USD Humanities Center Events Spring 2021

Humanities Center EXHIBITIONS

Events

Due to uncertainties surrounding the global pandemic, the hours the University Galleries will be open are subject to guidance provided by USD’s COVID-19 Action Team. Social distancing and masks are required of all visitors and reduced gallery capacities may also be enforced. Please check the website before visiting.

Screenings 6: Wangechi Mutu October 26, 2020–February 26, 2021 Wangechi Mutu is a leading figure in contemporary art. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Mutu studied art at Cooper Union and Yale University and today lives in New York City. Mutu’s works in a wide variety of media —— collage, sculpture, printmaking and film —— have been shown in major venues throughout the world since the late 1990s. Often, Mutu uses representations of the exoticized female body as “a platform for what we

Courtesy of the Artist, Gladstone Gallery, Victoria Miro Gallery and Susanne Vielmetter, Los Angeles Projects

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

feel about ourselves as humans.” Her intricate work incorporates imagery from contemporary fashion

Welcome back to USD at the start of

and popular music, as well as from traditional African

a new semester. I am delighted to

motifs and, in this way, addresses the complexities

preview here the Humanities Center

and hybridization that distinguish our contemporary

calendar of events for Spring 2021.

moment. Screenings 6 represents the first time that

As you will see, a vibrant program of

San Diego audiences have had the opportunity to see Amazing Grace (2005). This early video features images of a woman —— the artist —— in a gauzy, white dress as she moves from a beach into the roiling surf. The soundtrack is comprised of waves breaking and a voice singing in the background. The song is well-known to American audiences: “Amazing Grace.” Mutu sings the hymn in her native tongue.

Exhibitions continued on next page

talks, exhibitions and presentations has been assembled, and we look forward to welcoming you to a great many of these virtual events.

All best wishes, Brian R. Clack, PhD A. Vassiliadis Director of the Humanities Center

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SPRING 2021

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Art and Identity March 15–May 28, 2021 What defines who we are? Race? Ethnicity? Gender? Sexuality? Class? Religion? Are these categories fluid or fixed? Singular or plural? These questions animate Art and Identity, an exhibition of modern and contemporary art curated by Zoe Morales Martinez ’21. In recent decades, artists such as Salomón Huerta, Kerry James Marshall and Helen Zughaib have investigated how identity is perceived and experienced. Highlighting works by these artists and others from USD’s growing collection of fine art prints, Art and Identity considers the multiple, intersecting forces that make up who we are and how we are seen.

Diego Romero (Keres | Cochiti), Pueb Fiction, 2020, screenprint, copyright of the artist and Black Rock Editions, LLC

Kerry James Marshall, Untitled (Woman), 2010, hardground etching, copyright of the artist and Paulson Fontaine Press

SPECIAL EVENTS On Race and Philosophy Conference

There’s More Live Series Thursdays | February 11, March 11 and April 15

February 22–23 at 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There’s More Live is a storytelling

The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir

event curated around different

Rice and others have given rise to the need for a

themes each month. Storytellers

deeper conversation about race —— a conversation

share meaningful experiences

to which philosophy is well equipped to contribute.

or challenges they’ve overcome,

In contributing to this necessary conversation, two

each providing insight into the

members of the philosophy department present a

human condition. The series highlights USD’s liberal

conference. This conference has the aim of elucidating

arts tradition by exploring the human condition through

positions within academic discussions of, as well as

the practice of Changemaking. Sponsored by the

evoke thought about, race. The conference will engage

Humanities Center and Changemaker Hub.

a broad range of questions from a philosophical perspective, but will do so in a way that can be appreciated by both those interested in disciplines other than philosophy as well as a broader public

FEBRUARY 8 at 4 p.m.: Unexpected Unexpected is cosponsored by the Humanities Center, Changemaker Hub and the Career Development Center.

audience. Sponsored by the Humanities Center and the

MARCH 11 at 4 p.m.: Clash

Values Institute. Coordinated by Corey Barnes, PhD,

APRIL 15 at 4 p.m.: Mirror

and Marilynn Johnson, PhD, from the Department of Philosophy.

GUEST SPEAKER Language, the Liberal Arts and the Challenges of the 21st Century Noam Chomsky, PhD | Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts 2021 Monday, March 22 at 6 p.m.

The Humanities Center is proud to welcome Noam Chomsky, PhD, as the Knapp chair of liberal arts 2021. In conversation with Thomas Reifer, PhD, professor of sociology, Chomsky will discuss the question of language as part of the inquiry into what sort of creatures we are and the role of the liberal arts in helping us to confront humanity’s urgent 21st century challenges.

Dr. Noam Chomsky is currently laureate professor in the Department of Linguistics in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Agnese Nelms Haury chair in the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice at the University of Arizona and institute professor and professor of linguistics and philosophy, emeritus, in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

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ILLUME SPEAKER SERIES KNAPP CHAIR LECTURE

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DISCUSSION SERIES Souls of Black Folks: Poetry, Essays and Readings

Baked In: Systemic Racism Around and Within Us

Wednesdays at 4 p.m. PT | February–May February 3, March 3, April 28, May 5

To think of racism as systemic is to understand how

Join the Humanities Center’s monthly series, which

of talks by USD professors explores some of the

highlights Black identity, culture and voices of literary authors, writers and artists. Faculty and staff members

Tuesdays at 4 p.m. PT | February 2– March 9 deeply embedded it is in our own lives. This series fundamental areas in which racism has taken hold.

Coordinated by Fred Robinson, PhD, Department of

from across campus will read essays, poetry and other

English.

literary works that celebrate Black voices. Coordinated

FEBRUARY 2: Embedded Racism in Music: Decentering and

by Jamall Calloway, PhD, Department of Theology and Religious Studies.

FEBRUARY 3: August Wilson MARCH 3: Audre Lorde

Decolonizing Music Fields n

FEBRUARY 9: Systemic Racism in Law n

APRIL 28: Harlem Renaissance MAY 5: Black Arts Movement

David Harnish, PhD | Department of Music Roy L. Brooks, JD | Warren Distinguished Professor of Law

FEBRUARY 16: Perspectives on Racism and Health Moderator: Jillian Tullis, PhD | Department of Communication Studies PANEL SPEAKERS: n

Rev. Christopher Carter, PhD | Department of Theology and Religious Studies

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Martha Fuller, PhD | School of Nursing

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Kristopher Hall, PhD | Counseling and Marital and Family Therapy, SOLES

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Drew Talley, PhD | Department of Environmental and Ocean Sciences

FEBRUARY 23: Systemic Racism in Theatre n

Jesse Perez, PhD | Director of The Old Globe and USD Shiley Graduate Theatre Program

MARCH 2: Living in a Bubble: White Neighborhoods, White

Schools, White Thinking n

Lisa Nunn, PhD | Department of Sociology and Director of the Center for Educational Excellence

MARCH 9: The Facts and Fictions of Systemic Racism n

Carlton Floyd, PhD | Department of English

AI and the Humanities Lecture Series

Wednesdays at 4 p.m. PT | March 10–April 21

This lecture series is part of the Humanities Center’s

What does it mean to practice radical hospitality in

multidisciplinary programming around artificial

this digital age, particularly now as we shelter in place

intelligence and the intellectual and moral challenges it

during a global pandemic? Join us as we reflect on how

poses. International scholars from across disciplines

radical hospitality transcends the traditional limitations

will join us to explore vital questions such as theological

of welcome as we hope to join together in solidarity,

and ethical questions raised by AI, impacts of AI on

justice and equity. Experts will illuminate intersectional

social life, the nature of the mind and of thought itself.

voices and perspectives, with topics including race

Members of the Humanities Center AI Learning Group

and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, national origin,

invite the community, students and faculty members

homelessness and health and ability.

from across all disciplines to attend. These questions

MARCH 10: Welcome and Introduction n

Esteban del Río, PhD | Department of Communication Studies

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Michael Lovette-Colyer, PhD | Assistant Vice President

Mondays | April 12–May 3

are important for scientists, social scientists, artists and humanists alike. Coordinated by Hannah Holtzman, PhD, Keck postdoctoral fellow in critical technology, USD Humanities Center.

and Director, University Ministry n

Lisa Nunn, PhD | Department of Sociology and Director, Center for Educational Excellence

MARCH 17: Homelessness and Housing Insecurity n

Kate DeConinck, PhD | Department of Theology and Religious Studies

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Odilka Santiago, PhD | Department of Sociology

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Mike Williams, PhD, JD | Department of Political Science and International Relations

MARCH 24: Native and Indigenous Peoples n

Angel Hinzo, PhD | Department of Ethnic Studies

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Antonieta Mercado, PhD | Department of Communication Studies

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M. Amanda Moulder, PhD | Department of English and Director, Writing Program

APRIL 7: Race and Ethnicity – Communities of Color n

Corey Barnes, PhD | Philosoph

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Joi Spencer, PhD | Interim Dean and Professor, School

APRIL 12 at 10 a.m.: AI and Ethics Ethics of AI: Narratives and Responsibility n

of Media and Technology at the Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna

of Leadership and Education Sciences n

n

Alberto Pulido, PhD | Department of Ethnic Studies

APRIL 19 at 12 p.m.: AI and Ethics

and Director, The Turning Wheel Project

Should We End the Data Economy?

Josen Diaz, PhD | Department of Ethnic Studies

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a tutorial fellow in Philosophy at Hertford College,

Eileen Frys-Bower, PhD, JD, RN, CPNP, FAAN | Hahn

University of Oxford

School of Nursing and Health Science and Associate n

Provost for Research Administration

APRIL 26 at 12 p.m.: AI and Society

Emily Reimer-Barry, PhD | Department of Theology

Fetishes and Cyborgs: What Does the Racial History of

and Religious Studies n

Carissa Véliz, PhD | Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI, and

APRIL 14: Health and Ability n

Mark Coeckelbergh, PhD | Professor of Philosophy

Jillian Tullis, PhD | Department of Communication

Capital Tell Us about the Digital Future of Humanity? n

Studies

APRIL 21: Gender and Sexuality n

Peter Mena, PhD | Theology and Religious Studies

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Bradley Bond, PhD | Communication Studies

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Catherine Griffith, PhD | Counseling & Marital and Family Therapy, School of Leadership and Education Sciences

Sylvester A. Johnson, PhD | Professor and Director of the Virginia Tech Center for Humanities

MAY 3 at 12 p.m.: AI and the Mind What Has the Brain Got to Do With Morality? n

Patricia Churchland, PhD | Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego

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Come to the Table: Radical Hospitality and Communities of Belonging

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For more event details and to register for an event, visit www.sandiego.edu/cas/humanities-center/events.php.

Contact the Humanities Center www.sandiego.edu/humanities-center Facebook: @USDHumanitiesCenter Instagram: @USDHumanities YouTube: @USDHumanitiesCenter

Support Us To support the Humanities Center or be added to our events mailing list, please contact College of Arts and Sciences Director of Development Ericka Swensson at eswensson@sandiego.edu.