Return to flip book view

1THE FRANKE INSTITUTE FOR THE HUMANITIES 2020-2021 BULLETIN

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. 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. 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 sta 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 armation of equality highlights the violence and demands our attention, we nevertheless rearm our international approach to the elimination of institutional racism and to the dicult 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-statementSOLIDARITY STATEMENT

512357131517192325Letter from the Dean Letter from the Director CDI: Center for Disciplinary InnovationAlgorithms, Models, and FormalismsFellows’ Research Projects, 2020-21Fellows, 2021-22 Every Wednesday Luncheon SeriesBig Problems Curriculum in the CollegeEvents & Co-sponsors, 2020-21 Events, 2021-22 Governing Board & Sta CONTENTS

LETTER FROM THE DEANThe pandemic year of 2020-21 will long be remembered not only for its challenges, but for the innovation and resourcefulness of many that made it possible for our educational and research missions to continue and thrive. Nowhere was this spirit of ingenuity more alive than at the Franke Institute. When it became clear that traditional lectures followed by questions and answers in the Every Wednesday series were not optimal in a Zoom environment, Director Richard Neer quickly pivoted to the format of a conversation between speaker and colleague. This arrangement was more hospitable for virtual audiences, and I was gratified to witness many excellent colloquies, including those of Thomas Lamarre (Cinema & Media Studies) and Michael Bourdaghs (East Asian Languages & Civilizations), who addressed the pandemic in their discussion of “Sciences and Literature in a Time of Contagion”; and Noel Blanco Mourelle (Romance Languages & Literatures) and Richard Neer (Art History) who considered Ramon Llull’s compendious writings in “The Art of Knowing Everything There is to Know.”The centrality of the Franke Institute at UChicago far outstrips its now proven agility in adjusting with determination to a global pandemic, of course. With sixteen degree-granting departments and many more centers and committees, the Humanities Division looks to the Franke as the vital crossroads for all its scholarly and pedagogical undertakings. The intersectional spaces that the Institute provides enable discussion and debate through its lecture series, research and reflection by faculty and graduate students through its fellowship programs, formal and informal collaborations through its conference support, and novel curricular thinking through its Center for Disciplinary Innovation. In this past year, moreover, the Franke contributed to the national dialogue when it hosted a timely conversation around the University’s ongoing eorts to form a new Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity. We all look forward to a resumption of teaching and research on campus in the fall. At the Franke Institute, the heart of the Humanities Division, let us hope that we will once again be able to enjoy the in-person aspect of its operation and gather for all manner of intellectual delights in the coming year.Anne Walters Robertson Dean, Division of the Humanities

2LETTER FROM THE DIRECTORThe Franke’s first pandemic year followed an arc that will be familiar to many: early optimism yielding to realism but ending in hope. In the Spring of 2020 the Institute abruptly shut down. Daily life switched to Zoom: the Frank Residential fellows, for instance, held all their meetings remotely through the end of 2020 and into 2021. Conferences and other events scheduled for the Spring were postponed or moved online, followed in due course by the summertime events and then by the Fall ones as well. During the first phase of lockdown we suspended our Every Wednesday luncheon series entirely, wondering gloomily if people would show up for Zoom lectures, without food, in the midst of a pandemic. In the event the answer was an emphatic “yes,” and by the Fall a new online version of the series was breaking attendance records, far exceeding the capacity of our old, in-person physical space. A highlight of this period was a discussion of a faculty-led More Than Diversity campaign that led eventually to a new Department of Race, Diaspora and Indigeneity—almost certainly the Franke’s best-attended event of all time. Meantime the Franke team used the hiatus to plan new programs that launched in 2021, with an emphasis on engaging undergraduates and on supporting collaborations with community organizations on the South Side and around Chicago. We also undertook significant and badly-needed repairs and upgrades to the Institute’s physical plant, producing a safer and more reliable work environment (this brief notice scarcely does justice to the immense amount of sta work involved). Looking back, however, two big changes in the COVID year stand out. The first was the migration of academic life to a digitally-mediated environment. The very idea of a conference, a class, even a conversation has changed in ways both good and bad, and we are still coming to grips with how to proceed. The second is a new appreciation for human frailty. Outside of academia COVID has proved predictably divisive. Those divisions certainly have analogues within the academic humanities but I also see a new and more generous appreciation for the stresses and vulnerabilities that faculty, sta and students have in common: seeing frazzled colleagues deal with kids and cats and interruptions on Zoom, talking to them about their anxieties, depressions, and resentments, watching them struggle with wonky wifi in the midst of a public lecture—these irregularities have made the Humanities more humane and I hope that their eects will not wear o too quickly. Meantime, however, the Franke will continue to support humanistic research, teaching and civic engagement with renewed appreciation for the communities (emphatically plural) that it serves. Richard NeerDirector, The Franke Institute for the Humanities

“Woven Chronicles,” by Reena Saini KallatThe Center for Disciplinary Innovation (CDI) fosters long-term transformation of the infrastructures of research and teaching. It does so by bringing together faculty from dierent departments to co-teach exploratory seminars at the graduate level as a first step toward the development of new programs, centers, and committees. Each faculty member receives full credit for teaching the course and each team receives a $1,250 stipend for course-related purposes. Proposals to teach in the CDI are due in November for the following academic year. Please contact Mai Vukcevich (mav@uchicago.edu), Assistant Director of the CDI, for additional information.CDI COURSES, 2020-21:Collapse: The End of the Soviet Empire Leah Feldman, Comparative Literature Faith Hillis, HistoryThe Return of Migration: Mobility and the New Empiricism James Osborne, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations Catherine Kearns, ClassicsThe Sacred Gaze: Beholding as a Spiritual Exercise in the European Artistic TraditionsJaś Elsner, Divinity Richard Neer, Art History CDI: CENTER FOR DISCIPLINARY INNOVATION

4“Woven Chronicles,” by Reena Saini KallatRed Beard directed by Akira KurosawaAngelo Monticelli, (1778-1837)ON THE COURSE, THE RETURN OF MIGRATION: MOBILITY AND THE NEW EMPIRICISM:“We were both pleased by how this diverse mix of students committed themselves to the class, and felt that discussions of the often challenging readings were a productive experience. Both of us took great pleasure from teaching together; it was very rewarding to have a co-instructor to help lead discussion, brainstorm ideas, and manage class aairs. And, of course, we were both pleased to have learned a tremendous amount about the topic of migration ourselves.”– James Osborne and Catherine KearnsON THE COURSE, COLLAPSE: THE END OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE:“My experience in this class was fantastic. An opportunity to analyze various artistic forms of expression and incorporate them within the discussions of historical events and issues enriched my thinking. I can confidently say that this class was a highlight of 2020 and I wish I had more classes with such a well-rounded approach to history.”– Zivile Arnasiute, MusicCDI COURSES, 2021-22:Medical Knowledge in Early Modern Japan and China: History/Literature Judith Zeitlin, East Asian Languages & Civilizations Susan Burns, HistoryEkphrasis: Description and Imagination in Art and Religion Françoise Meltzer, Comparative Literature Jaś Elsner, Divinity

rulefinestcoarsestinformation latticeliftprojectsignalrulesThe lattice structure of learning hierarchical, decomposed rules from dataWith support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this four-year project addressed the nature, course, and consequences of the interaction between new technology and disciplinary practices in the humanities and beyond. In 2020, “Algorithms, Models, and Formalisms” supported a residency with the Franke Institute for Dr. Haizi Yu (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). The project leaders were James Chandler (English Language & Literature and Cinema & Media Studies), James Evans (Sociology) and Adrian Johns (History).2020 POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARHaizi Yu Haizi Yu explores how computation can be used to formalize the “rules” underlying creative cultural production. He also works on original research provisionally titled “Information Lattice Learning” that facilitates (1) the discovery and teaching of the rules described above and (2) a platform that uses those principles to facilitate distanced collaboration. Yu has consulted with faculty at the University of Chicago to develop a landmark conference about artificial intelligence and creativity in the humanities and beyond. ALGORITHMS, MODELS, AND FORMALISMS

6rulefinestcoarsestinformation latticeliftprojectsignalrulesASSOCIATED FACULTYJames Chandler, English Language & LiteratureLorraine Daston, Social ThoughtJames Evans, SociologyFrances Ferguson, English Language & LiteraturePatrick Jagoda, Cinema & Media StudiesAdrian Johns, HistoryKarin Knorr Cetina, SociologyJoseph Masco, AnthropologyJason Salavon, Visual ArtsPUBLICATIONOsiris: Beyond Craft and Code (History of Science Society; University of Chicago Press). Projected publication date, late 2022. Editors J. Evans, A. Johns. PUMA robot at milling machine

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 FELLOWSMichele Friedner Assistant Professor, Comparative Human Development Becoming Normal: Cochlear Implants and Sensory Infrastructures in India “I investigate how both disability rights frameworks and technological interventions are creating new ideas of disability futures in India and beyond.”Anastasia Giannakidou Professor, Linguistics Bilingualism and Communities of Accent: Greek-English Bilinguals in Chicago “I study the Heritage Greek of Greek-Americans living in the Chicago area as it appears in oral archives and newly collected data.”Matthias Haase Assistant Professor, Philosophy Practical Reality “I am thinking about alienation and the question of what it is for inference, knowledge, and truth to be practical.”Florian Klinger Associate Professor, Germanic Studies Aesthetic Action “I analyze aesthetic action in its formal dierence from normal action.”W.J.T. Mitchell Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor, English Lan-guage & Literature, Art History, and Visual Arts Seeing through Madness “I explore representations of individual and collective madness across the media.”FELLOWS’ RESEARCH PROJECTS, 2020-21

8“This fellowship is especially productive and exciting in that it brings faculty and students together from across the university and we are oered the time and space to read, learn about, and discuss each other’s works. I met faculty whom I most likely would not have met in other departments and I read about topics such as aesthetic action, singing /talking birds, and Jewish Iraqi women, among other things. I appreciated that no question was ever too naïve or basic and that faculty and students from dierent career stages are brought together to interact and learn together.” - Michele FriednerKenneth Warren Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor, English Language & Literature “Maybe I’ll write a book about all this”: Fiction and Social Criticism in the Work of Ann Petry and William Gardner Smith “My book examines how two post-World War II novelists responded to the imperative to address social inequality through the art of fiction.”Peter White Herman C. Bernick Family Professor, Classics Narrative in the Confessions of St. Augustine “I argue that Augustine combined a concept of truth with a distinctive voice to create narrative consistency in the Confessions.”Lawrence Zbikowski Professor, Music The Nature of Musical Thought “I explore how the unique cognitive capacities of humans make the production and understanding of music possible.”AFFILATED FACULTY FELLOWJennifer Iverson Associate Professor, Music Porous Instruments: Circulation and Exchange in Electronic Sound “I study the circulation of electronic sound, as it moves between science, military engineering, film, high art, and popular music.”

“My favorite aspect of the Franke fellowship was the community I helped build with the other doctoral fellows. The doctoral fellows met bi-weekly via Zoom to write together. I very much appreciated the support of this group and the thoughtful conversations following our writing sessions.” - Chelsie MayFRANKE DISSERTATION COMPLETION RESIDENTIAL FELLOWSChelsie MayDoctoral Candidate, Near Eastern Languages & CivilizationsWatching Whiteness Work?: The Racialization of Jewish Women in Iraq and Israel/Palestine“I show how mid-twentieth-century Iraqi Jewish women were racialized which aided their Iraqi belonging but hindered their Israeli immigration.”Sharvari SastryDoctoral Candidate, South Asian Languages & Civilizations and Theater & Performance StudiesPerformances of Posterity: Theatre, Archives and Cultural Regulation in Modern India“I analyze the ethics and aesthetics of performance preservation in the modern and contemporary Indian context.”Andrew Malilay WhiteDoctoral Candidate, MusicThe Improvised Text: Bodily Regimes of Piano Improvisation in the Nineteenth Century“I investigate how improvisation was taught and practiced by nineteenth-century European pianists and pedagogues.”Michal ZechariaDoctoral Candidate, English Language & LiteratureUnmoved Emotions in Shakespeare and Milton“I study how emotional phenomena circumscribe moral thought in early modern British literature.”Yiren ZhengDoctoral Candidate, East Asian Languages & CivilizationsSounding Awry: Unusual Voices and the Problem of Speech in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Literature“I uncover subversive media theories manifested by literary sounds (whistling, talking birds, a type of sonic storytelling) from seventeenth-century China.”

10

The Aliated Doctoral Fellows hold Dissertation Completion Fellowships from the Humanities Division and are members of the Franke community. This past year, the Aliated 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 Aliated Fellows group is chaired by Margot Browning, Associate Director of the Franke Institute.AFFILIATED DOCTORAL FELLOWSJoseph Bitney Doctoral Candidate, English Language & Literature Passionate Exchanges: Melodrama and the Commodity Form “I develop a new theory of melodrama as a mode where emotions function like commodities.”Dave BurnhamDoctoral Candidate, Cinema & Media Studies Viewing the World: The Realist Impulse in Experimental Cinema after Structuralism “I argue that experimental film’s technological and historical connections to the world provide a novel angle on cinematic modernism.”

12Barbara DietlingerDoctoral Candidate, Music Music and Commemoration in Early Modern Europe: Visual and Sonic Intersections of Remembrance “I explore the role of music, visual art, and objects in commemorative events in seventeenth-century Europe.”Upasana DuttaDoctoral Candidate, English Language & Literature Kashmir in/as Crisis: Theorizing the Crisis-Imaginary and an Ethics of Reading “I study the impact of cultural production and regulation in sustaining the Indian occupation of Kashmir.”Marina ErmolaevaDoctoral Candidate, Linguistics Learning Syntax via Decomposition “I investigate how competing descriptions of syntactic phenomena in natural language can be compared on quantitative grounds.”Rory HanlonDoctoral Candidate, Philosophy Aristotle’s Divided Soul “I examine Aristotle’s notions of ‘part of soul’ and ‘unity of soul’ and their relation to the ancient Greek tradition of soul reflection.”Catalina OspinaDoctoral Candidate, Art History From Mouth to Hand: Mopa Mopa Images in the Colonial Andes “I study images produced by Indigenous Andeans to assess how colonial structures aect our understandings of marginalized groups’ intellectual and artistic histories.”Akiva SandersDoctoral Candidate, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations Confrontation and Innovation Between Lowland and Highland: The Upper Euphrates in the Early Third Millennium “I analyze the creative aftermath that followed the destruction of large-scale, centralized, and hierarchically organized institutions.”Esther Van Dyke Doctoral Candidate, Romance Languages & Literatures Sublime Racine: Theatrical Practices of the Ineable “I examine how the works of seventeenth-century French playwright Jean Racine allow us to reevaluate the sublime as a theatrical device.”

Selected by the Governing Board of the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the twelve incoming Franke Fellows hail from eight departments in the Humanities and one department in the Social Sciences:FRANKE FACULTY RESIDENTIAL FELLOWSAhmed El ShamsyAssociate Professor, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations The History of Early SunnismChelsea FoxwellAssociate Professor, Art History  Abundant Images: Art and the Public Sphere in Early Modern Japan         Paola IoveneAssociate Professor, East Asian Languages & Civilizations  Location Shooting in Chinese CinemaAlison JamesProfessor, Romance Languages & Literatures  Fragile Fictions in Contemporary FranceMatthew KruerAssistant Professor, History Sovereigns and Subjects: Indians within the British Atlantic EmpireAgnes Lugo-OrtizAssociate Professor, Romance Languages & Literatures The Plantation Gaze: Slavery and Visual Culture in Colonial Cuba (1727-1886)Rochona MajumdarAssociate Professor, South Asian Languages & Civilizations  Enlightenment in the Colony: A Global History of the Hindoo CollegeJulie OrlemanskiAssociate Professor, English Language & Literature Who Has Fiction? Modernity, Fictionality, and the Middle AgesFELLOWS, 2021-22

14FRANKE DISSERTATION COMPLETION RESIDENTIAL FELLOWSJon BullockDoctoral Candidate, Music (Re)sounding Tradition: Iraqi Kurdish Music as a Critique of Colonial Power, 1923-PresentMarissa FenleyDoctoral Candidate, English Language & Literature and Theater & Performance Studies Puppet Theory: The Mechanical Infrastructure of PersonhoodIsabela FragaDoctoral Candidate, Romance Languages & Literatures Subjected to Feeling: Slavery and Sensibility in Brazil and CubaAmy SkjersethDoctoral Candidate, Cinema & Media Studies The Portable Pop Archive in Experimental Cinema: Technological Transformations of Aural Memory

The Every Wednesday Conversations 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 via virtual platforms including Crowdcast and 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-seriesWORKS IN PROGRESSAgnes CallardPhilosophy Academic BusynessBerthold HoecknerMusic Music and Racial Trust in To Kill a MockingbirdFrançoise MeltzerComparative Literature Claude Lanzmann’s Autobiography and Disparate Cultures DIVERSITY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES Leora AuslanderHistory Sophia Azeb English Language & Literature Adrienne Brown English Language & Literature Adam Green History The More Than Diversity Campaign Joanie Friedman Oce of Civic Engagement Nika Levando Oce of Civic Engagement Community Engagement in Context EVERY WEDNESDAY LUNCHEON SERIES

16Sarah NewmanAnthropology Species Without History Noel Blanco MourelleRomance Languages & Literatures The Art of Knowing Everything There is to KnowCatriona MacLeodGermanic Studies Queer Romantic Collage Thomas LamarreCinema & Media Studies Sciences and Literature in a Time of Contagion Joel IsaacCommittee on Social Thought Political Foundations of Economics Julie IromuanyaEnglish Language & Literature Literary Memorials Tamara GolanArt History Artifice and EvidenceMarc Downie Cinema & Media Studies (Not) Drawing HumansMaria BelodubrovskayaCinema & Media Studies Stalin and Cinema NEW FACULTY

In its twenty-second 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 oer 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 aects 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.bigproblemsCOURSES, 2020-21:Are We Doomed? Confronting the End of the WorldJames Evans, Sociology Daniel Holz, Astronomy & Astrophysics and PhysicsBorder Crossings: Reading and Making the Literature of Migration Maud Ellmann, English Language & Literature Rachel DeWoskin, Creative Writing and English Language & LiteratureFrom Fossils to Fermi’s Paradox: Origin and Evolution of Intelligent Life Paul Sereno, Organismal Biology and Anatomy Leslie Rogers, Astronomy Sarah London, PsychologyThinking Psychoanalytically: From the Sciences to the ArtsAnne Beal, Social SciencesTopics in Medical EthicsDaniel Brudney, PhilosophyUnderstanding Practical WisdomAnne Henly, Psychology Howard Nusbaum, Psychology Candace Vogler, PhilosophyUrban Design with NatureSabina Shaikh, Environmental Studies Emily Talen, Urban StudiesBIG PROBLEMS CURRICULUM IN THE COLLEGE

18On the course, Border Crossings: Reading and Making the Literature of Migration: “My main takeaway from the course was a global consciousness. Every text we read brought me closer to another part of the world and the people residing in each region. It was beautiful to see a combination of poetry, non–fiction, and fiction presented in a way that gave identities to migrants during a time of uprising nationalistic attitudes.”On the course, Are We Doomed? Confronting the End of the World:You’re invited to view the students’ Final Project Exhibits for this course atCOURSES, 2021-22:Digitizing Human RightsJennifer Spruill, Social Sciences Nick Briz, Media Arts and DesignDisability and DesignMichele Friedner, Comparative Human Development Jennifer Iverson, MusicDrinking Alcohol: Social Problem or Normal Cultural Practice? Michael Dietler, Anthropology William N. Green, NeurobiologyFood: From Need to Want, or, Ethics and AestheticsLaura Letinsky, Visual ArtsNarrating MigrationJosephine McDonagh, English Language & Literature Vu Tran, Creative Writing and English Language & LiteratureSensing the AnthropoceneJennifer Scappettone, English Language & Literature Amber Ginsburg, Visual ArtsThinking Psychoanalytically: From the Sciences to the Arts Anne Beal, Social SciencesUrban Design with NatureSabina Shaikh, Environmental Studies Emily Talen, Urban StudiesWhat Does it Mean to be Free to Speak?Andreas Glaeser, Sociology Genevieve Lakier, Law SchoolCourse on “Are We Doomed? Confronting the End of the World” [AFP, “French thermonuclear test “Licorne” at Mururoa Atoll on July 3, 1970”]Course on “Border Crossings: Reading and Making the Literature of Migration” [Jacob Lawrence, “The Migration Series,” #3: 1940-41]https://voices.uchicago.edu/202102bpro25800

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 2020-21, the Institute co-sponsored nineteen conferences, lectures, and other events. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many events were postponed. CONFERENCES/SYMPOSIUMS November-DecemberInterwar Deglobalization and International Mobility Deglobalization and the Politics of Self-Suciency January-MarchWhat They Brought/What They Changed: Material Culture and Polish Chicago Deglobalizing Capitalism Globalism and Anti-Globalism from Socialism to Post-Socialism South Asia Graduate Student Conference XVIII Between Comparison and Context: Global and Local Movements in South Asia Spectacles of DeclineApril-MayAncient Armenia: Center and Peripheries The Legacy of Alfred Sohn-Rethel35th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference Theorizing Gender and Sexuality in the Historic and Contemporary Middle East The 57th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society The 16th Annual Graduate Student Conference in Cinema and Media Studies Site/Seeing The 22nd Michicagoan Student Conference in Linguistic Anthropology Making Authority, Multimodally Marcel Proust: Contested Legacies EVENTS, 2020-21

20What They Brought/What They Changed: Material Culture and Polish Chicago In Chicago’s Slavic community of things, this conference explored recipes for identity, objectifying Polish identity, creating Chicago spaces, and material culture on display.35th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference: Theorizing Gender and Sexuality in the Historic and Contemporary Middle East This conference explored multiple dimensions through which the gendered and sexualized body has been rendered an object of public concern in the contemporary and historic Middle East. South Asia Graduate Student Conference XVIIIBetween Comparison and Context: Global and Local Movements in South Asia Social movements have historically been the trigger for mobilization, action, and transformation in all parts of the world, including South Asia. The aim of this conference was to expand the study of movements in South Asia, while simultaneously interrogating South Asia as a field of study. [Jamia ki Ladkiyan, 2020, Anupam Roy.]

Ancient Armenia: Center and Peripheries The goal of this symposium was to “re-center” the image of Armenia, focusing on a period when it was a hub rather than a country supposedly “on the margins.” [Diego Delso, 2016, of the Geghard Monastery, Armenia]LECTURES / WORKSHOPS / DISCUSSIONS January-MarchTriple Translation and Decolonization Rosa Alacalá, University of Texas at El Paso Walther Maradiegue, Carleton CollegeEdwin Lucero Rinza, San Ignacio de Loyola UniversityTranslation and Language Justice in Border ZonesJD Pluecker, Antena Air CollectiveJen Hofer, Antena Air Collective Don Mee Choi, poet and translator East-West, On-O Page TransitJonathan Stalling, Oklahoma University Sawako Nakayasu, Brown University Napoleon Rivers, Black Studies, and Translation as (Anti-Racist) Activism John Keene, Rutgers University at NewarkInclusive Pedagogy in Linguistics Kendra Calhoun, University of California, Los AngelesWesley Leonard, University of California, Riverside Julie Hochgesang, Gallaudet UniversityKirby Conrod, University of Washington

22CO-SPONSORS FOR THE 2020-21 EVENTS AND PROGRAMSAt the University of Chicago:Center for East Asian Studies, Center for East European and Russian/Eurasian Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Leadership and Involvement, Center for the Study of Communication and Society, Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, Chicago Center on Democracy, Chicago-Vienna Faculty Grant Program, Committee on Southern Asian Studies, Council for Advanced Studies, Experimental Performance Initiative, Graduate Council Academic & Professional Fund, Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, Nicholson Center for British Studies, Oriental Institute, Pozen Family Center for Human RightsFaculty Organizers:Anthropology, Chicago Studies, Cinema & Media Studies, Classics, Comparative Literature, Creative Writing, English Language & Literature, Germanic Studies, History, Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, Philosophy, Romance Languages & LiteraturesAt the Franke Institute:The Adelyn Russell Bogert Fund supports activities involving the arts. This year, the Bogert Fund co-sponsored the following event: “The 16th Annual Graduate Student Conference in Cinema & Media Studies: Site/Seeing” The 16th Annual Graduate Student Conference in Cinema and Media Studies: Site/Seeing This conference celebrated scholarship that seeks to create a more kaleidoscopic view of where cinema can be found and who its spectators are. Nowhere is this more true than in the shifting configurations we see today, including streaming services, mobile viewing, alternative approaches to exhibition, and more.

For 2021-22, the Governing Board of the Franke Institute has awarded seventeen 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. But by the love you bear my kinCoping with Changing Climates in Early Antiquity Errant Voices: Performances Beyond MeasureExodus and Exile From the City of Music to the City of Angels: Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Compositional JourneyHome/House/Shelter: Historical PerspectivesHonor and Power Jewish Binationalisms - Historical and Contemporary AspectsKant’s Doctrine of Right The Line and the TurnEVENTS, 2021-22Errant Voices This conference will uncover the intersectional workings of voices, bodies, intentions, and interactions. [Robert Reiss, ca. 1960s]

24MetaMedia This symposium explores the question of self-reflexivity in media. [T_visionarium, Matt McGinity, 2008-1-4]MetaMedia New Perspectives on Hittite Art Pharmacological States of Emergency The Sensorium of the Early Modern Chinese Text Silk Road Imaginaries Spinning Home Movies with D-ComposedTranslating Premodern Chinese Religious Texts

GOVERNING BOARD AND STAFF2020-21 BULLETINCo-Editors Richard Neer Margot Browning Mai Vukcevich Graphic Designers Rachel Drew Samantha DelacruzContributing Photographer John ZichGOVERNING BOARDGabriel Richardson LearPhilosophyCatriona MacLeodGermanic StudiesRochona Majumdar South Asian Languages & CivilizationsLarry Norman Romance Languages & LiteraturesTara Zahra HistoryJudith Zeitlin East Asian Languages & Civilizations STAFFRichard NeerDirectorMargot BrowningAssociate DirectorMai Vukcevich Assistant DirectorRachel Drew Public Aairs SpecialistHarriette Moody Project CoordinatorBertie KibreahProgramming CoordinatorAdam Peri Digital Media InternRenee Wehrle Project AssistantSullivan Fitz Project Assistant

26franke.uchicago.edu 773-702-8274 franke-humanities@uchicago.eduCONNECT WITH THE FRANKE INSTITUTE ONLINEIn addition to the Franke’s website, check out our Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube pages for announcements, event updates, recordings, and more. Web: franke.uchicago.eduFacebook: facebook.com/frankeinstituteTwitter: @UChiFrankeInstYouTube: UChicago Franke Institute for the Humanities

1100 East 57th Street, JRL S-102 Chicago, Illinois 60637