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THE FRANKE INSTITUTE FOR THE HUMANITIES 2021 2022 BULLETIN 1
SOLIDARITY STATEMENT CONTENTS Letter from the Dean 1 The Franke Institute for the Humanities has worked with the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes to draft a statement of solidarity with Black Lives Matter and related movements around the world We post it here on behalf of CHCI and as a declaration of the Institute s own values and commitments Letter from the Director 2 CDI Center for Disciplinary Innovation 3 Faculty Grants 5 Collegiate Research Program 2021 22 7 Black lives matter The murders in the United States of George Floyd Breonna Taylor Tony McDade Ahmaud Arbery and so many others expose exploitations and inequities rooted in more than four centuries of colonialism enslavement and the violation of civil and human rights Fellows Research Projects 2021 22 9 Next Steps 14 Residential Fellows 2022 23 15 Every Wednesday Luncheon Series 17 Big Problems Curriculum in the College 19 Events Co sponsors 2021 22 21 Events 2022 23 25 Governing Board Staff 27 The international advisory board of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes CHCI stands in solidarity with those protesting racist forms of injustice and police violence We commit to creating and promoting anti racist environments for scholars students and staff in the humanities in the United States and around the world We also recognize that we are witness to a phenomenon that is not unique to the United States forms of institutional racism and repressive violence are present on every continent While the United States foundational affirmation of equality highlights the violence and demands our attention we nevertheless reaffirm our international approach to the elimination of institutional racism and to the difficult work of building more equitable institutions curricula concepts and archives Scholars in the humanities have deep commitments to concepts such as freedom humanity personhood dignity and democracy and yet we recognize that these same concepts often reproduce paradoxes exclusions and systems of injustice By analyzing these concepts excavating their histories and examining our own habits and institutions we commit ourselves to imagining a better future and inventing the world in which we want to live For more on the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes and this statement please see chcinetwork org ideas chci solidarity statement 5
LETTER FROM THE DEAN As academic disciplines that study what human beings have thought said written and created the humanities are animated by a powerful dialogue that helps us determine what our priorities should be On the one hand this dialogue consists of the detailed examination of individual cultures and practices and on the other the ongoing inquiry into common ideas and values shared across cultures and historical periods At UChicago the Humanities Division carries out this work in sixteen distinctive graduate programs encompassing more than 200 faculty and 500 graduate students The study of cultures and practices takes place in ten highly ranked language departments Classics Germanic Studies Romance Slavic English East Asian Near Eastern South Asian Comparative Literature and Linguistics and in four renowned departments and a committee dedicated to research and creation in the arts Art History Cinema and Media Studies Music Theater and Performance Studies and Visual Arts Investigation of common ideas and values flourishes in our wide ranging Philosophy Department The division s workshops centers and committees likewise promote the collaborative exchange of ideas around particular topics and sometimes help incubate new programs and even departments So many diverse activities require a critical hub where the best ideas from across the division and beyond can continually be presented and debated This is the indispensable role of the Franke Institute In bringing faculty together from different fields for talks lectures and conferences sponsoring fellowships for faculty and graduate students developing new courses and taking up timely topics around important intellectual and social themes the Franke serves as a microcosm of the division s highest aspirations for research and teaching The Institute is prolific in its offerings this past year the Franke s Every Wednesday Luncheon Series alone sponsored fifteen talks by colleagues from eleven different departments each followed by a discussion with an interlocutor and audience The Franke is moreover structurally nimble moving rapidly to shine a spotlight on timely issues as it did in hosting a conversation on the More Than Diversity initiative and a subsequent discussion about the emerging Department of Race Diaspora and Indigeneity At the Franke we profit regularly from a select array of the most promising humanistic thinking and creativity Along with his wife and co visionary Barbara Rich Franke came often to the Institute when they were in town His penetrating observations like those that follow from the end of the article quoted above harmonize with the goals of our division LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR Richard J Franke 1931 2022 clearly understood the nature and significance of the humanities As he once wrote The humanities protect and give life to our most enduring values The very DNA of civilization is encoded in the poet s song the painter s brushstroke and the vibrant dialogue about ideas Rich s passing last April gives us an opportunity to reflect on how our mission in the Humanities Division at UChicago is enhanced by the Institute that he generously supported Here at the Franke Institute during lockdown we dreamt up new initiatives in 2021 we launched them A new program of Franke Faculty Research Grants provides small and medium sized awards to faculty to pursue innovative research teaching and or public engagement in the humanities often in collaboration with local institutions Current projects include the development of a publicly accessible archive of early Black cinema in collaboration with the Chicago Film Archive a collaborative project that uses satellite data to monitor archaeological sites in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover and the development of a text and video archive of contemporary Latinx poetry The Franke has also engaged UChicago undergraduates as never before Our new Collegiate Research Program in Humanities builds undergraduate involvement into Franke funded projects at multiple levels to initiate students into humanistic scholarship early on the Center for Disciplinary Innovation has started offering courses at the undergraduate level nearly doubling the size of its roster and the Franke has become the home of the College s Summer Research Institute which brings together undergraduates and Humanities faculty to conduct primary research Thanks to the generous support of the Mellon Foundation and the Humanities Without Walls consortium the Institute underwrote an innovative collaboration with Chicago Public Schools to develop a multiplayer educational transmedia game focused on climate change The Franke has also been a main point of contact between the Division of Humanities and the University s Office of Civic Engagement a role that will only become more prominent in the future All of this comes on top of our usual activities The Franke continues to be the most important funder of conferences symposia and other events in the Humanities but we have increased our levels of support so that applicants can spend less time passing the hat and more time being scholars The Every Wednesday Luncheon Series is better attended than ever thanks in part to a new online option Our keystone program of residential fellowships is as vital as ever including enhanced support for graduate students with in person meetings providing a balm after a year of seclusion Looking forward there is still much to be done particularly in strengthening our partnerships with public facing units at the university and with its surrounding communities Our goal is to expand our portfolio while improving our core operations in 2021 we made a start and there s more to come Richard Neer Director The Franke Institute for the Humanities The humanities bring meaning to our lives through critical thinking and through great works of art The stakes are high as the humanities engage not only our knowledge and reasoning but the emotions and spiritual values that drive our questions Their reward is great however Through imagination deliberation and critical thinking the humanities clear the path for a successful life Our debt to Rich Franke for his ability to articulate the importance of our work and for his marvelous philanthropy is immense Anne Walters Robertson Dean Division of the Humanities 2
The Center for Disciplinary Innovation CDI hosts and sponsors exploratory courses as a way to incubate new initiatives and programs from collaborative research projects to undergraduate minors and Core sequences to graduate tracks and research centers Each course is co taught by two faculty each of whom receives full credit for teaching the course Calls for proposals go out each Fall and the final selection of offerings for the next academic year is made by the Board of the Franke Institute Past seminars have been exclusively at the graduate level but in 2021 22 the CDI expanded to include offerings at the collegiate and mixed grad undergrad levels as well This dramatic increase in both the number and the scope of the Center s offerings was made possible by generous support from Anne W Robertson Dean of the Humanities Division and from Christopher Wild and Eric Slauter Masters of the Humanities Collegiate Division This year s selection process included the new courses for the first time for enrollments in 2022 23 The program while in its early stage proved popular and applications to teach in the CDI were at an all time high Please contact Mai Vukcevich mav uchicago edu Assistant Director of the CDI for additional information CDI COURSES 2021 22 Ekphrasis Description and Imagination in Art and Religion Fran oise Meltzer Comparative Literature Ja Elsner Divinity Graduate seminar Medical Knowledge in Early Modern Japan and China History Literature Judith Zeitlin East Asian Languages Civilizations Susan Burns History Graduate seminar Related Events Pharmacology in Early Modern East Asia He Bian Princeton University Gender and Vernacular Medical Knowledge in Early Modern Japan Evan Young Dickinson University On the Course Medical Knowledge in Early Modern Japan and China History Literature The Zeitlin Feldman seminar Opera Without Borders will explore The Royal Shakespeare Company s production of The Orphan of Zhao CDI COURSES 2022 23 Adaptation Laboratory Staging Berlin David J Levin Germanic Studies Mickle Maher Theater and Performance Studies Graduate seminar I cherish these opportunities to co teach interdisciplinary courses through CDI I do always learn the most from them not only in terms of content but also in terms of pedagogy For me they really revive the joy and excitement of teaching Judith Zeitlin Creations The Popol Vuh and Paradise Lost Timothy Harrison English Language Literature Edgar Garcia English Language Literature Graduate seminar On the course Ekphrasis Description and Imagination in Art and Religion Politics and Cinema Under Authority Maria Belodubrovskaya Cinema Media Studies Monika Nalepa Political Science Mixed enrollment course Ekphrasis with Professors Meltzer and Elsner was one of the most fascinating and enriching courses I ve ever taken throughout both my college and graduate school years The ancient concept of ekphrasis the practice of verbally describing that which is visual is a unique site on which to study the intersections of art philosophy literature and religion Though my graduate work is not directly related to the topic the theoretical frameworks I learned have and will continue to shape my thinking in profound ways Opera Without Borders Martha Feldman Music Judith Zeitlin East Asian Languages Civilizations Graduate seminar Postcolonial and Decolonial History and Theory Rochona Majumdar South Asian Languages Civilizations Lisa Wedeen Political Science Undergraduate course Re Orienting Performance Studies East Asia as Method Ariel Fox East Asian Languages Civilizations Melissa Van Wyk East Asian Languages Civilizations Undergraduate course Virtual Ethnography Encounters in Mediation Thomas Lamarre Cinema Media Studies Michael Fisch Anthropology Advanced undergraduate course Livia Bokor Divinity 4
FRANKE FACULTY GRANTS 2021 22 REIMAGINING COSMOPOLITANISM Dipesh Chakrabarty South Asian Languages Civilizations and History Launched in 2021 the Franke Faculty Grant program supports a limited number of new research and or public facing projects The Franke works with faculty and the College to include undergraduate research assistants for some projects as desired EARLY BLACK CINEMA IN CHICAGO Allyson Nadia Field Cinema Media Studies The broader goal of the Early Black Cinema in Chicago project is twofold first to research explore and publicly present material on understudied Black filmmakers for whom little material survives second to create contextual framing for and digital access to early African American film history in Chicago and beyond Early Black Cinema in Chicago aims to provide scholarly and public access to the rich and multifaceted filmmaking endeavors of African Americans in the first decades of the twentieth century The initial case study focuses on Luther J Pollard and the Ebony Film Corporation which was active in the mid to late 1910s motivated by the recent discovery of surviving interviews with Pollard a figure who has long been enigmatic for film historians The Franke faculty grant enabled us to hire the Chicago Film Archives to process 16mm film and audio material related to Ebony Film Co in the Grisham collection Additionally our project benefited greatly from the support of two undergraduate research assistants made possible by the CCRF and the Franke Reimagining Cosmopolitanism held our first workshop at the Franke Institute in May of 2022 This two day event brought together ten international scholars to discuss their draft contributions to the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Cosmopolitanism The hybrid in person virtual conversation was extremely beneficial in providing feedback for individual writers and for shaping the direction of the volume as a whole We have received additional project funding and we will convene additional author workshops and public programs during the upcoming academic year THE AFGHAN HERITAGE MAPPING PARTNERSHIP Gil Stein Near Eastern Languages Civilizations Supported by the U S State Department the Afghan Heritage Mapping Partnership is a cultural heritage preservation project that utilizes satellite remote sensing imagery aided by an artificial intelligence deep learning computer algorithm to locate and document the archaeological sites in Afghanistan that are at risk of destruction The Franke faculty grant enabled us to hire and train two graduate students as remote sensing data analysts focused on site verification to determine whether or not the sites identified by the computer are in fact actual ancient settlements Without their help there is no way we would have been able to finish our archaeological map of Afghanistan before the end of our project Allyson Nadia Field L J Pollard featured in May 18 1918 Exhibitors Herald 6
COLLEGIATE RESEARCH PROGRAM 2021 22 In working with Professor Warren on a new edition of The Jungle I was able to apply my historical research skills to help bring a literary classic alive to modern readers This crossdisciplinary experience challenged me to rethink the boundaries and forms of my historical practice and enabled me to build a lasting relationship with one of the University s preeminent scholars Ben Miller As the Franke expands its activities in the College through its new undergraduate courses in the Center for Disciplinary Innovation see pp 3 4 it has also undertaken new initiatives to provide college students with firsthand experience in humanistic research In partnership with the College Center for Research and Fellowships the Franke pairs advanced undergraduate research assistants with Franke Faculty Fellows and recipients of Franke Faculty Research grants In 2021 Kenneth Warren English Language Literature worked with Ben Miller 22 in the College on a new edition of Upton Sinclair s classic Chicago novel The Jungle 1906 The Franke also houses the College Summer Institute in the Arts Humanities and Social Sciences CSI The CSI provides selected undergraduates intensive intellectual training with accomplished scholars across humanistic disciplines at the University of Chicago Students contribute to original scholarship as research associates matched with larger faculty led projects For more information about the CSI please visit https ccrf uchicago edu undergraduate research collegesummer institute csi 2022 CSI RESEARCH PROJECTS Beshrew Me Critical Editions for Digital Analysis and Research CEDAR led by Ellen MacKay English Language Literature Case Study and Archival Research in Public Discourse led by Leila Brammer Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse FACULTY FELLOW PROJECT The Jungle The Norton Library edition Edited by Kenneth W Warren Fairfax M Cone Distinguished Service Professor English Language Literature 2020 21 Franke Faculty Fellow Documenting American History led by Eric Slauter English Language Literature The Emergence of Global Mycology led by Brad Bolman Institute on the Formation of Knowledge Planetary Epistemology in the Science Fiction Pulps led by Katherine Buse Institute on the Formation of Knowledge and Cinema Media Studies Researching Lost Films led by Allyson Nadia Field Cinema Media Studies Smart Museum Collections Research led by Berit Ness Smart Museum of Art World War II Racial Science and Ergonomics History and Connections led by Iris Clever Institute on the Formation of Knowledge Cover of The Jungle August 2022 8
FELLOWS RESEARCH PROJECTS 2021 22 Franke Residential Fellowships support interdisciplinary research for faculty research projects and for graduate students completing their dissertations Fellows meet throughout the year in weekly or biweekly workshops to discuss their works in progress in a spirit of transdisciplinary collaboration The Franke Fellows group is chaired by Richard Neer Director of the Franke Institute FRANKE FACULTY RESIDENTIAL FELLOWS Ahmed El Shamsy Associate Professor Near Eastern Languages Civilization The History of Early Sunnism I identify and describe Sunni Islam as a historical phenomenon Chelsea Foxwell Associate Professor Art History Abundant Images Art and the Public Sphere in Early Modern Japan I study the circulation of visual information such as scientific depictions of flora and fauna and their relation to paintings woodblock prints and poetry in eighteenth century Japan I am deeply thankful for Richard and Barbara Franke for the financial support that made this fellowship possible Their generosity not only allowed me to make substantial progress on my second book project but also to grow as a thinker and member of the university community Thanks to the relationships developed as a Franke Fellow I feel connected both intellectually and socially to a larger and more diverse cross section of UChicago than I was before Matthew Kruer Paola Iovene Associate Professor East Asian Languages Civilizations Location Shooting in Chinese Cinema I examine the aesthetics and practices of shooting films on location in late 1970s China with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of the material entanglements and affective impact of cinema Alison James Professor Romance Languages Literatures Fragile Fictions in Contemporary France I explore the shifting status of fictionality since the 1990s analyzing how hybrid modes of writing e g biofiction docufiction respond to the anxieties of the contemporary moment Matthew Kruer Assistant Professor History Sovereigns and Subjects Indigenous Nations within the British Atlantic Empire I analyze the politics of Indigenous nations within the early modern British empire and the evolution of British settler colonialism in North America and the Caribbean Agnes Lugo Ortiz Associate Professor Romance Languages Literatures The Plantation Gaze Slavery and Visual Culture in Colonial Cuba 1727 1886 I investigate the relationships between the imperatives of slaveholding surveillance and the formation of modern visual culture in colonial Cuba Rochona Majumdar Associate Professor South Asian Languages Civilizations Enlightenment in the Colony A Global History of the Hindoo College I work on the decolonial and postcolonial as a comparison and conversation Julie Orlemanski Associate Professor English Language Literature Who Has Fiction Modernity Fictionality and the Middle Ages I seek to tell fictionality s story through a capacious account of medieval literary fiction FRANKE DISSERTATION COMPLETION RESIDENTIAL FELLOWS Jon Bullock Doctoral Candidate Music Re Sounding Tradition Iraqi Kurdish Music as a Critique of Colonial Power 1923 Present My research focuses on the role of technology and colonial power in Iraqi Kurdish music since the founding of the Iraqi nation state in the early twentieth century Marissa Fenley Doctoral Candidate English Language Literature and Theater Performance Studies Puppet Theory The Mechanical Infrastructure of Personhood I argue that puppetry from the marionettes of the modernist avant garde to The Muppets is uniquely concerned with the limits of what it takes to qualify as a person 10
AFFILIATED DOCTORAL FELLOWS The Affiliated Doctoral Fellows hold Dissertation Completion Fellowships from the Humanities Division and are members of the Franke community This past year the Affiliated Fellows met on Zoom to discuss their works in progress to enrich each other s projects with new perspectives and to provide intellectual community at a crucial juncture The Affiliated Fellows group is chaired by Margot Browning Associate Director of the Franke Institute Maggie Borowitz Doctoral Candidate Art History Caught by Surprise Affect and Feminist Politics in the Art of Magali Lara My dissertation explores the vibrant feminist art scene of 1970s through 1980s Mexico City and advances a theory of political art that accounts for art s affective power Pirachula Chulanon Doctoral Candidate Philosophy Kant and the Origin of the Concept of Mind I articulate a new interpretation of Kant s concept of mind that is grounded in reason s demand for an explanatory understanding that cannot be met by our capacity for knowledge FRANKE FELLOWS 2021 22 Top row left to right Paola Iovene Matthew Kruer Chelsea Foxwell Isabela Fraga Ahmed El Shamsy Bottom row left to right Margot Browning Associate Director Richard Neer Director Amy Skjerseth Alison James Marissa Fenley Julie Orlemanski Not pictured Jon Bullock Agnes Lugo Ortiz Rochona Majumdar Isabela Fraga Doctoral Candidate Romance Languages Literatures Subjected to Feeling Slavery and Personhood in NineteenthCentury Brazil and Cuba My project traces a century long genealogy of writings concerned with the affective lives of enslaved and free people of African descent in the nineteenth century Atlantic world Amy Skjerseth Doctoral Candidate Cinema Media Studies Music s Visual Waves Popular Music Technology and Audiovisual Aesthetics I explore how innovations in music recording technology popular music film soundtracks and music videos influenced sonic and visual culture from the 1960s to the 1990s This fellowship allowed me to concentrate solely on my dissertation and job applications and it gave me confidence to dream big for the future I am pleased to announce that I am now Lecturer in Audio Visual Media and co director of the new Music in Audiovisual Media M A Program at the University of Liverpool This is a dream job for me I truly could not have received this position without the support of the Franke Institute Amy Skjerseth Daniela Gutierrez Flores Doctoral Candidate Romance Languages Literatures The Poetics of the Kitchen Cooks and the Literary Culture in the Early Modern Spanish Atlantic I argue that cooking was a transformative practice through which individuals challenged social constraints engaged with lettered culture and shaped new social identities and communities Joseph Haydt Doctoral Candidate Germanic Studies Revelation and Thought A Study in the Age of Goethe My project investigates the relationship between philosophy and religion in the thought of Kant Hegel and Goethe Erol Koymen Doctoral Candidate Music Listening for Secular Bodies Western Art Music Occidentalism and Belonging in Neo liberal Istanbul I study how the practice of listening to Western art music in neo liberal Istanbul shape affectively and sensorially tuned secular bodies and modes of urban belonging Enrique Macari Doctoral Candidate Romance Languages Literatures Aesthetic Matters Literature Humanism and Education in 20th Century Mexico My project explores the relations between literature and state funded education in Mexico 12
NEXT STEPS Congratulations to all four Franke Dissertation Completion Fellows on finishing their dissertations and completing their degrees We are delighted to share their next steps Thomas Newbold Doctoral Candidate South Asian Languages Civilizations and History The Critical Age Moral Revaluation and Modern Periodization in Colonial Bengal I investigate the ways in which nineteenth century Bengalis came to view practices previously understood as virtuous as immoral Filippo Petricca Doctoral Candidate Romance Languages Literatures Money and the Literary Imagination Medieval Paris and Florence 1200 1321 I explore how medieval fiction creates a conceptual space that stages complicates and problematizes moral and economic dilemmas JON BULLOCK MARISSA FENLEY Jon Bullock has accepted a position as Postdoctoral Associate at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music a joint venture between the Yale School of Music and Yale Divinity School Marissa Fenley has accepted a position at the University of Chicago as a Collegiate Assistant Professor in Humanities and looks forward to remaining a part of the Franke community ISABELA FRAGA AMY SKJERSETH Isabela Fraga has received a 2022 23 Mellon Fellowship for Scholars in the Humanities In 2024 Isabela will begin as Assistant Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Studies at Tufts University Amy Skjerseth has accepted a position at the University of Liverpool as Lecturer in Audiovisual Media Amy will serve as Co Director of their Music and Audiovisual Media M A Program Evelyn Richardson Doctoral Candidate Comparative Literature Ends of History Arabic Revivalism in the Tanzimat Era 1839 1876 I study transformations in Arabic historical thought during the Ottoman Empire s Tanzimat reforms particularly pertaining to constructions of ancient pasts Eszter Ronai Doctoral Candidate Linguistics Scales Alternatives Context Experimental Investigations into Scalar Inference My project is an experimental psycholinguistic investigation of how the human mind computes non literal meanings Emily Smith Doctoral Candidate Near Eastern Languages Civilizations and Linguistics The Hittite Reflexive Particle za A Diachronic and Typological Reassessment My dissertation is an analysis of the uses of the Hittite reflexive particle za based on a diachronically organized corpus of original Hittite texts 14
RESIDENTIAL FELLOWS 2022 23 Selected by the Governing Board of the Franke Institute for the Humanities the twelve incoming Franke Residential Fellows hail from eleven departments in the Humanities FRANKE FACULTY RESIDENTIAL FELLOWS Philip Bohlman Ludwig Rosenberger Distinguished Service Professor in Jewish History Music and the Humanities in the College Associate Faculty Divinity School The Cabaretesque in Jewish Music Sounding Modern European History Anew Claudia Brittenham Associate Professor Art History The Interconnected Mesoamerican World Lina Maria Ferreira Cabeza Vanegas Assistant Professor English Language Literature God Witches War and Boys I Knew in School Itamar Francez Associate Professor Linguistics Lautjudentum Jabotinsky s Language Ideology Benjamin Morgan Associate Professor English Language Literature In Human Scale Earth Systems in the Literary Imagination Anne Eakin Moss Assistant Professor Slavic Languages Literatures The Special Effects of Soviet Wonder 1930 1969 James Osborne Associate Professor Near Eastern Languages Civilizations Small Scale Complexity Central Anatolia in the Early First Millennium BC Kris Trujillo Assistant Professor Comparative Literature Mystical Poetics Eroticism Embodiment and Song in the Christian Contemplative Tradition FRANKE DISSERTATION COMPLETION RESIDENTIAL FELLOWS Laura Colaneri Doctoral Candidate Romance Languages Literatures The Haunted Southern Cone Sinister Power and Political Terror in the Cultural Imaginary of Dictatorship Supurna Dasgupta Doctoral Candidate South Asian Languages Civilizations Intimate Revolutions Men and Women in 1960s Bengali Literature Yueling Ji Doctoral Candidate East Asian Languages Civilizations The Stylistic Complaint Methods of Literary Criticism from Cold War China Gary Kafer Doctoral Candidate Cinema Media Studies After Ubiquity Surveillance Media and the Technics of Social Difference in Twenty First Century United States 16
EVERY WEDNESDAY LUNCHEON SERIES The Every Wednesday Luncheon Series connects faculty to the work of their colleagues in the humanities and the humanistic social sciences On Wednesdays at noon during this past academic year faculty members had conversations about their current research in person and via Zoom followed by group discussion For this series faculty of any rank are encouraged to present but there is a particular emphasis on work by new humanities faculty and visiting professors associated with collaborative projects The spirit of the Every Wednesday series is transdisciplinary as scholars from across the Division and the University gather to share ideas and learn from one another Listen to past talks at franke uchicago edu every wednesday luncheon series WORKS IN PROGRESS Dipesh Chakrabarty South Asian Languages Civilizations and History Planetarity Ja Elsner Art History and Divinity School Narrative and Comparativism NEW FACULTY Alexis Chema English Language Literature Commonplaces Anne Eakin Moss Slavic Languages Literatures Special Effects and Soviet Wonder Allyson Ettinger Linguistics Language and AI Andrew Ollett South Asian Languages Civilizations Known Unknowns Lina Ferreira Cabeza Vanegas English Language Literature and Creative Writing When I Was a Monster John Proios Philosophy Nature and Theory in Plato Sharese King Linguistics Linguistic Prejudice Melissa Van Wyk East Asian Languages Civilizations Theatrical Prosthetics in Meiji Japan Allyson Nadia Field Cinema Media Studies Early Black Filmmaking in Chicago Lost and Found Armando Maggi Romance Languages Literatures Pasolini in Yemen Gil Stein Near Eastern Languages Civilizations The Evolving Heritage Project in Afghanistan Culture Conflict and Preservation Kenneth Warren English Language Literature The Novel and Social Criticism The Case of William Gardner Smith RACE DIASPORA AND INDIGENEITY INITIATIVE Leora Auslander History Adrienne Brown English Language Literature C Riley Snorton English Language Literature More Than Diversity at the University of Chicago 18
BIG PROBLEMS CURRICULUM IN THE COLLEGE In its twenty third year the Big Problems program provides a capstone curriculum for third and fourth year students coordinated by the Franke Institute and the College These elective courses offer students opportunities to broaden their studies from their departmental major by focusing on a big problem a matter of global or universal concern that intersects with several disciplines and affects a variety of interest groups By their nature big problems call for interdisciplinary teamwork yet their solutions may not be obvious or finally determinable For more information please see collegecatalog uchicago edu bigproblems COURSES 2021 22 Diasporic Narratives and Memories Olga Solovieva Comparative Literature Bozena Shallcross Slavic Languages Literatures Digitizing Human Rights Jennifer Spruill Social Sciences Nick Briz Media Arts and Design Disability and Design Michele Friedner Comparative Human Development Jennifer Iverson Music Drinking Alcohol Social Problem or Normal Cultural Practice Michael Dietler Anthropology William N Green Neurobiology Food From Need to Want or Ethics and Aesthetics Laura Letinsky Visual Arts Narrating Migration Josephine McDonagh English Language Literature Vu Tran Creative Writing and English Language Literature Sensing the Anthropocene Jennifer Scappettone English Language Literature Amber Ginsburg Visual Arts Course on Digitizing Human Rights COURSES 2022 23 Alternate Reality Games Theory and Production Patrick Jagoda Cinema Media Studies Heidi Coleman Theater Performance Studies Diasporic Narratives and Memories Olga Solovieva Comparative Literature Bozena Shallcross Slavic Languages Literatures Digitizing Human Rights Jennifer Spruill Social Sciences Nick Briz Media Arts and Design Disability and Design Michele Friedner Comparative Human Development Jennifer Iverson Music Sensing the Anthropocene Jennifer Scappettone English Language Literature Amber Ginsburg Visual Arts Thinking Psychoanalytically From the Sciences to the Arts Anne Beal Social Sciences Topics in Medical Ethics Daniel Brudney Philosophy Urban Design with Nature Sabina Shaikh Environmental Studies Emily Talen Urban Studies Water Water Everywhere Susan Gzesh Social Sciences Abigail Winograd Visual Arts On the course Digitizing Human Rights I learned about what surveillance capitalism is and how it affects our lives I also learned about how ecology expression education corporate power privacy and property provide useful frameworks for understanding human rights in a digital age On the course Food From Need to Want or Ethics and Aesthetics We learned a lot about different community groups and organizations in the area that are doing great work as well as the sociocultural factors that shape how we think of modern cuisine On the course What Does It Mean to Be Free to Speak I was surprised with how much I learned about free speech and how my thoughts behind speech changed over the course of the class Thinking Psychoanalytically From the Sciences to the Arts Anne Beal Social Sciences Urban Design with Nature Sabina Shaikh Environmental Studies Emily Talen Urban Studies What Does It Mean to Be Free to Speak Andreas Glaeser Sociology Genevieve Lakier Law School Course on Food From Need to Want or Ethics and Aesthetics Documentation of Los Angelitos de Nuestra Se ora del Jardin commissioned by Vallarta Botanical Garden 2021 20
EVENTS 2021 22 The Institute sponsors conferences on interdisciplinary topics in the humanities including themes and issues drawn from the social sciences that are co sponsored with University of Chicago centers departments workshops and divisions as well as other institutions During 2021 22 the Institute co sponsored twentyfive conferences lectures and other events Due to the continued coronavirus pandemic many events were postponed CONFERENCES SYMPOSIUMS September December But by the Love You Bear My Kin MetaMedia Exodus and Exile Migrants Refugees Asylum Seekers and the Problem of Slavery in the Pacific and Atlantic Worlds 1750 1850 Exodus and Exile Migrants Refugees Asylum Seekers and the Problem of Slavery in the Pacific and Atlantic Worlds 1750 1850 This interdisciplinary conference focused on the eighteenth and nineteenth century history of the figure of the migrant in all its castings exile refugee migr slave coolie emigrant especially on the voluntary and involuntary movement of labor in the Pacific and Atlantic worlds From the City of Music to the City of Angels Erich Wolfgang Korngold s Compositional Journey The Korngold Symposium featured performances and academic presentations which together complement and enhance the American premiere of Erich Wolfgang Korngold s 1937 opera Die Kathrin at the Logan Center for the Arts The Symposium participants both guest speakers and those from the University of Chicago represent different departments and disciplines Coping with Changing Climates in Early Antiquity April From the City of Music to the City of Angels Erich Wolfgang Korngold s Compositional Journey Art and Attention An Interdisciplinary Conference Chicago Linguistic Society 58 17th Annual Graduate Student Conference Silly Media Literary Transversals Modern East Asian and Diasporic Literature Errant Voices Performances Beyond Measure May June Musical Encounters A Symposium in Honor of Philip V Bohlman Sensorium of the Early Modern Chinese Text A Symposium in Celebration of Judith Zeitlin What is Sunnism A Virtual Workshop Materiality and Affect Emotion in Chinese Art Coping with Changing Climates in Early Antiquity Showcasing the results of a three year collaboration between UChicago UMichigan and Purdue this comparative conference offered a holistic perspective on past humanenvironment relationships integrating humanistic and social scientific approaches to studying climatic and social change 3000 1000 BCE in the ancient Middle East A Conversation Between Art Film and Philosophy A Conference in Honor of D N Rodowick The New Sciences of the Ancient Economy 22
The 17th Annual Graduate Student Conference Silly Media This conference proposed a reinvestment in the aesthetics and politics of silliness and its objects How does the silly register in and through different affects forms genres modes styles structures technics etc What contrary epistemologies and counter politics might emerge when we reimagine the waste materials of everyday communication as pivotal to the constructions and experience of a public LECTURES WORKSHOPS DISCUSSIONS CO SPONSORS FOR THE 2021 22 EVENTS AND PROGRAMS October At the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies Center for East European and Russian Eurasian Studies Center for Latin American Studies Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality Center for the Study of Race Politics and Culture Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory Chicago Linguistic Society the College College Center for Research and Fellowships Committee on Chinese Studies Committee on Social Thought Committee on Theater and Performance Studies Film Studies Center Graduate Council Antiquity to Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry Humanities Division International House Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture Nicholson Center for British Studies Office of the Provost Oriental Institute Provost s Global Faculty Awards Social Sciences Division Czes aw Mi osz A California Life Cynthia Haven Stanford University March May Getting Real From Handheld to HD Aesthetics Identity and Legibility in Reality TV Racquel Gates Columbia University Getting Real The Real World Homecoming and the Rebooting of Reality TV s Past Amanda Ann Klein East Carolina University A Built Environment Conversation Center for Native Futures Getting Real Reality TV Working Group Wendy Osefo Johns Hopkins University Lauren Michele Jackson Northwestern University Getting Real Reality TV Virtual Talkback Michael Breslin and Patrick Foley co creators of This American Wife New Directions in Postcolonial Studies EXHIBITS FILMS PERFORMANCES Materiality and Affect Emotion in Chinese Art This interdisciplinary international conference explored the multifaceted roles of emotions in Chinese art and visual culture from antiquity to the present Advancing the existing narrative in art historical research and interpretation it generated new vocabularies and concepts for public consideration of the cultural and social dimensions of emotions in art from any time External Co Sponsors Humanities Without Walls Consortium funded by the Andrew W Mellon Foundation Faculty Organizers Art History Cinema Media Studies Classics East Asian Languages Civilizations English Language Literature Germanic Studies History Music Near Eastern Languages Civilizations Philosophy South Asian Languages Civilizations At the Franke Institute The Adelyn Russell Bogert Fund supports activities involving the arts This year the Bogert Fund co sponsored the following events Spinning Home Movies with D Composed A Conversation Between Art Film and Philosophy A Conference in Honor of D N Rodowick Getting Real Screening of This American Wife Art and Attention An Interdisciplinary Conference Materiality and Affect Emotion in Chinese Art 17th Annual Graduate Student Conference Silly Media Spinning Home Movies with D Composed 24
EVENTS 2022 23 For 2022 23 the Governing Board of the Franke Institute has awarded nineteen grants to faculty members and graduate students for events on widely ranging topics including the ones listed below For information about these events throughout the year please see franke uchicago edu AUTUMN Archival Fragments Experimental Modes A Cultural History of South Asian Literature in an Age of Transition 1700 1800 Things to Do with Descartes The Cultural and Political Legacy of Pier Paolo Pasolini The 36th Annual Comparative Germanic Syntax Workshop Genesis New Beginnings The Cultural and Political Legacy of Pier Paolo Pasolini Marking the 100th anniversary of Pier Paolo Pasolini s birth these events will investigate how Pasolini s poetics and works influence contemporary debates about visual arts cinema philosophy queer studies and postcolonialism Photographer Angelo Novi Global Anti Gender and Anti LGBTQ Politics Historical Continuities Transnational Connections Contested Futures Honor and Power Monochrome Multitudes Queer Premodernisms and Queer of Color Critique Rethinking the Literary in Greco Roman Antiquity and Beyond WINTER Caste Social Justice and the Cinema in South Asia With film screenings and a conference this special project will explore how the mainstream film industries of Bombay Calcutta and Madras have responded to questions about caste violence and oppressed communities Film still from Ghatashraddha Kant s Doctrine of Right The Middle Ages in Midcentury Thought The Sojourner Truth Festival of the Arts SPRING Ancient Greek Philosophy of Race Caste Social Justice and the Cinema in South Asia New Perspectives on Hittite Art New Phoenix Poets Literary Festival The Quest for Modern Language Ideologies and Poetics 26
GOVERNING BOARD AND STAFF GOVERNING BOARD 2020 21 BULLETIN Allyson Nadia Field Cinema Media Studies Co Editors Mai Vukcevich Richard Neer Margot Browning Abigail Anderson Anastasia Giannakidou Linguistics Gabriel Richardson Lear Philosophy Catriona MacLeod Germanic Studies Kenneth Warren English Language Literature Tara Zahra on leave History Judith Zeitlin East Asian Languages Civilizations Graphic Designers Rachel Drew Samantha Delacruz Contributing Photographers John Zich Mai Vukcevich CONNECT WITH THE FRANKE INSTITUTE ONLINE In addition to the Franke s website check out our Facebook Twitter and YouTube pages for announcements event updates recordings and more Web franke uchicago edu Facebook facebook com frankeinstitute Twitter UChiFrankeInst YouTube UChicago Franke Institute for the Humanities STAFF Richard Neer Director Margot Browning Associate Director Mai Vukcevich Assistant Director Rachel Drew Public Affairs Specialist Harriette Moody Project Coordinator Sullivan Fitz Project Assistant Kegan Ward Project Assistant Alice Casalini Event Assistant franke uchicago edu 773 702 8274 franke humanities uchicago edu 28
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