Olivia Drake"Histories of Race" is the topic of the 9th annual Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns to be held April 8-10, 2011. During this weekend retreat, participants will examine the many histories of race, both past and present, with a group of internationally renowned scholars. The Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, endowed by the generosity of James J. Shasha ’50, P’82, GP’14, is an annual forum for alumni, parents, students and friends that provides an opportunity to explore issues of human concern (more…)
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Aliens abound on the movie screens, but in reality we are still trying to find out if we share our universe with other sentient creatures. SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is our attempt to detect evidence of a distant technology, in pursuit of cosmic company. On April 13, astronomer Jill Tarter will speak on "Are We Alone?" as the 2010 Sturm Memorial Lecturer. Tarter is director of the SETI Institute's Center for SETI Research. In 2004 Time Magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2006 Tarter became a National Advisory Board member for the…
In the 1970s, veterans, activists and psychiatrists were hard at work getting the disorder that came to be called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) included in the upcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III. During the same period, feminists were building a successful anti-rape movement that crucially insisted that rape is a form of violence. On Feb. 15, Sally Bachner, assistant professor of English, spoke on “Rape Trauma, Combat Trauma, and the Making of PTSD: Feminist Fiction in the 1970s" during the Center for the John E. Sawyer Spring Lecture Series on War. Bachner proposed that…
Eco-activist. filmmaker and reality television star Shalini Kantayya spoke about the global water crisis during Wesleyan’s Earth Day Celebration April 15. Her production company, 7th Empire Media, is committed to using media to give a powerful voice to the unheard. Kantayya captured the attention of the nation during the television series “On the Lot,” a reality show created by Steven Spielberg for the purpose of finding Hollywood’s next great director. Out of over 12,000 filmmakers, Kantayya was the only woman to finish in the top 10. (Photos by Alexandra Portis '09)
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Pulitzer Prize winning writer Edward P. Jones will offer a reading and commentary April 17 as the 2009 Annie Sonnenblick guest lecturer. The annual lecture series brings distinguished writers to campus to discuss their work and participate in discussion with members of the Wesleyan community. Widely regarded as one of the nation's most distinguished contemporary fiction writers, Jones also is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for his novel, The Known World, an epic story examining the complexities of slavery. The novel won the 2004 Pulitzer…
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