WEDNESDAYS AT THE CENTER

Wednesdays at the Center (WATC) is a topical weekly noontime series in which distinguished scholars, artists, journalists, and others speak informally about their work in conversation with those who attend. Presented by Duke University’s John Hope Franklin Center and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, all events in the series are free and open to the public. A light lunch is served. No reservations are necessary, and vouchers to cover parking costs in the Duke Medical Center parking decks (#2 and #3 in this map) are provided.

WATC is held most Wednesdays during the academic year, from 12:00 to 1:00 PM, in Room 240, John Hope Franklin Center.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 12:00 PM
A Conversation with Shen Wei
Shen Wei, Director, Shen Wei Dance Arts and Jennifer Brody, Professor of African and African American Studies, Duke.
Presented with Duke Performances and the Vice Provost for the Arts

Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 12:00 PM
Bail Out Biennial
elin o’Hara slavick, Distinguished Term Professor of Studio Art, UNC-CH; María DeGuzmán, Associate Professor of English & Comparative Literature, UNC-CH; Stacy-Lynn Waddel, artist; David Tinapple, Digital Media Instructor, UNC-CH.
Presented with the John Hope Franklin Center and the Duke Center for International Studies

Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 12:00 PM
Map of a Vanished Town: Recollecting the Palestinian Past through Biography
Adina Hoffman, Essayist and Biographer
Presented with the Duke Center for Jewish Studies, the Freeman Center for Jewish Life, the Duke Islamic Studies Center, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Wednesday, February 11, 2009, 12:00 PM
African-American Girls, Hip Hop, and the Culture of Listening at a
Durham Boys and Girls Club: A Conversation Between Researcher and Informants
Jenny Woodruff, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Music, Duke; Students from the John Avery Boys and Girls Club, Durham
Presented with the Department of Music and the Office of Community Affairs

Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 12:00 PM
Global Movements: Report from the World Social Forum
Members of the 2008-09 FHI Annual Seminar: Alternative Political Imaginaries

Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 12:00 PM
International Students and Labor Struggles: A Case Study in the Light of the edu-factory Project
Brett Neilson, University of Western Sydney

Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 12:00 PM
The Life of the Undead: Biopower, Latino Anxiety, and the Epidemiological Paradox
Antonio Viego, Associate Professor of Literature and Director, Latino/a Studies
Presented with the Program in Lation/a Studies in the Global South

No programs March 11 and 18

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 12:00 PM
Outlawing War: Competing Human Rights Perspectives
Noah Weisbord, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law
Presented with the Duke Human Rights Center and the Center for International and Comparative Law

Wednesday, April 1, 2009, 12:00 PM
Are Institutions Bad for Children?: A Five-Country Study of Children Who Have Been Orphaned
Kathryn Whetten, Associate Professor of Public Policy
Presented with the Duke University Center for International Studies

Wednesday, April 8, 2009, 12:00 PM
Let Me Live in the Heights of My Time: Black Colleges and the Legacy of Idealism and Activism in Education
Jelani Favors, Assistant Professor of History, Morgan State University, Mellon HBCU Fellow, FHI

Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 12:00 PM
The Other Network: The Havana Biennal & the Global South, a succinct history (1984-2009)
Miguel Rojas-Sotelo, Visiting Scholar, CLACS
Presented with the Duke Center for Latin American Studies

FALL 2008 EVENTS

Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 12:00 PM
“Carso Maledetto”: Industrialized Warfare and the Rise of Fascism in Italy
Lutz Musner, Program Director, IFK Int. Research Center for Cultural Studies
Presented with the Center for European Studies, and Triangle Institute for Security Studies

Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 12:00 PM
A Human Rights Agenda for the New Administration: Accountability and Engagement
Michael Tigar, Professor of the Practice, Duke Law School
Presented with the Duke Human Rights Center

Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 12:00 PM
Digital Youth and the Paradox of Digital Labor
Cathy Davidson, Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of
Interdisciplinary Studies and Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English,
Duke University
Presented with HASTAC

Wednesday, October 8, 2008, 12:00 PM
George Washington Williams: The Case of a Neglected American Hero
John Hope Franklin, James B. Duke Professor of History, Emeritus, Duke University, and Lea Wernick Fridman, Professor of English, City Univeristy of New York
Presented by the Franklin Humanities Institute and the Duke Human Rights Center

Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 12:00 PM
The House That Toni Built at Random: Contemporary African American Fiction and the Shadows of the Black Arts Movement
Dana Williams, Professor of English, Howard University, Howard University, and 2008-09 FHI/A.W. Mellon Foundation HBCU Faculty Fellow
Presented by the Franklin Humanities Institute

Wednesday, October 22, 2008, 12:00 PM
Transnational Sexualities: New Directions in the Study of Sexuality
Elisabeth Engebretsen, Postdoctoral Fellow, Women’s Studies; Svati Shah, Postdoctoral Fellow, Women’s Studies; Ara Wilson, Director of the the Study of Sexualities & Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Cultural Anthropology; Ranjana Khanna (Moderator), Margaret Taylor Smith Director of Women’s Studies & Professor of English, Duke University
Presented by the Program in Women’s Studies and the Program in the Study of Sexualities

Wednesday, October 29, 2008, 12:00 PM
Remembering Past Atrocity: Monuments, Memorials and Museums in Comparative Perspective
Louis Bickford, International Center for Transitional Justice
Presented with the Archive for Human Rights

Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 12:00 PM
Alternative Political Imaginaries
Fellows from Alternative Political Imaginaries, the 2008-09 Franklin Humanities Institute Annual Seminar
Presented by the Franklin Humanities Institute

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 12:00 PM
The War on Terror and the Terror of War: What the President-elect needs to learn from the Irish Peace Process
Gareth Higgins, author of “Anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland”
Presented with the Duke Human Rights Center

Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 12:00 PM
Brazilian Popular Music: Samba to Hip-Hop
Tom Moore, Music Librarian and Director of Collegium Musicum, Duke University
Presented with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies