat to economic growth. This shift has had significant impacts on American society, including a housing crisis, the opioid scourge, climate destruction, and a baleful response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• 4:00 PM: Lecture and Q&A.
• 5:00 PM: Reception.

About Naomi Oreskes

Professor Oreskes is an internationally renowned earth scientist, historian, and author of both scholarly and popular books and articles on the history of earth and environmental science. She recently published "Why Trust Science?" (2019) and "Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean" (2021), which was awarded the Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science by the American Philosophical Society. Professor Oreskes’ new book, with Erik Conway, "The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loath Government and Love the Free Market," was published by Bloomsbury Press in 2023.

This lecture was made possible by the William C. Ferguson Fund.

The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market

Professor Oreskes’ lecture will explore how a century-long propaganda campaign transformed America's view on government and markets. In the 19th century, the U.S. government actively shaped the economy through regulation and infrastructure. But by the 20th century, a powerful business-driven narrative shifted public opinion, framing government intervention as a threat to economic growth. This shift has had significant impacts on American society, including a housing crisis, the opioid scourge, climate destruction, and a baleful response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

• 4:00 PM: Lecture and Q&A.
• 5:00 PM: Reception.

About Naomi Oreskes

Professor Oreskes is an internationally renowned earth scientist, historian, and author of both scholarly and popular books and articles on the history of earth and environmental science. She recently published "Why Trust Science?" (2019) and "Science on a Mission: How Military Funding Shaped What We Do and Don’t Know about the Ocean" (2021), which was awarded the Patrick Suppes Prize in the History of Science by the American Philosophical Society. Professor Oreskes’ new book, with Erik Conway, "The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loath Government and Love the Free Market," was published by Bloomsbury Press in 2023.

This lecture was made possible by the William C. Ferguson Fund.

Artist-Led Bird Walk with Mark Menjívar

Updated, 3/3/25: Due to poor weather conditions expected on Wednesday morning at Audubon Center at Riverlands, this event has been moved to a new location. See the description below for the new details.

Join Mark Menjívar, a San Antonio-based artist and associate professor in the School of Art and Design at Texas State University, for a guided “bird walk” through the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Roundtable Discussion with María José Navia

Roundtable discussion with María José Navia

Wednesday April 2, 2025

5 - 6:30 p.m.

Umrath Hall, Room 201

 

This intimate discussion* with graduate students will explore interdisciplinary themes in Dr. Navia’s writing and their relevance to contemporary humanities scholarship. Undergraduates interested in graduate study and faculty may also be interested. We will provide copies of Dr. Navia’s book Todo lo que aprendimos de las películas to participants, budget permitting.

 

*This event will be in Spanish to invite closer dialogue with Hispanic Studies, Spanish-speaking students and faculty.

 

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, and the Center for the Literary Arts.

Creative Writing Workshop with María José Navia

Creative writing workshop with María José Navia

Tuesday April 1, 2025

5 - 6:30 p.m.

Olin Library, Room 142

 

Dr. Navia will lead a creative writing workshop in English, primarily for WashU graduate students,* exploring narrative techniques and storytelling in the digital age.

 

*Community members may be considered for participation based on seat availability.

 

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, Center for the Literary Arts, and WashU Libraries.

Public Lecture and Reading with María José Navia

Public lecture and reading with María José Navia

Monday March 31, 2025

6 - 7:30 p.m. 

Olin Library, Ginkgo Reading Room

 

Dr. Navia is an Associate Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and acclaimed author of SANT and Kintsugi, as well as the short story collections Instrucciones para ser feliz, Lugar, Una música futura, and Todo lo que aprendimos de las películas. She will read excerpts from her works and deliver a lecture on her creative process, followed by a Q&A session.

 

The readings will be presented in both Spanish and English translations.

This event will be conducted in English.

 

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos, the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, Center for the Literary Arts, and WashU Libraries.

 

2025 Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture: Taylor Mac

Taylor Mac is a critically-acclaimed theatre artist who has been recognized with a MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award, the International Ibsen Award, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Read Taylor's full bio here!

Event details:

Monday, March 24, 2025
4:00 PM - Reception immediately to follow 
Clark-Fox Forum, Hillman Hall
Parking/Driving Directions

Please RSVP to let us know you will be attending!

 

About the Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture Series

Helen Clanton Morrin, was a former writer, editor, public relations director, and community service volunteer in St. Louis. From 1969 to 1988, Mrs. Morrin was executive director of the World Affairs Council in St. Louis. In that capacity, she was responsible for planning and directing programs, volunteer recruitment, membership, and travel. From 1934 to 1941, she was a feature writer and editor to the Globe-Democrat. After that, she was public information director for the Post-Dispatch. Some of her high-profile interviews included Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Davis, Helen Hayes, Gen. James Doolittle, and the Dalai Lama. She also did public relations work with Fleishman-Hillard Inc., St. Louis Children’s Hospital, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and several others. She was a past president of the Junior League of St. Louis and served on numerous boards including Mary Institute, John Burroughs School, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, and the St. Louis Nanjing Sister Committee. Click here for more information about the Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture Series

Additional sponsorship from American Culture Studies, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Film and Media Studies, Department of History, Kemper Art Museum, Department of Music, Spectrum, and Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Humanitarian Medicine : Working with Doctors Without Borders

We look forward to welcoming Dr. Justine Michel to WashU and engaging in insightful discussions about the critical intersections of global health, microbiology, and humanitarian medicine! 

Justine Michel is a microbiology advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF), currently based in New York. Justine began her career in marine biology research before working as a microbiology laboratory technician at Necker Children's Hospital in Paris for over six years. She joined MSF in 2016 as a microbiology lab manager at the project level, later serving as the microbiology regional referent in the Middle East. 

Since 2019, Justine has been overseeing microbiology diagnostic access for MSF projects worldwide, focusing on acute trauma, reconstructive surgery in the Middle East, and pediatric sepsis in West Africa. She collaborates closely with Infection Prevention and Control teams, antimicrobial stewardship experts, and pharmacy colleagues to develop a multidisciplinary approach to antimicrobial resistance in humanitarian contexts.

 

This event is organized by the French connexions center of excellence (dir. Lionel Cuillé) 

and made possible by a grant from the French for Higher Education (FHE).

Lecture IN ENGLISH

 

 

 

Join Our Zoom Lecture: "Towards homosexual consciousness and the birth of the gay movement: Italian Media and the Lavorini case"

We are excited to invite you to a lecture given by Alessio Ponzio, Visiting Assistant Professor in the History department at Memorial University of Newfouldland, Canada.

 

"Towards Homosexual Consciousness and the Birth of the Gay Movement: Italian Media and the Lavorini Case" will take place on Monday, March 17, from 3:00 to 3:50 PM (CST) and will be followed by a Q&A session.

 

The event is open to the public via Zoom:  https://wustl.zoom.us/j/7166260148

 

                              

 

Don't miss this opportunity to explore the impact of Italian media on the rise of the gay movement. 

Monday, March 17, from 3:00 to 3:50 PM (CST)

https://wustl.zoom.us/j/7166260148

Screening: DARK WATERS (2019), dir. Todd Haynes

Recultivating Indigenous Sovereignty and Stewardship

Join community and campus partners for a series of three panels structured to advance Indigenous approaches to land and food systems by fostering collaboration and strengthening relationships among Native seed keepers, tribal organizations, and Indigenous-led initiatives.

See the panelists and schedule here. 

 

This gathering is co-hosted in partnership with the Anthropology Department, the Center for the Environment, the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity, the Environmental Studies Program, the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies, the Landscape Architecture Department, the Kemper Art Museum, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Office of Sustainability, & the American Culture Studies Program.

Department of Music Lecture: The Architecture of Xenakis’s Persepolis: Sound, Spatiotemporality, and Ontology

Title:
The Architecture of Xenakis’s Persepolis:  Sound, Spatiotemporality, and Ontology

Abstract:
Iannis Xenakis’s polytopes are immersive, multisensory works that integrate music, architecture, and light. Conceived as a compositional form that extends beyond sound, polytopes incorporate visual and spatiotemporal elements while maintaining a distinctly musical framework through the application of formal techniques such as probability calculations, logical structures, and group theory.

Polytope of Persepolis (1971) marks a shift in Xenakis’s approach, transitioning from earlier polytopes that engaged with modern architecture to site-specific polytopes created in historical locations. Commissioned by the fifth edition of the Shiraz Arts Festival, Persepolis became controversial due to misunderstandings surrounding its symbolism, compositional structure, and sociopolitical context. While previous scholarship has addressed the political and cultural debates surrounding Persepolis, its compositional structure remains underexplored. This gap may be attributed, first, to its unconventional sonic material, which resists traditional analytical methodologies, and second, to the enigmatic nature of its score and sketches, which pose challenges for interpretation.

In this project, I propose a model grounded in categorization and event cognition theory to facilitate the interpretation of Xenakis’s archival materials, including his scores and sketches. This approach decodes the use of fire symbolism as a spatial element in the composition, clarifying both its intended function and the misconceptions surrounding its reception. Furthermore, this study investigates the compositional techniques Xenakis employed to achieve spatialization in his polytopes, situating these methods within the broader tradition of musique concrète, in which he constructed a three-dimensional space through the interplay of sonic and non-sonic elements, composing an immersive work that pioneers spatial approaches to music and sound installations.

Biography:
Khashayar Shahriyari is a PhD student in Music Theory. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in music composition from Tehran University of Art.

Sigma Iota Rho's Cultural Expo

Enjoy live performances, explore cultural group tables, and grab some free food while you’re at it. It’s a night of community, culture, and fun—hope to see you there!
 

Distinguished Visiting Professor: DR. ANA GALLEGO – CUIÑAS - Universidad de Granada

Public Lecture: March 24, Hurst Lounge, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm (Reception to Follow)

Presentation of Documentary Film: March 28, Ridgley Hall, Room 107, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Dinner at International Tap House (1711 S 9th St): March 28, 6:30 pm

Doctors Without Borders at WashU Presents: Justine Michel

On March 3-4, 2025, the French Connexions Center of Excellence at WashU had the privilege of hosting Justine Michel, microbiology advisor at Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Her visit was made possible through a prestigious grant received by Prof. Lionel Cuillé from French for Higher Education (FHE), an initiative launched by President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen international collaboration in higher education.

Justine Michel’s time on campus provided undergraduate students with a unique opportunity to engage directly with a representative from MSF, gaining invaluable insights into humanitarian medicine, microbiology, and global health challenges.

During her stay, Justine met with Prof. Julie Singer’s “Contagions” class, where students explored the historical and contemporary impact of infectious diseases. She also joined a session of the French for Health Professionals (FPS) class, taught by Prof. Lionel Cuillé, where students examined medical French in the context of humanitarian work.

The highlight of her visit was her public lecture, "Humanitarian Medicine with MSF," held in Hurst Lounge. Dr. Michel shared compelling experiences from her work on acute trauma care, reconstructive surgery in conflict zones, and pediatric sepsis in West Africa. Her talk drew a diverse audience, including students from pre-med tracks, global health studies, and French studies, reflecting the growing interest in humanitarian medicine at WashU.

In addition to her academic engagements, Dr. Michel met with WashU School of Medicine faculty, including specialists in infectious diseases, pathology, and microbiology, further reinforcing interdisciplinary collaboration between the humanities and medical sciences.

Building on this success, the French Connexions Center is committed to continuing its collaboration with MSF. Given the enthusiasm of our students for humanitarian medicine, Prof. Lionel Cuillé will work to facilitate future internships at MSF’s New York office, offering hands-on experiences in global health initiatives.

Dr. Michel’s visit marks an important milestone in our efforts to bridge French studies and global medical engagement, highlighting how language and culture play a crucial role in international humanitarian work.

 

The Ginger Marcus Foreign Language Learning Speaker Series Presents: Dr. Frank Boers

African & African American Studies Department Faculty Colloquium

During the colloquium, Professors Evans and Samuel will share their latest research findings, offering insight into their current projects and areas of study. Whether presenting works-in-progress or highlighting key discoveries from recently completed research, the colloquium is designed to foster meaningful discussion and gather valuable feedback from colleagues across disciplines.

The AFAS Faculty Colloquium is an essential space for intellectual exchange, collaboration, and community-building, and we look forward to the insights and conversations this gathering will inspire.

All faculty, staff, and graduate students are welcome to attend.

Professor Samuel talk is titled “Virgin Islands: Myths, Conservation & Space-Making on St. John.” She examines how mythology enables colonialism on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands—home to the Virgin Islands National Park, which occupies more than sixty percent of the island. Drawing on oral histories and archival research, her book project argues that myths of democracy, virginity, frontiers, and paradise are mobilized by the U.S. National Park Service to both advance and obscure U.S. imperialism, ultimately justifying the dispossession of islanders in one of America’s many forgotten colonies.

 

Professor Evans talk is titled "The Archaeology of West African Linear Earthworks: Recent Research at Sungbo’s Eredo, Southern Nigeria".

 

19th Annual African Film Festival

Presented in partnership by the Department of African & African American Studies, Film & Media Studies, and the African Students Association, the African Film Festival is a signature event that bridges campus and community through the art of storytelling.

We are thrilled to welcome you back in person to experience the dynamic narratives, rich cultures, and innovative filmmaking shaping contemporary Africa.

 

Cultivating Dynamic Academic Environments: A Blueprint for Collaboration, Innovation and Leadership

NEW: Online registration just added!

Toxic Tropics: Presentation by Jessica Oublié

Graphic novelist, journalist, and translator Jessica Oublié will discuss the English translation of her graphic novel Toxic Tropics about the legacy and aftermath of the use of a cancer-producing pesticide, Chlordecone, in the French West Indian islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.  

We invite members of WashU and the community to join us in a conversation with Oublié about Toxic Tropics and the effects of living in a polluted world. We will examine the relationship between humans, the environment, and the cultural shifts communities make in order to survive.

This is one of the culminating events of the French section’s “Semaine de la Francophonie” (Francophone Week) that spotlights a diversity of cultural perspectives and ideas from throughout the French-speaking world.

This event is sponsored by the French Connexions center of excellence, with the help of the Center for the Humanities, the Center for Literary Arts (CLA), and the departments of African and African American Studies (AFAS), Comparative Literature and Thought (CL&T), and Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL).

 

Monday March 24

4:30 pm - 6:00 pm - Public talk about Jessica Oublié’s graphic novel Toxic Tropics in Gingko Room in Olin Library

Tuesday March 25

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm - Jessica Oublié will lead a graphic novels workshop in Simon 022

 

 

 

Luster & Sheen: Baroque Materialities

Luster & Sheen is organized by Dr. Claudia Swan, and sponsored by the Department of Art History and Archaeology. This event is open to the public, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged so that we can plan accordingly. Please RSVP for in-person attendance here https://forms.gle/Epmt8DHHvaRbWVus9, and for virtual attendance here https://forms.gle/KPJ3errCqZwceqxe8.

Schedule for Luster & Sheen

Claudia Swan
Mark S. Weil Professor of Art History & Archaeology, WashU
Opening Remarks: Notes on An Early Modern Aesthetics of Iridescence

Katie DiDomenico
PhD candidate, Department of Art History & Archaeology, WashU
“A Chinese Famille Noire Figure of an Enslaved African”

Samuel Luterbacher
Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History, Occidental College
“Smooth, Rich, and Pleasing to the Eye: Seamless Facture in the Iberian Indo-Pacific”

Wenjie Su
PhD candidate, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
Samuel H. Kress Fellow, CASVA
“A Silvery Mirage: James Cox’s Swan Automaton”

12:00-1:00 PM Lunch

Olivia Dill
PhD candidate, Department of Art History, Northwestern University
Curatorial Fellow, The Morgan Library
“Maria Sibylla Merian and Lantern Flies’ Apocryphal Sheen”

Ana Howie
Assistant Professor, Department of History of Art & Visual Studies, Cornell University
“Consumers of Light: Women, Portraiture, and Material Luminosity in Early Modern Genoa”

Weixun Qu
PhD candidate, Department of Art History & Archaeology, WashU
“A Dutch Amerasian Cabinet in the Walters Art Museum”

Cynthia Kok
Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
“Mother-of-Pearl and Metamorphosis: Dirck van Rijswijck’s Lively Art”

4:00 PM  Reception

 

Francophone Week March 24 - 28, 2025

This year, students and faculty are welcome to join us for the following events featuring Jessica Oublié, journalist and author of graphic novels, for her public presentation and writing workshop, a screening of the film The Flight for Haiti, and our annual soccer match.

Venez nombreux!

With special thanks to our organizers, Nathan Dize, Ella Allen, Ryan Gomez, Atira Wahle, Keysha Brutus, Maurice Tetne, and Vincent Jouane

             

CCHP Speaker Series and Public Forum

John Pomfret, journalist and author with the Washington Post

 

CCHP, aka "chip," is an acronym for Crisis & Conflict in Historical Perspective, and serves undergraduates considering careers in policy who are seeking historically informed discussion about global events.

Forums are open to all in the Washington University and Greater St. Louis Community; light refreshments will be available.

The CCHP is generously sponsored and funded by the Office of the Dean of Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

For more information, please contact Professor Krister Knapp via email at kknapp@wustl.edu, or via phone at 314-935-6838.

Italian Opera Night

Translational Catastrophes / Translating Catastrophe

This creative/critical hybrid presentation will illustrate examples of how translator Daniel Borzutzky's work has evolved through translational catastrophes and catastrophes of translation. Borzutzky will discuss translations and writing projects that he has worked on, and the ways that they have come together through a response-based poetics that is "inscribed" into the body as it moves between languages and temporalities. 

A reception will take place starting at 5:45 p.m., followed by Borzutzky's talk at 6 p.m.

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About the speaker:

Daniel Borzutzky is a poet and Spanish-language translator from Chicago. His most recent books are The Murmuring Grief of the Americas (2024) and Written After a Massacre in the Year 2018 (2021). His 2016 collection, The Performance of Becoming Human, received the National Book Award. Lake Michigan (2018) was a finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. His most recent translations are Cecilia Vicuña’s The Deer Book (2024) and Paula Ilabaca Nuñez’s The Loose Pearl (2022), winner of the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. His translation of Galo Ghigliotto's Valdivia received the American Literary Translator’s Association’s 2017 National Translation Award, and he has also translated collections by Raúl Zurita and Jaime Luis Huenún. He teaches in English and Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Meet and Greet with Daniel Borzutzky

The Center for the Literary Arts will host a meet and greet lunch with Daniel Borzutzky. 

Please RSVP, if you would like to attend. This will be a limited seating engagement. 

A lunch will take place at 1p.m. in Jolley Hall conference room 431

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About the speaker:

Daniel Borzutzky is a poet and Spanish-language translator from Chicago. His most recent books are The Murmuring Grief of the Americas (2024) and Written After a Massacre in the Year 2018 (2021). His 2016 collection, The Performance of Becoming Human, received the National Book Award. Lake Michigan (2018) was a finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. His most recent translations are Cecilia Vicuña’s The Deer Book (2024) and Paula Ilabaca Nuñez’s The Loose Pearl (2022), winner of the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. His translation of Galo Ghigliotto's Valdivia received the American Literary Translator’s Association’s 2017 National Translation Award, and he has also translated collections by Raúl Zurita and Jaime Luis Huenún. He teaches in English and Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Visiting Hurst Professor - Reading - Melissa Febos

Melissa Febos is the author of four books, including the national bestselling essay collection, GIRLHOOD, which has been translated into eight languages and was a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, and named a notable book of 2021 by NPR, Time, The Washington Post, and others. Her craft book, BODY WORK (2022), was also a national bestseller, an LA Times Bestseller, and an Indie Next Pick. Her fifth book, The Dry Season, is forthcoming from Alfred. A. Knopf on June 3, 2025.

The recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the Jeanne Córdova Nonfiction Award from LAMBDA Literary, Melissa's work has appeared in publications including The Paris Review, The New

Yorker, The Sun, The Kenyon Review, Tin House, Granta, The Believer, McSweeney’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Elle, and Vogue.

Her essays have won prizes from Prairie Schooner, Story Quarterly, The Sewanee Review, and others. She is a four-time MacDowell fellow and has also received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, the Bogliasco Foundation, the American Library in Paris, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, the Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation, the BAU Institute at The Camargo Foundation, the British Library, the Black Mountain Institute, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which named her the 2018 recipient of the Sarah Verdone Writing Award.

She co-curated the Mixer Reading and Music Series in Manhattan for ten years and served on the Board of Directors for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts for five. The recipient of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, she is a full professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program. She lives in Iowa City with her wife, the poet Donika Kelly.

Visiting Hurst Professor - Craft Talk - Melissa Febos

Melissa Febos is the author of four books, including the national bestselling essay collection, GIRLHOOD, which has been translated into eight languages and was a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, and named a notable book of 2021 by NPR, Time, The Washington Post, and others. Her craft book, BODY WORK (2022), was also a national bestseller, an LA Times Bestseller, and an Indie Next Pick. Her fifth book, The Dry Season, is forthcoming from Alfred. A. Knopf on June 3, 2025.

The recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the Jeanne Córdova Nonfiction Award from LAMBDA Literary, Melissa's work has appeared in publications including The Paris Review, The New

Yorker, The Sun, The Kenyon Review, Tin House, Granta, The Believer, McSweeney’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Elle, and Vogue.

Her essays have won prizes from Prairie Schooner, Story Quarterly, The Sewanee Review, and others. She is a four-time MacDowell fellow and has also received fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, the Bogliasco Foundation, the American Library in Paris, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, the Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation, the BAU Institute at The Camargo Foundation, the British Library, the Black Mountain Institute, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, which named her the 2018 recipient of the Sarah Verdone Writing Award.

She co-curated the Mixer Reading and Music Series in Manhattan for ten years and served on the Board of Directors for VIDA: Women in Literary Arts for five. The recipient of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, she is a full professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program. She lives in Iowa City with her wife, the poet Donika Kelly.

"Future in Black Studies," featuring visiting scholar Dr. Lisa B. Thompson

Lisa B. Thompson is an award-winning playwright, librettist, and the Patton Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Departments of Theatre and Dance; Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; English; and the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, where she previously served as Associate Director.

In this talk, Dr. Thompson will explore the future of Black Studies through the lens of art, scholarship, and community, drawing from her acclaimed body of work, including her published books and plays. Join us for an insightful and engaging conversation about the past, present, and future of Black Studies, and the enduring pursuit of a more just, inclusive, and equitable society.

 

Who Owns the Future? From Artificial Intelligence to Abundant Imagination

From automated decision systems in healthcare, policing, education and more, technologies have the potential to deepen discrimination while appearing neutral and even benevolent when compared to harmful practices of a previous era. In this talk, Ruha Benjamin takes a transdisciplinary approach to public scholarship, inviting us into the world of biased bots, altruistic algorithms, and their many entanglements, and providing conceptual tools to decode tech predictions with historical and sociological insight.

Celebrating the Publication of Longing and Belonging: Jews in the Modern Islamic World

Volume editors Nancy E. Berg and Dina Danon welcome you to a webinar engaging the contributors—key voices in this vibrant and growing field of research—on the book’s central and intersecting themes.

Longing and Belonging investigates the lives of Jews among Muslims in the modern age, both inside and outside the Ottoman Empire and after its demise. Here, modern Jewish protagonists are revealed as active participants in an expansive Islamic civilization, reflecting a mutuality and cross-fertilization in the region that raises new lines of inquiry and offers enduring lessons for the world today. 

This collection both foregrounds the experiences of Jewish communities that have long been relegated to the margins of historical and literary studies and, critically, uses these experiences to complicate prevailing narratives from both Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies. By following communities from the coffeeshops of Cairo to the villages of Yemen, from the local marriage market in Izmir to the global commerce of the Sassoons, readers gain intimate insight into a world that resists a simple understanding of the modern Islamic world and of the place of Jews within it. Just as much as the Sephardi and Mizrahi experience complicates prevailing paradigms in the study of Jewish modernity, so too does it enrich understandings of modernity across Muslim societies. The volume tells a story of longing, belonging, and longing to belong, of multiple affinities in a world that no longer exists.

Contributors: Esra Almas, Nancy E. Berg, Dina Danon, Keren Dotan, Annie Greene, Alma Rachel Heckman, Hadar Feldman Samet, Joseph Sassoon, Edwin Seroussi, Alon Tam, Alan Verskin, Mark Wagner

To register for the webinar, please visting the following link: https://wustl.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yRbc1KecRdebjTvFARNQIQ

Retina Burn 2025

The Performing Arts Department invites you to join the students of the Lighting Technology and Digital Media for the Stage classes as they put on a full concert in the Edison Theatre. The concert, which we lovingly call RETINA BURN, is the culmination of a semester-long process of learning the craft of designing a concert lighting and projection rig. Prepare to be dazzled as the students showcase their abilities with a mesmerizing light and projection show that they have expertly programmed and rehearsed through computer visualization, all leading up to this live performance.

Event Details:

• Thursday, April 24
• 7:30 p.m. in Edison Theatre.
• This concert is FREE and open to the public!

Featuring a performance by UNCLE ALBERT with Tim Albert and Lisa Campbell! This popular Illinois-based band maintains their roots as well as they “Boogie da’ Blues.”

Book Presentation & Retirement Celebration: Akiko Tsuchiya

Join us for a special event honoring Akiko Tsuchiya, featuring a presentation of her groundbreaking book, Cultural Legacies of Slavery in Modern Spain, followed by a celebration of her remarkable career. Light refreshments will be provided.

Friday, April 11, 2025
4:00 – 6:00 PM
Goldberg Formal Lounge, Danforth University Center

Cultural Legacies of Slavery in Modern Spain is the first book-length study to examine the enduring impact of slavery’s legacies on Spanish cultural representations and institutions. Spanning from the nineteenth century to the present, this volume explores how Spain’s cultural production both reflects and shapes the nation’s historical consciousness—particularly its relationship with colonialism and slavery.

Also presenting is Aurélie Vialette, Cultural Legacies of Slavery in Modern Spain co-editor and Associate Professor and Acting Director of Undergraduate Studies for Spanish at Yale University.

This event is also a retirement celebration for Akiko Tsuchiya, honoring her many contributions to teaching and the academic community. Please join us in recognizing her achievements and wishing her well in this new chapter!

We look forward to celebrating with you!

Global Pathways: A&S International Alumni Panel

Join Arts & Sciences Graduate Studies & the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences for Global Pathways: A&S International Alumni Panel. This virtual event will bring together A&S and DBBS international alumni to share their journeys from graduate study to their current careers. The panel will kick off with Q&A focused on the personal and professional stories of our alumni. Then we will transition into breakout rooms to give you a chance to connect with our panelists and expand your networks.

 

Panelists include:

• Mei Zhu, PhD Plant & Microbial Biosciences (DBBS) 2014

• Patrick Cunha Silva, PhD Political Science 2022

• Saeed Mirshekari, PhD Physics 2013

• Sandra Weber, PhD German & Comparative Literature 2023

 

Please RSVP to receive the Zoom link and submit a question for our panel. While this event is designed for international students, all are welcome!

Banned Books Undergraduate Research Fellowship Presentations

Students in this spring's cohort of the Banned Books fellowship will present their research findings and give insights on the state of book banning in Missouri and the nation.

Tyson Environmental Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship Presentations

Students in the spring cohort of the Tyson Environmental Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship will present on their research into the fascinating history of Tyson Research Center, the university’s biological field station.

MANGLE: A Study of the Caribbean Diaspora’s Migration and the Destruction of the Caribbean Mangroves Through the Lens of Embodied Research

What does embodied performance enact about the Caribbean mangroves that we don’t already know from environmental studies? How can an embodied history of the Caribbean diaspora through an environmental lens help us further understand the complexities of  diasporic experiences? Through a framework of intersectional environmentalism and embodied knowledge, Santiago Lebrón and Losada-Tindall posit that performance is uniquely situated to potently communicate the magnitude of environmental frailty and how it connects to diasporic grief over the loss of a homeland.

Puerto Rican movement artist Lourdes del Mar Santiago Lebrón aims to create artistic explorations that heighten the senses, provoke inquisition, and demand attention, honing in to their belief that true connection between art maker and audience is achieved through raw emotive experiences. A sense of urgency is common in their work, as art has long been a loud and persuasive means to cope and communicate, facilitating a healing and explorative experience for dancers and audience alike. As a Queer Latine woman, they are committed to making art that is unapologetic, ideally aiding to create a world in which people think longer, feel harder, and experience life without hesitation. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, they are currently pursuing their MFA at Washington University in St. Louis.

Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall is a Cuban-American dancer, choreographer, and scholar currently working towards her MFA in Dance at Washington University in St. Louis (May 2025). Tess’ research considers bicultural straddling, diasporic grief, and how identity is shaped by a lifetime of being ni de aquí, ni de allá. Her work has been performed nationally and internationally, most recently in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prior to graduate school, Tess earned a B.A. in Dance Performance from Illinois State University, and spent the better part of a decade dancing, teaching, and performing in New Orleans.

Sex, Love, and Life: A Conversation with Acclaimed Author and Sociologist, Dr. Pepper Schwartz, AB ’67, MA ’69

About Pepper Schwartz:

Pepper Schwartz received her BA and MA in Sociology from Washington University and a PhD in Sociology from Yale University. A Professor at the University of Washington for 50 years, she has received numerous awards, including the Panhellenic teaching award and the American Sociological Association’s Public Understanding of Sociology award. Schwartz has authored 26 books and more than 50 academic articles, with her work on sexuality influencing key legal cases. Known for her public engagement, she has written columns for various magazines and appeared on television, including as a relationship expert on “Married at First Sight.” She is currently researching AI-powered dating and marital happiness.

Registration is required. Space is limited. 

Engaging the Local Humanities Colloquium & Workshop

Scholarly Writing Retreat 2025

We have reached maximum capacity for the retreat. If you would like to join the waitlist, please click on the waitlist button below.

The Scholarly Writing Retreat offers WashU humanities and humanistic social sciences faculty, postdocs and graduate students the opportunity to jump-start their summer writing in a motivated, supportive and collaborative atmosphere.

Graduate Symposium in Comparative Literature and Thought

A Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Policy Trap? Lessons from Israeli and American Higher Education

On Thursday, April 17th, at 5:00 p.m., we will gather at Washington University in St. Louis for a talk about higher education policies and DEI in times of internal and external crisis. The program will include a talk by Dr. Ayala Hendin, concluding her Israel studies postdoctoral fellowship in the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies Department at Washington University in St. Louis, followed by comments and a conversation between Prof. Mona Khoury, Vice President for Strategy and Diversity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Dr. Kia Caldwell, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity at Washington University in St. Louis. The discussants will share their insights and experiences from recent developments in DEI policies and practices in Israel and the US.

The event is free and open to the public. It will be held in Brown Lounge in Brown Hall at the Danforth campus of Washington University in St. Louis. It will open with a kosher for Pesach reception  at 5:00 p.m.

Find more JIMES events at https://jimes.wustl.edu/events. 
 

About the Speakers:

Dr. Ayala Hendin is an Israel Fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, passionate about connecting research, policy, and practice. She teaches and conducts research on Israeli politics, policy, and society, specifically within the higher education system. Currently, she is engaged in two main research projects: one on higher education policies toward ethnic, national, and religious minorities; and another on the impacts of October 7th and the subsequent war on Israeli higher education policies.  Hendin held a previous fellowship at the Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2021/22) after completing her PhD at Ben-Gurion University in the Negev (2021).

Prof. Mona Khoury is the Vice President for Strategy and Diversity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a full professor and the previous Dean of the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research area is the welfare of children and youth, with special interest in children and youth at risk who become perpetrators and victims of violent and delinquent acts. Her research addresses both the factors underlying youth violence, and the ways to prevent victimization and perpetration and promote the welfare and rights of children. In addition, she conducted several studies on parental and child development and understanding children’s rights.  

Dr. Kia Lilly Caldwell is the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Dean’s Distinguished Professorial Scholar in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.  As vice provost, Kia fosters the development of equitable faculty policies and supports the professional development, thriving, and success of all Danforth Campus faculty.  She is the Principal Investigator for WashU’s NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Grant, AIM for Equity, which began in the Fall of 2024. Trained as a socio-cultural anthropologist, Kia’s research has focused on race, gender, black feminism, health policy, and HIV/AIDS in Brazil and the U.S.  She is the author of Negras in Brazil: Re-envisioning Black Women, Citizenship, and the Politics of Identity and Health Equity in Brazil:  Intersections of Gender, Race, and Policy and has published two anthologies, Gendered Citizenships and Engaging the African Diaspora in K-12 Education.  Kia’s articles and essays have been published in numerous U.S. and Brazilian publications.  She has received grants and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation and the American Psychological Association.  She currently serves as the President of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD), which will hold its 25th anniversary conference in St. Louis this fall.

 

Nourishing Roots: Addressing Food Apartheid in Black Communities

Discussion Moderator: 

- Dr. Jessica Samuel  

• AFAS Postdoctal Fellow, Washington University 

Panelists: 

- Dr. Jessica Walker  

• Assistant Professor of Afroamerican and African Studies; Assistant Professor of American Culture at University of Michigan

- Dr. Hannah Garth 

• Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University

- Sommer Sibilly-Brown 

• Founder and Executive Director of Virgin Islands Good Food

- Nick Speed

• Founder & Executive Director of Ujima STL

 

 

Paws with the PAD: Spelling Bee Edition

Join us on Monday, April 7th at 12 p.m. in the Mallinckrodt lobby by the Edison Box Office for some delightful pet therapy with Bear and Brookie, dressed as adorable spelling bee contestants!

Take a break, de-stress, and grab a piece of candy as we promote our upcoming production of  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

AI in the Language Classroom: Fostering Equity and Inclusion

We are hoping you will be able to join us on Thursday, April 10th, from 2:30pm to 3:30pm in Eads 216 for our RLL Workshop on "AI in the Language Classroom: Fostering Equity and Inclusion." Our own Erika, Lionel and David will be presenting a class activity using AI they have implemented (or are planning to implement) in their classroom. We will discuss the benefits of using these types of activities with our students, and how we can make them even more inclusive.

 

The Political Geography of the Last and Largest Empire of the Long Late Antiquity

The Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies invites you to a lecture on the Caliphate and governance in the 7th Century CE.

The Caliphate that emerged following the Arab conquests of the early seventh century functioned as a new Late Antique empire, characterized by a bureaucratic and tax-based system. However, its internal political structure diverges significantly from that of Rome, particularly at the regional level—an aspect often obscured by our centralizing historical sources. Examining the role of provinces raises key questions about capital cities and the ways transregional elites contributed to maintaining cohesion. In this sense, the Caliphate represents the rise of a second imperial model in Western Eurasia.

About the Speaker:

Stefan Heidemann is a Professor of Islamic Studies at Universität Hamburg and serves as the director of the RomanIslam Center of Comparative Empire and Transcultural Studies (2020–2026). He was the Principal Investigator of the ERC Advanced Grant project The Early Islamic Empire at Work – The View from the Regions Toward the Center (2014–2019) and is the editor-in-chief of the journal Der Islam. His publications include Das Aleppiner Kalifat (1994), Die Renaissance der Städte (2002), Raqqa II: Die islamische Stadt (2003), and Transregional and Regional Elites – Connecting the Early Islamic Empire (2020), along with numerous contributions to books and academic journals.

TERN Issue Zero Launch

Culture Through Cooking: The Nisei Kitchen Cookbook

First published in 1975, the Nisei Kitchen Cookbook was an amazing project created by members of the St. Louis Japanese American Citizens League. With over 200 pages of painstakingly tested and typed out recipes, the book sought to preserve the recipes of Japanese homes brought across the ocean to the U.S. and hand them down to subsequent generations. Adapting to available ingredients and pan-Asian tastes, it also included Chinese and Hawaiian recipes as well as dishes uniquely Japanese American such as “Frankfurters in Soy Sauce”.

Currently, the book is in its eighth reprinting and continues to be a popular item at festivals and online. Learn about the history of Japanese American community in St. Louis, the origins of this cookbook, and the role that cuisine plays in Asian American culture today.

Q&A and food to follow the talk; snacks provided by Welcome Neighbor STL.

The deadline to RSVP for this event has passed.

 

Questions about the The Food Across Disciplines Initiative, please contact Sabnam Ghosh (sabnamghosh@wustl.edu) or Kasey Grady (kaseygrady@wustl.edu).

 

 

 

Dr. Yitzchak Jaffe - "The Archaeology of Fragility and Antifragility in Past Social-Environmental Dynamics"

"The Archaeology of Fragility and Antifragility in Past Social-Environmental Dynamics"

AFAS Senior Seminar Showcase

The Galitzianer: A Story of Belonging and Othering in Jewish New York

The 2025 Humanist Games

Enjoy an afternoon of Humanist Games with fellow students and faculty! We'll be offering a delicious spread of food, ice cold beverages, and good times for all.

All majors and minors (and graduating seniors) in Comparative Literature & Thought, IPH, German, Legal Studies, and DASH are highly encouraged to attend! Feel free to bring friends and family as well!

Hosted by the Department of Comparative Literature and Thought

Grant-Writing Information Session

The competition for fellowships and other grant-funded activities is fierce. To assist in these efforts, the Center for the Humanities will host an information session for faculty and postdocs in the humanities and humanistic social sciences interested in pursuing external funding. 

Lecture: Understanding Greek and Roman Manumission

Seminar: Reconstructing Monuments with the Help of Inscriptions

Colloquium: Manumission in Hellenistic Greece

 

 

2026 Biggs Family Residency in Classics

The 2026 Biggs Family Resident in Classics will be Elizabeth Meyer of The University of Virginia. Professor Meyer specializes in Greek and Roman political and social history, particularly in relation to law. Her research explores the intersections of legal and documentary practices in the ancient world, with a focus on Roman law, literacy, manumission, and epigraphic traditions. Meyer's work sheds light on how legal and archival developments shaped broader societal structures in antiquity.

The Colloquium, Seminar, and Lecture will be followed by receptions.

Colloquium 

"Manumission in Hellenistic Greece"
Monday, March 23, 2026
4PM
Location: Umrath Hall

Ancient Historian Panel

"Ancient Worlds: A Conversation with Leading Historians"

Tuesday, March 24, 2026
4PM
Goldberg Formal Lounge | 2nd floor of the Danforth University Center

Seminar 

"Reconstructing Monuments with the Help of Inscriptions"
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
4PM
Danforth University Center (DUC) 276

Lecture 

"Understanding Greek and Roman Manumission"
Thursday, March 26, 2026
4PM
Holmes Lounge

‘Unimaginable Atrocities’: The Neglected Catastrophe in Sudan and the History of Genocide in the Region

Please RSVP by following this link.

Political scientist and former international journalist Scott Straus will discuss the ongoing mass atrocities occurring in Sudan. He will place the atrocities in historical and regional context and explore the implications for contemporary policies of genocide prevention.

Censoring Education and Policing Minds – A Global Trend

Higher education is under unprecedented attack, from large public universities to small liberal arts and community colleges. This talk discusses why this is happening and links events in the United States to similar attacks on higher education in countries around the world. What does this global trend signal in terms of building thriving and inclusive democratic societies?

Please RSVP by following this link.

Graduate Student Summer Writing Retreat 2025

The Summer Writing Retreat offers WashU humanities and humanistic social sciences graduate students to progress their summer writing in a motivated, supportive and collaborative atmosphere. Participants will bring their laptops and research materials to the Center for the Humanities and work intensively (but quietly!) on their individual projects in communal spaces, following a schedule of focused writing periods, lunch breaks (participants will bring their own lunch or eat at the DUC) and coffee breaks. 

Daily Schedule 9am-3pm

Moderator: Meredith Kelling

George E. Mylonas Lecture in Greek Archaeology : Pilgrimage, Prayers, and Picnics at a Greek Mountaintop Shrine: Art and Mysteries at the Birthplace of Zeus

The Sanctuary of Zeus at Mt. Lykaion, located in Arcadia, Greece, holds a pivotal position in the study of Greek religion, art, and archaeology. Known as the Birthplace of Zeus, this ancient site has been the subject of ongoing investigations by a Greek-American team since 2004, revealing its immense significance and long-standing influence on Greek culture. The sanctuary emerged as a prominent mountaintop shrine during the Mycenaean period (c. 1600 BC) and remained in use until the Hellenistic period (2nd century BC), serving as a hub for religious, social, political, and athletic activities. The discoveries at this mountain sanctuary provide invaluable insights into the development of Greek art, religion, and cultural practices over the centuries.

 

SPEAKER BIO

Dr. Mary Voyatzis is Research Professor Emerita at the University of Arizona in the School of Anthropology and the Department of Religious Studies and Classics. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania in Classical Studies and did her graduate work in Archaeology in England, at Cambridge University and University College London. She was a professor at the University of Arizona for 35 years and served as Department Head of Classics from 2000-2009.

She currently co-directs the Excavation and Survey Project at the Sanctuary of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion, where a Greek American team has been working since 2004. Prior to that she was a Principal Investigator at the Sanctuary of Athena Alea at Tegea for many years. Her main areas of interest are ancient Greek religious practice, the evolution of Greek sanctuaries, and ancient Greek pottery. She has authored or co-authored several monographs and over 25 chapters and articles. She is currently working on the four volume Lykaion Series, of which she is co-editor as well as an author of several chapters; this series will include the results of the current campaign at Mt. Lykaion. Over the years, she has received support for her research work in Greece from the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, the American Council for Learned Societies, the Kress Foundation, the University of Arizona, and private donors.

This lecture is presented in partnership with the Hellenic Government–Karakas Family Foundation Professorship in Greek Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis; the Department Art History and Archaeology and the John and Penelope Biggs Department of Classics at Washington University in St. Louis; and the Classical Club of St. Louis.

The Mylonas Lecture is endowed through a generous gift from William Tragos.

St. Louis Art Museum Events Page

The James Baldwin Lecture - Achieving Our Country: Baldwin and U.S. Politics Today

James Baldwin Review is proud to present The James Baldwin Lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. James Baldwin Review is an annual, open-source journal that brings together a wide array of peer‐reviewed critical essays and creative non-fiction on the life, writings, and legacy of the African American writer James Baldwin. The prevailing themes of honesty, responsibility, vulnerability, and justice in Baldwin’s works are vital for our current political moment. In this spirit, The James Baldwin Lecture invites WashU and the St. Louis community to connect with the journal as a forum for the vibrant, multidisciplinary, and international community of Baldwin scholars, students, and enthusiasts.  

The inaugural speaker for The James Baldwin Lecture will be Hortense J. Spillers, Professor Emeritus of English at Vanderbilt University. Her lecture is entitled "Achieving Our Country: Baldwin and U.S. Politics Today."

mosAIcs & brAIns : the computational aesthetics of mosaic art

Symposium Schedule (please visit this link for abstracts and speakers' affiliations)

Monday, December 8th

08:30am: Coffee & light breakfast

08:50am: Opening remarks by Ralf Wessel, WashU Professor of Physics 

09:00am: Sue Giannotti, Contemporary Mosaics and the Artistic Process: Does AI Have a Place? 

09:30am: Kiyohito (Kyo) Iigaya, Neural and Computational Mechanisms of Subjective Aesthetic Valuation

10:00am: Sam Goree, Is There a Human-Centered Computational Aesthetics?

10:30am: Coffee & refreshments break

11:00am: Gabrielle Starr, Knowledge, Tools, and Art as Active Perception 

11:30am: David Crandall, Learning to See from Biased Experience

12:00pm: Group photo & poster session set-up

12:15pm: Lunch & poster presentations (please visit this link for poster abstracts) 

1:30pm: Karen Ami, Material Consciousness: Mosaic Art as Embodied Practice

2:00pm: Brady Roberts, Uncovering the Properties of Memorable Visual Designs

2:30pm: Ahmed Elgammal, AI Art from the Uncanny Valley to Prompting: Gains and Losses

3:00pm: Coffee & refreshments

3:30pm: Edward Vessel, Making Meaning from Art, and Getting Pleasure from Understanding

4:00pm: Brendan Weekes, Mosaic as Embodiment

4:30pm: Closing remarks

6:00pm: Dinner at Pastaria's deli & wine space (7734 Forsyth Blvd, Suite 2, Clayton, MO). Please email TheIncubator@wustl.edu to inquire, as space is limited.

 

Tuesday, December 9th 

10:00am: Join fellow attendees for a docent-led tour of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, which houses one of the largest mosaic collections in the world. Please arrive early to the cathedral (located at 4431 Lindell Blvd), as the tour will start promptly at 10am. 

Please be advised that an RSVP is required to join us for meals, and symposium attendance may be capped. 

Fall 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR), the Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium showcases the diverse range of faculty-mentored research and creative inquiry conducted by WashU undergraduate students. More details can be found on the Fall 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium webpage. 

OUR symposia provide an opportunity for undergraduate students to share their work, engage in peer networking and cross-disciplinary conversations, and develop presentation skills. Any WashU student is welcome to present their project, including works in progress.

For students who are interested in getting started in research, the symposium is a great opportunity to learn about the process from your peers. All WashU community members are encouraged to attend! 

Adult Summer Reading Keynote Presentation: The Odyssey

Join the University City Public Library for a lecture on Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, presented by Classics scholar Dr. Kate Wilson. Dr. Wilson is a senior lecturer in the John and Penelope Biggs Department of Classics at Washington University in St. Louis, where she frequently teaches Greek mythology and Homeric epic, both in English and Greek. She received her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, and she works on Greek literature and culture, with a particular focus on interactions with the natural world and concepts of work in the ancient world. She relishes any opportunity to talk about Homer that comes her way.

This project is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, as administered by the Missouri State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State

ACLS Fellowship proposal external review deadline

Faculty who are planning to submit a proposal for the 2025 ACLS Fellowship competition are invited to participate in an external review process coordinated by the Center for the Humanities.

A Counter-Imaginary to Authoritarian Power: Gender, Passion and other Psychosocial Formations

In-person registrations have reached capacity. Please see event details below for livestream registration.

Keynote lecture

4 pm, February 3
Hillman Hall, Clark-Fox Forum

Livestream registration (lecture)