Past Events

Dodging the Sisters: Why Queer Nuns Keep Going Viral

In June 2023, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence went viral in conservative media for the umpteenth time. This time around, it was because the Los Angeles Dodgers had announced plans to honor the Los Angeles House of the order at the team’s annual Pride Night. A month before that all-California game against the San Francisco Giants, Florida Senator Marco Rubio had instigated the protest with a letter to baseball commissioner Robert Manfred claiming the group was offensive to Catholics. A short time into the swelling protest movement the Dodgers disinvited the Sisters, then re-invited them rather quickly following overwhelming backlash; in the end, the nuns’ presence at the game drew masses of protestors and supporters, and required a heavy security presence. Reporting on the scuffle focused on it largely as a story about sports, politics, and culture wars, not about religion, and it largely misrepresented or even overlooked the international order of queer and trans nuns at the heart of the story. So who are these nuns, and why do they keep winding up the right and delighting the left while most people on both sides miss the point that queer nuns, too, are real nuns? Come join us and find out.

This talk is the first lecture in the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics’ series Reverent Irreverence: Parody, Religion, and Contemporary Politics.

In this series:

Dodging the Sisters: Why Queer Nuns Keep Going Viral 
Melissa Wilcox, University of California-Riverside
Thursday, January 18, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Earthalujah! Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping:  A Conversation with William Talen and Savitri D
Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Pranksters, Standups, and Fitness Gurus: New Perspectives on Parody
Thursday, February 29, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

• Jesus and Jest: Comedy and Christianity in the 1960s
  (Joshua Wright, Hope College)
• How Standup Made Islam Secular
  (Samah Choudhury, Ithaca College)
• In on the Joke: Parody and Religion at SoulCycle
  (Cody Musselman, Washington University in St. Louis)

Playing Sacred: The Camp Aesthetics of Feminist and Queer Art
Anthony Petro, Boston University
Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium
 

The Women’s Chapel

What power is there in a woman’s voice? Can the testimony of Christian women help to undo patriarchy and stop spiritual abuse? What can art and the history of evangelicalism teach us about our current political moment and how to move forward? The Women’s Chapel is an interdisciplinary art exhibition created by artist Megan Kenyon and a collaborative group of evangelical women whose stories show how the journey of divesting oneself of Christian patriarchy is one full of rage and grief but ultimately laced with hope.

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya Lecture

Born in Atlanta to Thai and Indonesian immigrants, Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and activist. Her work in sculpture, textile, public art and ritual has reclaimed space in museums and galleries, at protests and rallies, on buildings, in classrooms and on the cover of Time. Her work examines the unseen labor of women, amplifies AAPI narratives and affirms the depth, resilience and beauty of communities of color. Phingbodhipakkiya has been artist-in-residence with the NYC Commission on Human Rights and sits on the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, where she advises the president on how art can foster community well-being.

Black Anthology: ‘Pressed’

Join Black Anthology for its 2024 show: Pressed. The play is in two acts and is student written, choregraphed and produced. $14–$16.

Showtime is 7 pm with a preshow discussion at 6:15 pm nightly.

Moving Stories in the Making: An Exhibition of Migration Narratives

Open Classroom | Art Is My Voice

cbabi bayoc is an internationally renowned St. Louis based visual artist, muralist and New York Times best-selling illustrator for Good Night Racism, authored by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Acrylic paint, a flat brush and an iPad have become not only his voice but his weapons of choice in battling the ignorance of prejudice and racism by showing the dopeness of Black people. This presentation will explore how cbabi uses art as his voice to relay the humanity, beauty and resilience of Black people in their everyday walks in America. His work with Dr. Nikole Hannah-Jones, Ibram X. Kendi, Foot Soldiers Park and selective work in the St. Louis Metropolitan area will be highlighted.

Open Classroom | Creative Energy: A Tool for Change?

DeBorah Ahmed will discuss how creative principles and practices have and continue to be used in Afrikan Diaspora culture. She, along with the guests, will discuss personal journeys, short and long-term implications, setting and raising the bar for creative expression and the responsibilities that accompany all this. Her panelists will include spoken word, movement, theatrical and music artists.

DeBorah D. Ahmed is executive director of the Better Family Life Cultural, Educational and Business Center and a PhD candidate in social work at Saint Louis University.

Josh Kline - Bunny and Charles Burson Visiting Lecture

The Whitney Museum of American Art in New York recently presented the first U.S. museum survey of Josh Kline’s work. His film Adaptation (2019–22) recently screened at LAXART on the occasion of his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles. Kline’s work has been exhibited internationally at Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2020); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy (2016); Portland Art Museum, Oregon (2016); and Modern Art Oxford, UK (2015), among others. He has participated in group exhibitions including the Whitney Biennial, New York (2019); “New Order: Art and Technology in the Twenty- First Century,” Museum of Modern Art, New York (2019); MoMA PS1, New York (2013, 2012); and “2015 Triennial: Surround Audience,” New Museum, New York, among others. His work has also been exhibited at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2019); Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco (2019, 2015); ICA Boston (2018); MOCA Cleveland (2018); The Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC (2016); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2016); Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo (2015); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2016); ICA Philadelphia (2014); and the Fridericianum, Kassel (2013). His work is included in the collections of numerous institutions including Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Rubell Family Collection, Miami.

In summer 2024, Kline will have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Earthalujah! Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping: A Conversation with William Talen and Savitri D

What began as a televangelist parody 25 years ago has grown into a radical performance community of international renown, the Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. Whether taking the stage at Burning Man, performing at Zuccotti Park, or opening for Neil Young, Reverend Billy and his choir have become widely recognized prophetic voices questioning the gods of the market. William Talen (aka Reverend Billy) will be joined by his long-time collaborator Savitri D, the artistic director of the Stop Shopping Choir. In recent years they have worked together on building a new community in New York City known as Earth Church.  

This talk is the second lecture in the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics’ series Reverent Irreverence: Parody, Religion, and Contemporary Politics.

In this series:

Dodging the Sisters: Why Queer Nuns Keep Going Viral 
Melissa Wilcox, University of California-Riverside
Thursday, January 18, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Earthalujah! Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping:  A Conversation with William Talen and Savitri D
Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Pranksters, Standups, and Fitness Gurus: New Perspectives on Parody
Thursday, February 29, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

• Jesus and Jest: Comedy and Christianity in the 1960s
  (Joshua Wright, Hope College)
• How Standup Made Islam Secular
  (Samah Choudhury, Ithaca College)
• In on the Joke: Parody and Religion at SoulCycle
  (Cody Musselman, Washington University in St. Louis)

Playing Sacred: The Camp Aesthetics of Feminist and Queer Art
Anthony Petro, Boston University
Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

New Perspectives Talk: Hung Liu's Re-presentations of Historical Photographs

In “Toward a ‘Bent Ornamentalitism’: Hung Liu's Re-presentations of Historical Photographs,” Zihan Feng, PhD student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, discusses the Chinese-born American contemporary artist Hung Liu’s reuse of historical portrait photographs of Chinese women in her prints and assemblages. This talk explores how Liu strategically juxtaposes historical portraits with varied imagery to reconceive distortions of female bodies — in particular, bound feet — as not merely historical evidence of gender-based violence but a “bent and ornamental” form of being against the patriarchal norm and Western ethnographic gazes. In resonance with scholar Anne Anlin Cheng’s rumination that the “flesh” of racialized and gendered Asian women often survives through “synthetic, ornamental personhood,” Feng discusses how re-presentations of historical images of racialized and gendered subjects negotiate the realms of violence and aesthetics and interrogate the intricate association between natural bodies and the modern notion of subjectivity and autonomy.  

Free and open to the public. Registration is requested.

Chancellor's Lecture with John McWhorter

John McWhorter is an associate professor in the Slavic department at Columbia University specializing in language change and language contact. He is a highly regarded scholar and the author of more than 20 books. He also writes a popular weekly column for The New York Times and hosts the language podcast Lexicon Valley. 

Mary Mattingly Lecture: Proposals

Artist Mary Mattingly makes sculptures and photographs about imagined futures. Her sculptural ecosystems prioritize access to food, shelter and clean water, resulting in large-scale participatory projects around the world. In 2016, she led “Swale,” a floating sculpture and edible landscape on a barge in New York that depended upon water common law and inspired New York City Parks to establish their first public “Foodway.” Her artwork has been exhibited at institutions such as Storm King Art Center, International Center of Photography, Seoul Art Center, Brooklyn Museum, Palais de Tokyo, Barbican Art Gallery and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana. Notable grants include the Guggenheim Foundation Grant, James L. Knight Foundation, Harpo Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts and the Jerome Foundation. Her work has been featured in various documentaries and publications, including Art21 and The New York Times.

Ethical Research Data: The Feminist Principle of Examining Power in the Context of Big Data and AI

In Data Feminism (MIT Press, 2020), Lauren F. Klein and her coauthor, Catherine D’Ignazio, established a set of principles for doing more just and equitable data science. Informed by the past several decades of intersectional feminist activism and critical thought, the principles of data feminism modeled how to examine and challenge power, rethink binaries and hierarchies, elevate emotion and embodiment, consider context, embrace pluralism and make labor visible. How can these principles be applied to the current conversation about AI, its present harms and its future possibilities? This talk will briefly summarize the principles of data feminism before moving to a set of examples that show how these principles can be applied — and extended — to our current technological landscape.

International Writers Series: Mona Kareem

Join the International Writers Series for an evening of poetry in translation with esteemed poet and translator Mona Kareem. She will be joined in conversation by Safa Khatib, Ph.D. candidate in the Program in Comparative Literature.

In the words of her translator Sara Elkamel, Mona Kareem is “the author of an impossibly fluid cartography.” This event will focus on the trajectory of Kareem’s poetics across her three internationally acclaimed books: Mornings Washed by Thirst’s Water, Absence with Amputated Fingers and What I Sleep for Today. Moving between her poems in both their Arabic original and Elkamel’s English translations, the conversation will approach larger questions about the relationship between poetry, perception, imagination and geopolitics.   

Free and open to all, registration requested.

Chinese-language Tour of ‘The Body in Pieces’

中文美术导览：The Body in Pieces 

邀请您来和艺术史暨考古学系博士生曲维洵共同欣赏Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum本期展览《The Body in Pieces》。本展览聚焦于Kemper Art Museum现代艺术馆藏中几位重要的欧美艺术家，像是让·杜布菲、费尔南·莱热、胡安·米罗等。来一起探索二十世纪初的艺术家如何籍由零散不全的身体画作来反映现代性。 

Student educator Weixun Qu, PhD student in the Department of Art History & Archaeology, leads an interactive tour of The Body in Pieces. This exhibition draws on the Kemper Art Museum’s significant European and American modern art collection to explore how the fragmented body acted as a metaphor for modernity in early 20th-century art. Featured artists include Jean Dubuffet, Fernand Léger and Joan Miró, among many others. 

Free and open to the public. 

Open Classroom | The Last Word: Exploring Identity, Resistance, and Narrative Power in Art

In an exploration led by KVtheWriter, discover how artists can harness their personal identity and experiences to spark both interpersonal and systemic change within themselves and their communities. Through an examination of the risks and challenges inherent in artistic activism, KVtheWriter, along with the audience, will unveil the narrative potency of art—illuminating stories often overlooked and undertold in St. Louis and beyond.

Faculty Book Talk: Ignacio Infante

In this book presentation, Ignacio Infante, associate professor of comparative literature and Spanish, will discuss his latest scholarly monograph, A Planetary Avant-Garde. This book explores how experimental poetics and literature networks have aesthetically and politically responded to the legacy of Iberian colonialism across the world, with a focus on avant-garde responses to Spanish and Portuguese imperialism across Europe, Latin America, West Africa and Southeast Asia between 1909 and 1929. Infante will be joined in conversation by Sarah María Medina, Ph.D. candidate in the Program in Comparative Literature. 

Free and open to all, registration requested.

Q&A with Kahlil Robert Irving

As part of the opening celebrations for Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present, artist Kahlil Robert Irving will be in conversation with Hamza Walker, director of LAXART, an independent, nonprofit art space in Los Angeles. Irving is known for his ceramic assemblages made of layered images and replicas of everyday objects often considered detritus but that are representative of a historical moment, a way of life or even specific individuals. Irving and Walker will discuss topics ranging from Black life and collective memory to urban landscapes, as well as how the mining of contemporary artifacts begins to tell a fragmented story of American history.

Free and open to the public. Registration is requested.

Curatorial Tour: ‘The Body in Pieces’

Assistant Curator Dana Ostrander leads an interactive tour of The Body in Pieces. This exhibition draws on the Kemper Art Museum’s significant modern art collection to explore how the fragmented body acted as a metaphor for modernity in early 20th-century art. Many European and American artists experienced the mechanization of newly industrialized cities and consequently sought to incorporate these mechanical movements into their creative processes, portraying human bodies that are segmented into geometric shapes, cropped into fragments or melted into gestural brushstrokes. Featured artists include Jean Dubuffet, Fernand Léger and Joan Miró, among many others.

Free and open to the public. 

Open Classroom | Black & Blue: Double Consciousness and the Black Artist

There is a tension for the artist where success is sometimes complicated by the distance between excellence in the fine arts and commercial viability. If the artist is Black, the question is not just about art or money but the values that influence art production. Should their art challenge oppressive systems or should they seek inclusion among the most notable of the art world? This talk will apply W.E.B. Du Bois’ double consciousness as a framework for examining this historical tension for the Black Artist while highlighting contemporary data.

Graduate workshop: From Climate Anxiety to Climate Action

Join Faculty Books Celebration keynote speaker Nicole Seymour in a two-hour writing workshop on writing in an age of major climate upheaval. Seymour will guide participants in considering how and where they can take action, identify local resources and opportunities for meaningful impact and use writing to build collectives around the issue of climate change. Echoing Seymour’s own eclectic approach to environmental humanities, the workshop will also include time for slowness, reflection, deliberation and fun. 

This workshop is designed for graduate students; postdocs and advanced undergraduates are also welcome to register. The first ten registrants will receive a copy of Seymour’s latest book, Glitter, at the event. Register by following the link below by Thursday, February 15. Space is limited to 20 participants.

Pranksters, Standups, and Fitness Gurus: New Perspectives on Parody

Panelists and talks include the following:

Jesus and Jest: Comedy and Christianity in the 1960s
Joshua Wright, Hope College

How Standup Made Islam Secular
Samah Choudhury, Ithaca College

In on the Joke: Parody and Religion at SoulCycle
Cody Musselman, Washington University in St. Louis

This is the third event in the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics’ series Reverent Irreverence: Parody, Religion, and Contemporary Politics.

In this series:

Dodging the Sisters: Why Queer Nuns Keep Going Viral 
Melissa Wilcox, University of California-Riverside
Thursday, January 18, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Earthalujah! Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping:  A Conversation with William Talen and Savitri D
Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Pranksters, Standups, and Fitness Gurus: New Perspectives on Parody
Thursday, February 29, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

• Jesus and Jest: Comedy and Christianity in the 1960s
  (Joshua Wright, Hope College)
• How Standup Made Islam Secular
  (Samah Choudhury, Ithaca College)
• In on the Joke: Parody and Religion at SoulCycle
  (Cody Musselman, Washington University in St. Louis)

Playing Sacred: The Camp Aesthetics of Feminist and Queer Art
Anthony Petro, Boston University
Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Experimental Cinema of Germaine Dulac and Maya Deren

Learn about avant-garde films by women in this screening of Germaine Dulac’s The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928, 40 min.), considered one of the first Surrealist films, and Maya Deren’s A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945, 3 min.), which features the dancer Talley Beatty in a magisterial cinematic interpretation of dance. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Body in Pieces, these silent films feature innovative special effects that present the human form as physically fractured and fragmented across time.

A discussion following the screening with Dana Ostrander, assistant curator of modern art, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum; Lionel Cuillé, teaching professor in French in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Washington University, and director of French Connexions; and Victor Putinier, PhD student in Romance Languages and Literatures, Washington University, will explore these two key figures in the development of experimental cinema and proto-feminist practice. 

Free and open to the public with complimentary popcorn. Registration is requested.

Losing HER Voice: Mental Health Implications of Abortion Restrictions

The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June 2022 adversely impacts women on multiple levels. Research indicates loss of personal autonomy regarding reproductive choice can result in mental health problems and reduced well-being. However, these negative repercussions may be more detrimental for specific cohorts of women including members of marginalized communities as well as survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Please join Dr. Keyes to learn more about the various life circumstances, potential stressors and trauma exposure, and mental health issues these women often experience and how abortion denial may further complicate their health and welfare. Brown School Open Classroom.

Healthmaking in Ancient Egypt

Anne Austin, assistant professor of anthropology and archaeology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, explores how ancient Egyptians used their social networks to improve their health through the ancient Egyptian village of Deir el-Medina. Historia Medica Lecture, Center for the History of Medicine, Bernard Becker Medical Library.

This event is open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Registration is encouraged but not required.

Book Making Workshop: Abstract Comics

Is it possible to tell stories with figures and abstract forms? Can diagrams relate conflicts, meetings of minds or disagreements? In this workshop, join distinguished artist and author Verónica Gerber Bicecci to consider the proposals of a number of artists who have worked on these questions in order to appropriate the comic.

Attendees will be able to take home the original comic piece they produce after a record is produced of each piece. Materials will be provided. No experience is required.

Please arrive early so that we can start on time and ensure everyone has time to finish their work. Doors will open 15 minutes before the workshop begins.

Spots are limited and registration is required; see University Libraries’ website. 

International Writers Series: Verónica Gerber Bicecci

Join us for an evening of prose in translation with genre-defying author Verónica Gerber Bicecci. Bicecci will be joined in conversation by Paco Tijerina, PhD Candidate in Hispanic Studies.

Toxic Sublime: Art and the Climate Crisis

Proximate and distant, micro and macro — climate change troubles human perception and defies conception. The Madrid-based artist Santiago Sierra’s 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air — on view in the Saligman Family Atrium at the Kemper Art Museum — presents a visualization of the toxicity of contemporary urban life, employing art as direct evidence of airborne contaminants. Projects such as Sierra’s invite us to think about the impact of climate change in its tactile dimensions as well as in its more abstract effects. Essential to Sierra’s artwork is an understanding of climate degradation as intersectional — material and sociopolitical — recognizing the systems of power responsible for the environmental crisis and making us see anew not just the air but also the policies that contaminate our bodies.  

Panel participants come from a range of fields, including art history, environmental studies, engineering, and public health to discuss how visual representations of environmental contamination function to encourage contemplation of the viewers’ position within a polluted world as well as the tensions that arise from such representations. Speakers include Ila Sheren, associate professor of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences and associate director for the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity; Suzanne Loui, lecturer in Environmntal Studies in Arts & Sciences; and Jay Turner, head of the Division of Engineering Education, Vice Dean for Education, and James McKelvey Professor of Engineering Education.  

Free and open to the public. Registration is requested. 

Online Chinese-language Tour of Special Exhibitions

线上中文美术导览： 春季特展 

邀请您来和艺术史暨考古学系博士生戴悦于线上共同欣赏Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum本期展览《Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present》和《Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air》。来一起探索这两位当代艺术家对现今生活物质维度的诠释，例如空气污染残留的粒子和都市废弃物的景观。 

欲参加者，请提前预约报名。

Student educator Yue Dai, PhD student in the Department of Art History & Archaeology, Washington University, leads an online tour of this season’s exhibitions Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present and Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air. Participants will explore how both artists engage with the materiality of contemporary life, from the physical residue of air pollution to the sculptural topography of urban refuse. 

Free and open to the public. Click here for Zoom registration.

Public Tour of Special Exhibitions

Student educators lead interactive tours of this season’s exhibitions Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present and Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air. Through guided discussion, participants will explore how both artists engage with the materiality of contemporary life, from the physical residue of air pollution to the sculptural topography of urban refuse.  

Free and open to the public. Please check in at the Welcome Desk when arriving for the tour. 

Curator Chat on ‘Gateway to the East’ Exhibition

Stop by for a casual tour of the exhibition Gateway to the East: China at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. Chat with WashU student researchers who contributed to the project and hear from exhibit curators on how items from three different continents on display were brought together.  

Speakers

• Miranda Rectenwald, curator of local history, Julian Edison Department of Special Collections
• Jenny Rong, current WashU student

Free and open to the public, feel free to drop by anytime between 2:15–3:15 pm. Registration is requested, but not required. No charge for parking on Saturdays in campus yellow zoned lots and garages.  

Capitalist Humanitarianism: A Dialogue on Labor, Loss, and Religion

In her recent book Capitalist Humanitarianism (Duke University Press, 2023), religious studies scholar Lucia Hulsether combines historical accounts, ethnographic research, and personal narrative to critically interrogate how global economic systems have absorbed critiques of capitalism in recent decades. Refuting the claim that movements such as “fair trade” or “ethical investing” exemplify a progressive approach to corporate humanitarianism, her work traverses the Americas to identify and explore how economic elites have repackaged criticisms of neoliberalism from the Left in the service of capitalist expansion and the ways in which these projects compromise, rather than further, efforts at indigenous self-determination, feminist solidarity, and racial justice. At Washington University in St. Louis, Hulsether will discuss her book, the ethical commitments that inform her research, and the possibilities of what it means to “write a history of the impossible.”

Hulsether, assistant professor of religious studies at Skidmore College, will offer a talk on her book, which will be followed by a discussion with Cody Musselman and Eric Stephen, both postdoctoral fellows with the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

Virtual Book Club: ‘Margaret the First’

Join us for the March book club to discuss Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton.

Written by Washington University professor Danielle Dutton, this novel explores the life of Margaret the First, an unconventional seventeenth-century Duchess. The eccentric Margaret wrote and published volumes of poems, philosophy and feminist plays at a time when being a writer was not an option open to women. After the English Civil War, her work earned her both fame and infamy in England: at the dawn of daily newspapers, she was “Mad Madge,” an original tabloid celebrity. Yet Margaret was also the first woman to be invited to the Royal Society of London. 

Book club will begin with a showcase of seventeenth-century books, followed by a discussion of the novel.

Free and open to all, registration required for Zoom link.

Tour de Museo en Español

José Garza, coordinador de programas académicos del museo, los invitan a un tour en español de las exhibiciónes Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air,  Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present y obras de arte seleccionadas en la colección permanente. Durante el tour, sentirse libre a compartir sus observaciones e interpretaciones. 

Este programa se ofrece en colaboración con Latinx Arts Network STL. Obtenga más información sobre esta organización aquí. 

Gratis y abierto al público; se recomiende registro.

Join José Garza, museum academic programs coordinator, for a Spanish-language tour of the special exhibition Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air,  Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present and selected artworks in the permanent collection. The interactive tour will encourage visitors to share observations and interpretations. 

This program is offered in partnership with the Latinx Arts Network STL.

Free and open to the public; please register at the Kemper website.

Elliot H. Stein Lecture in Ethics with Richard Haass

Join the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement in welcoming Richard Haass, veteran diplomat and author of The Bill of Obligations: The Ten Habits of Good Citizens for a fireside chat on the state of global democracy. 

Haass is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations after having served as CFR’s president for 20 years. He is also senior counselor with Centerview Partners, an international investment banking advisory firm.

J.S.G. Boggs: Money as Performance Art

J.S.G. Boggs (1955–2017) was an American performance artist who created hand-drawn replicas of U.S. currency in exchange for goods and services. In doing so, Boggs captured the attention of the American public, collectors and law enforcement. In this presentation, numismatic author Wayne Homren, who was personally acquainted with Boggs, discusses the legacy of this enigmatic character.

Free and open to all, registration requested via website.

Kahlil Robert Irving and Andrea Achi: Archaeology and Contemporary Art

The artist Kahlil Robert Irving will be in conversation with Andrea Achi, the Mary and Michael Jaharis Associate Curator of Byzantine Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to discuss Irving’s exhibition that includes a range of ceramic sculptures inspired, in part, by the mosaic floors of Hellenistic Antioch. Topics will also include how contemporary artists engage the history and methodologies of archaeology, uncovering layer upon layer of evidence and artifacts that begin to tell a fragmented story. 

Free and open to the public. Registration is requested via website. 

This event is supported in part by the Department of Art History & Archaeology in Arts & Sciences. Part of the Sam Fox School Public Lecture Series.  

Italian Film Festival

International Writers Series: Esther Kinsky

‘Learning to Disagree’ Book Event

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics and the Washington University Law School are pleased to announce an event in celebration of John Inazu’s latest book, Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect, to be published by Zondervan in April 2024. Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion at Washington University in St. Louis.

In a tense cultural climate, is it possible to disagree productively and respectfully without compromising our convictions? Spanning a range of challenging issues — including critical race theory, sexual assault, campus protests, and clashes over religious freedom — highly regarded thought leader and law professor John Inazu helps us engage honestly and empathetically with people whose viewpoints we find strange, wrong, or even dangerous.

As a constitutional scholar, legal expert, and former litigator, Inazu has spent his career learning how to disagree well with other people. In Learning to Disagree, he shares memorable stories and draws on the practices that legal training imparts — seeing the complexity in every issue and inhabiting the mindset of an opposing point of view — to help us handle daily encounters and lifelong relationships with those who see life very differently than we do.

Student Dance Showcase: A Picnic in the Park

Student Dance Showcase presents "A Picnic in the Park", a performance consisting of nine different works in nine different styles.

April 12th and 13th at 7:00 p.m.
Annelise Mertz Dance Studio in Mallinckrodt

Please join us for a performance that is choreographed, performed, lit, and directed by WashU students! Featured choreography by Alexandra Acevedo, Natalie Green, Jill Mark, Caroline McNinch, Eric Montufar-Morales, Erin Prein, Lily Rich, Rei Romero, Olivia Wilton, & Izzy Yanover.

Please reserve your seat for the performance at this link here: SDS 2024 Tickets. You can either reserve floor seating ($3) or chair seating ($5). You will pay for your ticket(s) at the door to the performance using either cash or Venmo. Doors open at 6:30.

Proceeds will be donated to the Amarnath Ghosh Memorial Fund.

Unveiling of Archer Alexander Memorial

Playing Sacred: The Camp Aesthetics of Feminist and Queer Art

In the modern culture wars, conservatives often attack feminist and queer art as sacrilegious or obscene. But why does so much religious iconography animate this creative work? And how? This talk looks at the religious and political possibilities of camp as a style of engagement, focusing on the work of artists Ray Navarro and Judy Chicago. It asks: How do the aesthetics of camp challenge dominant ways that we think about religion and religious attachments?

This talk is the final lecture in the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics’ series Reverent Irreverence: Parody, Religion, and Contemporary Politics.

In this series:

Dodging the Sisters: Why Queer Nuns Keep Going Viral 
Melissa Wilcox, University of California-Riverside
Thursday, January 18, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Earthalujah! Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping:  A Conversation with William Talen and Savitri D
Tuesday, February 6, 2024, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Pranksters, Standups, and Fitness Gurus: New Perspectives on Parody
Thursday, February 29, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

• Jesus and Jest: Comedy and Christianity in the 1960s
  (Joshua Wright, Hope College)
• How Standup Made Islam Secular
  (Samah Choudhury, Ithaca College)
• In on the Joke: Parody and Religion at SoulCycle
  (Cody Musselman, Washington University in St. Louis)

Playing Sacred: The Camp Aesthetics of Feminist and Queer Art
Anthony Petro, Boston University
Tuesday, April 16, 2024, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Knight Hall, Emerson Auditorium

Panel on the Vital Role of the Arts and Sciences in Public Health: Reconceiving the Sexual and Reproductive Body

In light of Washington University's momentous decision to establish a new School of Public Health (the first new school in 100 years),  panelists will discuss the critical role of the arts and humanities in public health,  with emphasis on the sexual and reproductive body.

The panel will take place from 4:30-6:15, followed by a reception, 6:15-7:15, and showing at 6:30 of the 13-minute film by Mary and Patrick Kelley, “This is Offal.”

REGISTER HERE

SPEAKERS

• Internationally noted collaborators, painter Mary Reid Kelley and videographer Patrick Kelley, create ambitious videos informed by history, language and literature that give life to critical observations on gender, class, and the condition of women throughout history. 
• Mary Fissell, Professor of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University,  focuses in her esteemed scholarship on Early-Modern Medicine; Patients' Perspective in The History Of Medicine; Gender, Sexuality, and The History Of The Body. 
• Marlon Bailey is Professor of African and African American Studies, and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Affiliate Professor in Performing Arts at Washington University, who studies Black LGBTQ cultural formations, sexual health, and HIV/AIDS prevention.  
• Dr. Juliet Iwelunmor is a Professor of Medicine and an Associate Director for Global Health and Dissemination at Washington University School of Medicine. A passionate advocate for health equity and sustainability, Dr. Iwelunmor is widely regarded for understanding how to make evidence-based interventions last, reshaping the focus on community engagement using participatory research, improving the dissemination of health information, while amplifying the voices of young people in health interventions through music and storytelling. 
• Dr. Hilary Reno is the Medical Director of the St. Louis County Sexual Health clinic, Medical Director of the St. Louis STI/ HIV Prevention Training Center, and a medical consultant with the CDC, Division of STD Prevention.Dr. Reno specializes in sexual health care, with a special focus on the clinical care of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and the intersection with HIV prevention. 

Walter Johnson: On Racial Capitalism (Redux)

Asia in St. Louis: Stories of Community Building and Resilience

What was the experience of Asian American migrants to the Midwest in the late 19th century? What did Chinatown in St. Louis look like before its demolition in the 1960s? What happened to Japanese Americans who escaped interment camps and settled in St. Louis during World War II? How did the Asian American immigrants establish successful businesses with the support of the local community? How did national developments in race relations and social activism in the 20th century influence Asian Americans in St. Louis?  

In anticipation of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and in recognition of the historical and cultural contributions of individuals within the AAPI community in St. Louis, Washington University Libraries and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion of Washington University invite you to join us for a forum on the history of Asian Americans in St. Louis. With the support of the Missouri Humanities Council, Washington University students and staff have created a series of webpages using GIS (Geographic Information System) technology to showcase the contributions of the Asian American community on St. Louis, called the “Asia in St. Louis” project. 

Guest speaker Anna Crosslin will reflect on the evolution of St. Louis’ Asian American community, sharing stories from her private and professional experience in helping bring greater visibility to the Asian American community. The Asia in St. Louis project members will present their StoryMaps, which focus on the arrival of early Chinese immigrants, urban life in St. Louis’ first Chinatown (Hop Alley), the relocation of Japanese American students to WashU during World War II, and how national developments in social justice influenced Asian Americans in St. Louis. 

Special Collections Open House

Join us to see some of the University’s special collections up close, including exhibitions on the topics of China and the 1904 World’s Fair, numismatics, punk, and more; along with the Declaration of Independence ‘Southwick Broadside.’ University memorabilia from the 1970s to the present will also be on display.

Free and open to all.

Chinese-language Tour of Special Exhibitions

中文美术导览： 春季特展 

邀请您来和艺术史暨考古学系博士生戴悦共同欣赏Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum本期展览《Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present》和《Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air》。来一起探索这两位当代艺术家对现今生活物质维度的诠释，例如空气污染残留的粒子和都市废弃物的景观。 

Student educator Yue Dai, PhD student in the Department of Art History & Archaeology, leads a tour of this season’s exhibitions Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present and Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air. Participants will explore how both artists engage with the materiality of contemporary life, from the physical residue of air pollution to the sculptural topography of urban refuse. 

Free and open to the public. Please check in at the Welcome Desk when arriving for the tour. 

Special Exhibitions

Student educators lead interactive tours of this season’s exhibitions Kahlil Robert Irving: Archaeology of the Present and Santiago Sierra: 52 Canvases Exposed to Mexico City’s Air. Through guided discussion, participants will explore how both artists engage with the materiality of contemporary life, from the physical residue of air pollution to the sculptural topography of urban refuse.  

Free and open to the public. Please check in at the Welcome Desk when arriving for the tour. 

Virtual Book Club: ‘Endpapers’

Join University Libraries for a special Preservation Week book club with guest host Danielle Creech, head of preservation, processing, and exhibitions. We will discuss Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly.

One day at work, conservation technician Dawn discovers something hidden under the endpapers of an old book: the torn-off cover of a lesbian pulp novel from the 1950s, with an illustration of a woman looking into a mirror and seeing a man’s face. Even more intriguing is the queer love letter written on the back. Dawn becomes obsessed with tracking down the author of the letter, convinced the mysterious writer can help her find her place in the world. 

Book club will begin with a presentation on the day in the life of a conservator, followed by a discussion of the book.

Free and open to all, registration required for Zoom link. See website.

Chancellor's Fireside Chat with Valerie Jarrett and Michael Isikoff AB '74

The Gephardt Institute welcomes the WashU community to join us in Graham Chapel for a Fireside Chat with Chancellor Andrew D. Martin, The Barack Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett, and investigative journalist and author Michael Isikoff AB '74.

Advance registration is required, so RSVP now to reserve your seat!

Book Talk: Through the Grapevine by Taylor Carlson

Join the Chicago Center on Democracy for a virtual conversation on Taylor N. Carlson’s new book Through the Grapevine: Socially Transmitted Information and Distorted Democracy. Come hear about Carlson’s “enlightening examination of what it means when Americans rely on family and friends to stay on top of politics” (UChicago Press). The conversation will be skillfully moderated by Peter Forberg (PHD Student in Sociology at UC Berkeley). About the book: Accurate information is at the heart of democratic functioning. For decades, researchers interested in how information is disseminated have focused on mass media, but the reality is that many Americans today do not learn about politics from direct engagement with the news. Rather, about one-third of Americans learn chiefly from information shared by their peers in conversation or on social media. How does this socially transmitted information differ from that communicated by traditional media? What are the consequences for political attitudes and behavior? Drawing on evidence from experiments, surveys, and social media, Taylor N. Carlson finds that, as information flows first from the media then person to person, it becomes sparse, more biased, less accurate, and more mobilizing. The result is what Carlson calls distorted democracy. Although socially transmitted information does not necessarily render democracy dysfunctional, Through the Grapevine shows how it contributes to a public that is at once underinformed, polarized, and engaged,” (UChicago Press). Event is free and open to all, use this link to register for the Zoom meeting.

The Catholic Enlightenment in Europe, the Americas and Australia (1700– 1840)

Please join us for a two-day conference on “The Catholic Enlightenment in Europe, the Americas and Australia (1700– 1840): Balancing Loyalties between State, Nationality, Citizenship, and the Global Church.”

The Enlightenment, it has now been established, was as much a religious phenomenon as it was a secular one. This conference brings together leading scholars from around the world to interrogate the ways in which Catholics, in particular, interpreted and extended Enlightenment ideas to rethink and reform society, politics, the economy, education, science, and the arts on a global scale.

The conference will take place:

• Friday, September 20 (8:30am-3:30pm): Pere Marquette Gallery, 2nd Floor DuBourg Hall, Saint Louis University; piano recital at 5:30pm, Cupples House
• Saturday, September 21 (9am-5:30pm): Umrath Lounge, Umrath Hall, Washington University in St. Louis

Registration is free and open to the public. Please register here. Registrants are welcome to attend all or a portion of the conference. 

See here for more information and a detailed program listing speakers and topics. 

Please contact crgc@slu.edu with any questions or accommodations requests.

This conference is co-sponsored by Washington University in St. Louis (with support from the Center for the Humanities), Saint Louis University’s Center for Research on Global Catholicism, and the University of Münster.

Public Tour: Design Agendas

Student educators lead interactive tours of this season’s exhibition Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s–1970s. With material drawn from the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri Historical Society, and other collections, this exhibition situates works of modern architecture in St. Louis within the context of urban renewal and racial and spatial segregation and displacement. Using architectural drawings, models, photographs, films, and maps, Design Agendas highlights the contributions of architects, planners, artists, and activists in the civic work that shaped the design and building history of St. Louis. Through guided discussion, participants will explore these complex connections in this period of shifting architectural history.

Free and open to the public. Please check in at the Welcome Desk when arriving for the tour.

Chinese-Language Tour: Design Agendas

设计议程：圣路易斯的现代建筑，1930年代-1970年代 

学生导览员将以互动讲解的形式，带领观众参观本季度的特别展览“设计议程：圣路易斯的现代建筑，1930-1970年代”。本次展览将圣路易斯的现代建筑置于城市重建、种族和空间的隔离与迁移的背景下，展品来自圣路易斯艺术博物馆、密苏里历史学会以及其他收藏。通过展出建筑图纸、模型、照片、影片和地图，“设计议程”突出了建筑师、规划师、艺术家和活动家在塑造圣路易斯设计和建筑历史等公共事务中的贡献。通过引导讨论，参与者将探讨这一时期建筑历史变迁中的复杂联系。 

Student educators lead interactive tours of this season’s exhibition Design Agendas: Modern Architecture in St. Louis, 1930s–1970s. With material drawn from the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri Historical Society, and other collections, this exhibition situates works of modern architecture in St. Louis within the context of urban renewal and racial and spatial segregation and displacement. Using architectural drawings, models, photographs, films, and maps, Design Agendas highlights the contributions of architects, planners, artists, and activists in the civic work that shaped the design and building history of St. Louis. Through guided discussion, participants will explore these complex connections in this period of shifting architectural history.

Free and open to the public. Please check in at the Welcome Desk when arriving for the tour.

The Palestine Taboo: Race, Islamophobia, and Free Speech

The true test of a democracy is the extent to which civil rights in law are enforced in practice for the most vulnerable groups in society. As members of Congress demand mass arrest and expulsion of college students exercising their free speech right to dissent against U.S. foreign policy in Gaza and the West Bank, the racial fault lines in American democracy are laid bare. Similarly, university presidents are buckling to external political pressure to violate academic freedom of Muslim and Arab faculty targeted by external anti-Muslim and pro-Israeli groups and politicians. In this timely lecture, Distinguished Law Professor Sahar Aziz examines how Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism intersect to produce systematic assaults on the civil rights of racialized communities.

WashU Libraries Virtual Book Club: ‘In the Dream House’

For a special Banned Books Week book club, we will read In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado’s engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, Machado struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming. She looks back at her religious adolescence, unpacks the stereotype of lesbian relationships as safe and utopian, and widens the view with essayistic explorations of the history and reality of abuse in queer relationships. 

Book club will begin with a discussion of banned books using the American Library Association statistics, followed by a discussion of Machado’s book.

Free and open to all. Registration required for Zoom link: https://wustl.libcal.com/event/12906045

Teaching Jewish Philosophy and Politics in the Aftermath of October 7 and the Campus Protests

The fallout following the events of October 7, 2023 has touched many spheres of American life, yet colleges and universities have seemingly been at the center. Headlines, controversy, and human suffering generated by Hamas’s attack and Israel’s response have gripped dozens of campuses including here at WashU. The surprising impact of a distant regional conflict on campus leadership and life dominated our news cycles with discussion of the conduct of university presidents, hostilities among students, appropriate “time, place, and manner” of campus protests, police involvement in dismantling encampments, and fundamental questions of free speech and identity.

Lost amidst all of this has been the effect of these events on what is perhaps the university’s central mission: teaching.

Join us for a conversation with Professor Shira Billet on how October 7 and the ensuing campus protests have affected the teaching of subjects related to Jewish philosophy and politics including the interrelationship of liberal democracy, Zionism, and antisemitism.

William H. Gass Centenary Celebration

Schedule of events:

Panel Discussion
3 pm, Holmes Lounge (In-Person or Zoom)

The panelists for “The Legacy of William H. Gass” discussion include:

• Patrick Davis – Unbound Editions Press
• Michelle Komie – Princeton University Press
• Gerhild Williams – Washington University in St. Louis
• Ted Morrissey, Independent Scholar and Publisher (Moderator)

A Conversation with Bradford Morrow
4:15 pm, Holmes Lounge (In-Person or Zoom)

Bradford Morrow (Bard College) in conversation with Martin Riker (Washington University in St. Louis).

Reception and “Fifty New Acquisitions” Exhibition Viewing
5:30 pm, Olin Library Ginkgo Reading Room (In-person only)

A reception with light hors d’oeuvres and wine follows the celebration’s discussions. An exhibition viewing will be available simultaneously in the adjacent Grand Staircase and Special Collections Reading Room.

Exploring Medical History: Spotlight on East Asia

Realistic Hope: American Democracy and the 2024 Election

The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics is pleased to host a special Danforth Dialogues event focused on the 2024 presidential election. Realistic Hope: American Democracy and the 2024 Election will explore the place of faith and imagination in our current politics and public life.

The Danforth Dialogues will be held in Graham Chapel on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The event will consist of a set of two conversations moderated by John Dickerson of CBS News. The first panel, with the poet Joy Harjo and novelist Valeria Luiselli, will prompt us to ponder how creativity and the arts can inflect our politics with hope that guides us through persistent dilemmas. The second panel, with New York Times Columnist Jamelle Bouie and former U.S. Congressman Adam Kinzinger, will concern the prospects for the 2024 presidential election—where it stands and what we can anticipate.

Our design is for these conversations to help us gain a deeper understanding of our national politics and do so with hopeful realism that equips each of us to play a part in sustaining American democracy.

Click on the button below to view the event schedule.

The Work of Risk: Guerilla Art for Surviving the Carceral Present

As laws governing the freedom of expression and right to occupy space continue to change, artists continue to anticipate the presence of police and the consequences of arrest, especially when creating confrontational or participatory performance and conceptual work beyond art-sanctioned spaces. How has the anticipation of punitive encounter taken shape materially and temporally in art? Relatedly, in what ways has the mis- or under-recognition of the racialized, gendered, and sexualized conditions of artists’ differing vulnerability to state-sanctioned violence contributed to the normalizing of carceral relations in the stories told most often about riskiness and resourcefulness in art practice? Art historian and cultural theorist Dr. Faye Gleisser addresses these questions and their political implications for the present in her new book, Risk Work: Making Art and Guerrilla Tactics in Punitive America, 1967-1987 (University of Chicago Press, 2023). In this talk, Gleisser draws upon Black feminist and queer of color theories of spatialized power and argues that artists’ calculation of citation and arrest is a form of knowledge—punitive literacy—that reveals salient insights into the ways carceral violence shapes the history of contemporary art.

Faye Gleisser (she/her) is Associate Professor of Art History and Critical Theory at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she is an affiliate of the Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society and American Studies. Gleisser is an interdisciplinary art historian and curator of 20th and 21st century art, specializing in the history and theory of political violence in the U.S., and expressions of gendered and sexualized raciality in visual art and material culture. Her research has appeared in a number of exhibition catalogues, as well as in Art Journal, Artforum, Journal of Visual Culture, Women & Performance, and Aperture, and is forthcoming in October and ASAP/J. Her first book, Risk Work: Making Art and Guerrilla Tactics in Punitive America, 1967-1987 (University of Chicago Press, 2023) analyzes the relationship of policing, state power, and guerrilla art practice in the United States. In her current book project, "The Color of Hormones," Gleisser is tracing the entanglements of contemporary art, state surveillance, hormonal management, and somatic abolitionist praxis.

The Art, Archaeology, and History of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

As part of the George E. Mylonas Lecture in Classical Art and Archaeology, best-selling historian Bettany Hughes will guide us through the landscapes of both ancient and modern times. Hughes’s book, The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, will be on sale in the Museum Shop, and she will be available to sign books immediately following the program.

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.

Can Comedy Save Us From the Apocalypse? The Science Behind Human Connection and Thriving in Trying Times

Evolutionary psychologist and public scholar Athena Aktipis will read from her new book A Field Guide to the Apocalypse and discuss her recent work with WashU scholars.

Discussion will be followed by a reception and book signing. Books will be available for purchase.

“These Stones Will Shout” Annual Lecture in Biblical Archaeology and Historical Geography of the Holy Land

Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus

A newly endowed annual lecture on biblical archeology and historical geography will debut this fall at the Seminary. The lecture will be presented by Dr. Jodi Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During her presentation, “Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus,” Magness will survey the history and archaeology of Jerusalem in the Late Second Temple period ending with the city’s destruction by the Romans in A.D. 70. The lecture will focus especially on Herod’s reconstruction of the Second Temple and sites related to Jesus’ final hours on earth. The lecture is free and open to the public.

This lecture series is made possible through the generosity of Tom and Linda Ray.

CCHP Speaker Series & Public Forum

Suzanne Maloney is the vice president and director of the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where her research focuses on Iran and Persian Gulf energy. Prior to being named vice president and director, she served as the deputy director of Foreign Policy for five years. At Brookings, she is a leading voice on U.S. policy toward Iran and the broader Middle East, testifying before Congress, briefing policymakers, and engaging with government, non-profit organizations and corporations. Maloney also serves on the External Research Council for the National Intelligence Council and is a frequent commentator in national and international media.

This series is sponsored by the Department of History and the Office of the Dean of Arts & Sciences.

DH Working Group: Lee Morrison, Jey Sushil Jha

• Lee Morrison (PhD Candidate, History): “Knowing thy neighbor: A network approach to neighborhood social structures in medieval Italy.”
• Jey Sushil Jha (PhD Candidate, Comparative Literature): “India Translated: a visual presentation of Hindi Novels in Translation.”

"Matignon la nuit" - Lecture by Dr. Nicolas Idier

Engage STL Day - A Justice Ride For Michael Brown

During this guided bus tour, we will visit:

• Normandy High School, where Michael Brown Jr. graduated.
• St. Peter’s Cemetery, his final resting place.
• The Canfield Green apartment complex, where he tragically lost his life.
• The Urban League’s Ferguson Community Empowerment Center, built on the grounds of the former QuikTrip, a focal point of the Ferguson Uprising.

Details:

• Date: Saturday, November 2nd, 2024

• Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm 

• Transportation & Lunch Provided: We will provide round-trip transportation from campus, and lunch will be served.

What to Wear: Comfortable, weather-appropriate clothing and shoes for walking and touring.

This is an incredible opportunity to engage with history, reflect on the impact of Michael Brown Jr.’s life, and connect with others passionate about social justice and community empowerment.

Spaces are limited, so sign up soon! https://gephardtinstitute.wustl.edu/calendar_event/engage-stl-day-ferguson/

2024_11_02 Ferguson 1920x1080 (1).png

Media Root

‘The Midway Point’ - SLIFF Screening

The Midway Point (2023): Jake, a high schooler on the autism spectrum, feels disillusioned with the world until he meets Alice, who opens the world to Jake — but she has a secret. They may have more in common than he could imagine.

View this page for the full lineup of films. All screenings are free unless otherwise noted.

‘Without Arrows’ - SLIFF Screening

Without Arrows (2024): Filmed over the course of 13 years (2011–23), Without Arrows tells the story of Delwin Fiddler Jr.’s return home after leaving his reservation due to a trauma that splintered his Lakhota family. Now home, he seeks to fulfill his mother’s ambition and carry on the legacy of their thiyóšpaye (extended family) as a champion grass dancer.

View this page for the full lineup of films. All screenings are free unless otherwise noted.

‘Songs From the Hole’ - SLIFF Screening

Songs from the Hole (2024): This documentary tells the story of a 15-year-old musician who took a life and then lost his brother three days later. He struggles to find peace and healing through composing music and sharing his life story while incarcerated.

View this page for the full lineup of films. All screenings are free unless otherwise noted.

International Writers Series: New Poetry From Europe

The Evolution of Mass Murder: Forensic Archaeological Perspectives on Mass Violence at the Treblinka Labor and Extermination Camps

The crimes perpetrated at Treblinka extermination camp – which operated from 23 July 1942 until the autumn of 1943 – are well documented by historians. Although few obvious traces exist in the landscape today, the complex of gas chambers, mass graves, cremation pyres, undressing barracks, fences and railway lines that existed here facilitated the annihilation of between 800,000 and 1 million Jews and an unknown number of non-Jewish Poles, Roma and POWs. Despite the notoriety of the camp, investigations of the physical evidence connected to the extermination practices were limited to those undertaken between 1944–46 until forensic archaeological works were initiated by Caroline Sturdy Colls. A combination of archival research, remote sensing, geophysical survey and excavations has since revealed new information about the mechanisms of mass murder, the experiences of the victims and the locations of many important buildings, mass graves and infrastructure. Hence, this work has generated new spatial and material understandings of the processes of extermination within the death camp.

The boundaries of the extermination camp do not define the geographical parameters in which atrocities were perpetrated at Treblinka. Recent research has also demonstrated that Treblinka labour camp and nearby burial sites were also places where mass violence was perpetrated in the extreme. Forensic archaeological investigations at these sites have revealed the range of methods used to torture and kill Jews and non-Jewish Poles, as well as the architecture and killing sites which were used to facilitate this.

Therefore, drawing upon recent historical and archaeological research, this lecture will discuss the evolution of mass violence and murder at Treblinka before, during and after Operation Reinhard. It will consider how geography and (deceptive) narratives surrounding the labor camp were used to facilitate mass killings between 1941 and 1944, and explore the relationships that existed between the camps and killing sites that existed within the space. As well as considering the actions of the perpetrators and experiences of the victims, Caroline Sturdy Colls will discuss the material traces of extermination such as newly discovered mass graves and punishment sites. Ultimately, she will show that the systematic murder of Jews at Treblinka, and their burial within the campscape, began long before the notorious extermination camp was constructed.

About the speaker

Caroline Sturdy Colls is a professor of Holocaust archaeology and genocide investigation and the director of the Center of Archaeology at the University of Huddersfield (UK). Her expertise lies in the investigation of Holocaust landscapes and other sites of mass and interpersonal violence using forensic archaeological approaches. Since 2010, Sturdy Colls has conducted the first archaeological investigations at the Treblinka extermination and labor camps, and she recently completed her monograph Finding Treblinka (Cornell University Press, 2025), which will provide new historical, spatial and material perspectives on the crimes perpetrated there. She has also supervised projects at more than 60 other Holocaust sites. Currently, she is the Principal Investigator on the project “Trawniki: Nexus of the Final Solution”, funded by the Claims Conference. She is also supervising a post-doctoral research project regarding mass grave investigation in Ukraine and has a long-running collaborative project with the Lake District Holocaust Project. Prof. Sturdy Colls has published extensively on the subjects of Holocaust archaeology, forensic archaeology and missing persons. Her notable and recent monographs include Holocaust Archaeologies: Approaches and Future Directions (2015), The Handbook on Missing Persons (2016) and ‘Adolf Island’: The Nazi Occupation of Alderney (2022). Sturdy Colls was a visiting fellow at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016. In the same year, she was awarded the European Archaeological Heritage Prize for her work in modern conflict archaeology.

The 2024 Holocaust Memorial Lecture is supported by the Office of the Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. Free and open to all. Reception to follow lecture.

Questions? Please contact the chair of the Holocaust Memorial Lecture Committee, Prof. Anika Walke.

DH Working Group: Katherine Bode

Katherine Bode (Professor of Literature, Australian National University): Title TBA

(This session will coincide with Prof. Katherine Bode’s visit to campus as a Hurst Visiting Professor in the Department of English.)

‘The People’s Way’ - SLIFF Screening

The People’s Way (2024): Grappling with the impact of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, three community organizers, Jeanelle Austin, Toshira Garraway and Robin Wonsley, embark on interweaving journeys to care for their communities, find inner healing and build a future towards Black liberation.

View this page for the full lineup of films. All screenings are free unless otherwise noted.

‘Searching for Amani’ - SLIFF Screening

Searching for Amani (2023) A 13-year-old aspiring journalist investigates his father’s murder in Kenya’s largest wildlife conservancy. As a severe drought worsens, his quest for justice transforms into an activism that uncovers the impacts of a warming world.

View this page for the full lineup of films. All screenings are free unless otherwise noted.

‘Forever Endeavor’ - SLIFF Screening

Forever Endeavor (2024, premier): Through the eyes of notable individuals and prominent figures, this movie takes a lighthearted look at life’s heavy questions. $15.

View this page for the full lineup of films. All screenings are free unless otherwise noted.

Public Scholarship Symposium

The inaugural Public Scholarship Symposium will highlight outstanding examples of public scholarship by WashU faculty and students. Presenters will include Public Scholarship Prize winners Abram Van Engen and Rebecca Lester as well as PhD students enrolled in the CREATES cohort graduate seminar on public scholarship, with a keynote lecture by public scholar and environmental philosopher Margret Grebowicz, PhD (Weiner Distinguished Professor in Humanities, Missouri University of Science & Technology).