Seminars and Events

CIC Meeting of Humanities Centers - This spring, the Obermann Center will host the first ever meeting for directors of humanities centers affiliated with the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). The CIC is a consortium of 12 research universities, including the 11 members of the Big Ten Conference and the University of Chicago. The Director of the Hall Center for the Humanities at the University of Kansas and the Executive Director of the CIC will also attend.

June 2-13 2008 Summer Seminar - Medieval Manuscript Studies
and Contemporary Book Arts: Extreme Materialist Readings of Medieval Books

The Obermann Center in collaboration with the Center for the Book will offer participants an exciting new research opportunity by bringing book artists and medieval scholars together in a two-week seminar that integrates scholarly study and engaged artistic practice. Seminar discussions will be anchored through the involvement of key participants from the UI Center for Book: Tim Barrett (papermaking), Gary Frost (binding and structures), and Cheryl Jacobsen (calligraphy). The Seminar was designed and will be directed by Jon Wilcox, Department of English, The University of Iowa.

Past Seminars and Events

• 2007 Obermann Humanities Symposium: "From Bourgeois to Boojie Black Middle-Class Performances" brought together scholars and members of the public to discuss contemporary displays, notions and representations of black middle class performance within the humanities and American culture at large. Directed by Bridget Harris Tsemo & Vershawn Ashanti Young. Featured keynoters were Amiri Baraka and Michele Wallace.

• State of Labor in the Global Economy - Free Public Program - November 19, 2007. A panel of internationally known experts who discussed the lack of labor regulation and its impact on individuals and communities.

• Structural and Functional Organization of the Synapse - Obermann Summer Seminar, June 4 - 7, 2007. Director Johannes W. Hell (Pharmacology)  
   
• Animals/Arts/Iowa - The Obermann Animal Studies Group is hosting an exciting array of events in the Iowa City/Coralville area during the fall of 2006. We welcome you to join us in exploring the many roles animals play in our lives and our world and in reflecting on the relations between humans and animals. All events are free and open to the public except where otherwise noted.
   
• Obermann Humanities Symposium: Obscenity: An Interdisciplinary Discussion will be a major conference held in the Iowa Memorial Union March 1-4, 2007. Invited Speakers: Nadine Strossen, Michael Taussig, John D. Peters, Laura Kipnis, Linda Williams, Judith Krug, William Mazzarella & Lamia Karim.
• Obermann Graduate Institute on Engagement and the Academy - January 9 - 15, 2007. The Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Graduate College are offering an institute for graduate students to learn about how public engagement can be merged with teaching and research. During the weeklong Institute, participants will study methods for engaged teaching and research and develop plans for a project that reflects the methodology and theory studied. To be directed by professors Teresa Mangum (English) and David Redlawsk (Political Science)
   
• Obermann Summer 2006 Research Seminar Comparative Archaeologies: The American Southwest (AD 900-1600) and the Iberian Peninsula (3000-1500 BC) brought together, for the first time, scholars working in the American Southwest and archaeologists working in the Iberian Peninsula to engage and discuss a common set of themes and problems. The seminar was directed by Katina T. Lillios and William M. Graves.
• "The Animals Among Us" Photo & Essay Contest
  Capture your perspective on “The Animals Among Us” with a photograph and one-page reflective essay (250 words or less). In your essay, describe the significance of your image and the animal or animals in it, explain how the image relates to your region of Iowa, and discuss the relationship of your photograph to the theme, “The Animals Among Us.” Deadline June 1, 2006.  
• Whitman Making Books - Books Making Whitman Symposim November 10-12, 2005 convened by Ed Folsom. This symposium, brought together established Whitman scholars, promising younger scholars, and experts in bookmaking, that offered an innovative new look into Whitman's work by focusing on his bookmaking skills, his relationships to his publishers, and the material qualities of his books. The accompanying Exhibition at the UI Museum of Art will continue until Februrary 12, 2006
• Obermann Symposium on Disability Ethics: Developing the Moral Distinctiveness of a Disability Perspective in Bioethics Workshop organized by Vilia Tarvydas, Counselor Education, Lindquist Center
  
• The Summer 2005 Research Seminar "The Arts and Cultural Politics of Carnival" This two week seminar was directed by Michaeline A. Crichlow and Loyce L. Arthur. The annual Summer seminars bring together competitively-selected researchers and scholars worldwide for 2-4 weeks to present and discuss original papers and to develop a publication on an important interdisciplinary topic. This summer's seminar focused on the interrelationships of symbols and the meanings of carnival events from around the world.
  
• Connectionist and Dynamic Systems Approaches to Development: On the Cusp of a New Grand Theory or Still too Distributed. June 19-22, 2005 NSF Conference - John Spencer, Psychology, Spelman Rockefeller Fund.
  
• The Obemann Humanities Symposium "Collage as Cultural Practice." The conference interrogated the political and social dimeensions of collage as a practice that enables oppositional commentary across the cultural spectrum: from the leftist collages of the Dadaists and the Situationists to the unauthorized use of corporate trademarks, interventions by queer activists, and the more recent flurry of Internet-distributed antiwar video collage piecesthat appropriate from the mainstream media in satirical ways. Directed by Kembrew McLeod (Communication Studies) and Ruedi Kuenzli (English)
   
• Language, Art, Programming and Networks: The Relationship of New Media Literature. A mini-seminar, November 1-2, 2004.
  
• Tim Eriksen is a founding member of Cordelia's Dad, Northampton Harmony and Zabe i Babe; bands with which he has toured the world, made dozens of recordings and explored a tremendous range of musical styles. October 22nd, 2004One of a series of speakers sponsored by The University of Iowa Obermann Center for Advanced Studies Interdisciplinary Research Semester on "Sounding the Voice."
   
• "Spatial Politics, Violence, and Homonormativity in New York City" - Professor Martin Manalansan IV October 15. Details & downloadable poster
   
• "The Scholar and the Citizen: The Necessity of the Humanities to Democracy" Bruce Cole, Chair of the National Endowment of the Humanities. October 6, 2004. Details & downloadable poster here
   
• Summer 2002 Research Seminar, The Emergence of the Modern Disciplines (June 10-26, 2002) Director, David Depew (Communication Studies & POROI)
   
• The Obermann Center/Spelman Rockefeller Symposium "Virtual Environments as Tools for Studying Human Behavior." Friday, April 5th, 2002 - S401 Pappajohn Business Administration Building.
   
• Summer 2001 Research Seminar, Opera in Context: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Creation, Performance, and Reception. June 11-27, 2001. Directors: Roberta M. Marvin (Associate Professor and Head of Musicology) and Downing A. Thomas (Associate Professor of French and Chair, Department of French and Italian).
   
• Visual Rhetorics Conference, August 3-6, 2000. Directors: Barbara Biesecker (Rhetoric) and John Lucaites (Communication Studies).
   
• Disability Research Seminar, July 26 to August 1, 2000. Director: Peter Blanck (Law).
   
• Civility Symposium, May 5-7, 2000. Director: Melissa Deem (Rhetoric).
   
• Tobacco, Culture, and Public Policy: An International Seminar - June 11-12th. Director: Christopher Squier (Dentistry).
   
• Tobacco and Oral Disease, June 13-16, 2000. Director: Christopher Squier (Dentistry).
   
• Summer 2000 Research Seminar, The Usable Past: Historical Perspectives on Digital Culture, June 12-29, 2000. Director: Lauren Rabinovitz (Comparative Literature).
   
• Planning as Storytelling: Sustaining America's Cities. Humanities Symposium June 15-17, 2000. Directors: Barbara Eckstein (English) and James Throgmorton (Urban and Regional Planning).

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Page update: April 23, 2008  •  Contact: Obermann-Center@uiowa.edu  •  Phone: 319-335-4034
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