Newsletter : Winter 2008 2007-08 O?Fallon Lecture MIT?s Henry Jenkins Talks About How Digital Technologies Are Reshaping Popular Culture Welcome to convergence culture, where old and new media collide, where audiences participate in the pro- duction and circulation of media content, where social networks shape the ? ow of music, where stories extend across multiple media platforms, where teens become media producers by sampling and remixing their favorite bands, and where YouTube and Second Life become the meeting grounds for diverse creative communities. On Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in 182 Lillis Hall , MIT Media Professor Henry Jenkins will speak on ?Art and Storytelling in the Age of Media Con- vergence.? He will explore how growing trends towards media convergence, collective intelligence, transmedia entertainment, pop cosmopolitanism, and participatory culture are reshaping the ways media gets produced, cir- culated, and consumed. Jenkins maintains that this isn?t just fun and games?these shifts in our relations to popu- lar culture are starting to impact politics, education, and continued on page 2 1 5 4 P L C | 5 4 1 - 3 4 6 - 3 9 3 4 | w w w . u o r e g o n . e d u / ~ h u m a n c t r Steven Shankman Director Distinguished Professor , CAS English; Classics Julia J. Heydon Associate Director Melissa Gustafson Program Coordinator Rebecca Force TV Producer Peg Gearhart Of? ce Specialist 2007?2008 Advisory Board James Crosswhite English Amalia Gladhart Romance Languages Michael Hames-Garcia Ethnic Studies Lori Kruckenberg Music C . Anne Laskaya English Jeffrey Librett German and Scandinavian Deb Morrison Journalism and Communication Craig Parsons Political Science Jenifer Presto Comparative Literature Ellen Rees German and Scandinavian Elizabeth Reis W omen? s and Gender Studies John Schmor Theater Arts Andrew Schulz Art History Ying T an Art Anita Weiss International Studies Oregon O r e g o n Humanities H u m a n i t i e s CenterC e n t e r 2007-08 Clark Lecture Stephen Schneider to Speak on Global Warming In partnership with the Environmental Studies Pro- gram, the OHC is pleased to host Stanford biology and environmental studies professor Stephen Schneider in the 2007-08 Clark Lecture entitled ?Global Warming: How Do We Manage the Risks?? The lecture will take place on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. in 182 Lillis Hall . There is a strong and growing consensus that due to an increasing number of people in the world demanding a higher standard of living using cheap, available tech- nologies based on the burning of fossil fuels, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere will double or even triple by 2100. This increase in CO2 in the atmosphere implies many serious consequences, though as Stephen Schneider points out, not all of them are negative. How- continued on page 2 2 Oregon Humanities Center | winter 2008 Schneider continued from front page T ELLING: Veterans? Voices Theatre Arts and the Veterans and Family Student Association (VFSA) present TELLING , a ?wit- ness theater? production chronicling the experiences of veterans of the U.S. military as they return from service and try to reintegrate them- selves into society as students, fam- ily members, friends, and citizens. Directed by professor John Schmor, the student-veteran actors will pres- ent scenes and monologues based upon their own experiences and words. Performances are February 8 and 9 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Febru- ary 10 at 2 p.m. at the Veteran?s Memorial Hall, 1626 Willamette St., Eugene. Admission is free. Dona- tions welcomed. For information, contact . Jenkins continued from front page Renowned Calligrapher and Buddhist Scholar to Visit Eugene Feb. 12-14, 2008 Japanese calligrapher and Buddhist scholar Kazuaki Tanahashi will be visit- ing Eugene and presenting three events in mid-February. On Tuesday, February 12 , at 7 p.m. he will give a talk at the Eu- gene Zendo (2190 Gar? eld St.) on Dogen Zenji, the founder of the Soto School of Buddhism in Japan. Then, in conjunc- tion with the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art?s exhibit, ?Buddhist Visions,? Ta- nahashi will be giving a talk and callig- raphy demonstration in the Pap? Room at the Museum on Wednesday, Febru- ary 13 , at 6 p.m. entitled ?In Search of the Meaning of Circles: Calligraphy in Zen Buddhism.? Finally, on Thursday, February 14 , from 5-7:30 p.m. there will be a gallery talk and reception at White Lotus Gallery (767 Willamette Street) with the artist entitled ?Brushmind: Cal- ligraphy by Kazuaki Tanahashi.? Tanahashi, a native of Japan, now lives in California. He has taught and exhibited his works internationally. His Eugene visit is co-sponsored by the Eu- gene Zendo, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, and Religious Studies. (Please see individual calendar entries for more information.) religion, offering us new models for what it means to participate in the powerful institutions which impact our lives. An eccentric and popular ? gure on the MIT campus, Jenkins is a scholar at the forefront of exploring how digital technologies are reshaping popular cul- ture. Described by a colleague as the em- bodiment of ?principled antic behavior,? Jenkins calls himself a ?fan,? who ?boldly goes where no humanist has gone before.? He is the Peter de Florez Professor of Hu- manities and the co-director of the Com- parative Media Studies Program at MIT. Jenkins is the author or editor of twelve books on media and popular culture in- cluding Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (2006), and Fans, Bloggers and Gamers: Media Consum- ers in a Digital Age (2006). He regularly writes about media and culture change at his blog, henryjenkins.org. This lecture, sponsored by Betsy Mayer and the O?Fallon family, is free and open to the public, and will be fol- lowed by a book sale and signing. For more information, or for disability ac- commodations (which must be made by January 9), please call (541) 346-3934. ever, the distribution of the impacts of climate change will be uneven, with the most severe effects being experienced in poorer, warmer places; high mountain- ous areas; polar regions; and in ?hurri- cane alley.? People are beginning to take action on the local, regional, and even international levels, but?as Al Gore noted in his recent Nobel Prize accep- tance speech?while private, individual actions can help, they are not enough. What is needed now is collective action on a global level. Stephen Schneider will talk about how much more could be done to sub- stantially reduce the magnitude of the risks associated with global warming if only we can summon the political will to take decisive action?soon. Schneider is the founder and editor of the interdisciplinary journal, Climatic Change. He is editor-in-chief of the En- cyclopedia of Climate and Weather and author of The Genesis Strategy: Climate Kazuaki Tanahashi, Miracles of Each Moment , white on black , original one-stroke circle; acrylic on canvas, scroll (30? x 36?) 2001. and Global Survival ; The Coevolution of Climate and Life ; Global Warming: Are We Entering the Greenhouse Century? and Laboratory Earth: The Planetary Gamble We Can?t Afford to Lose . In 1992 Schneider received a MacAr- thur Fellowship for his ability to integrate and interpret the results of global climate research through public lectures, semi- nars, classroom teaching, environmental assessment committees, media appear- ances, Congressional testimony, and research collaboration with colleagues. He was elected to membership in the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in April 2002. Currently, he is actively involved with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, or for dis- ability accommodations (which must be made by February 26), please call (541) 346-3934. In my Director?s Report of a year ago, I talked about the UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Peace that was about to be established at the University of Oregon. President Frohnmayer coun- ter-signed the agreement?which had been signed by the Secretary General of UNESCO?on June 1, 2007. The Chair is now in place, the ? rst in the United States in UNESCO?s Intercultural Dialogue Program. The plan was to house the Chair at ? rst in the Humanities Center, and then to found a new Center around the Chair. I am very grateful for the support of the central administration, which has moved very quickly and enthusiastically with the plan to establish a new UNESCO center for intercultural dia- logue and peace. It will be up and running by September 1, 2008, and I will be directing it. This means that as of September 1 of the coming year there will be new leadership at the Oregon Humanities Center. An internal search for a new Director will begin this quarter. I have been privileged to serve as Director since 1994. With your help, with the support of the extraordi- nary OHC staff, with the central administration?s support, and with the help of our two boards?the faculty Advisory Board and our Board of Visitors?we have accomplished a great deal. We have more than doubled the size of the Center?s endowment, rendering us much less dependent on the vagaries of state support for our research and teaching fellowships, our lectures and events, and our day-to-day operating expenses. We are especially grateful for the newly endowed Ernest G. Moll Faculty Research Fellow- ship in Literary Studies; the Directorship Endowment; and our steadily-growing Endowment for Public Outreach in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities. We are seen as a real resource for the community and the state, beyond the groves of academe. Our public lectures attract large audiences. We have established a presence in the wider community through our weekly television show ?UO Today,? which?along with many of our lectures?is now available in digital form anywhere in the world via the web. We have just completed a video documentary history of the University of Oregon, which will be available on three DVDs, and which is required viewing for those leading tours of our campus. We established the Coleman-Guitteau Teaching- and-Research Fellowship. This innovative fellowship encourages faculty to take their scholarship in exciting, unpredictable directions. It gives faculty the opportunity to offer a new course one quarter followed by a term in which they are asked to research?with the help of their undergraduate students from the previous quarter? some of the promising topics and questions that emerged from their teaching of the course. In our efforts to increase the Center?s?and the University?s?engagement with the community, we have pledged to support one faculty member per year to be trained to teach humanities courses as part of the Inside- Out Prison Exchange Program. So far we have trained two faculty members. The ? rst UO Inside-Out course?consist- ing of ? fteen UO students and ? fteen inmates?was taught during spring term 2007 at the Oregon State Penitentiary, the state?s maximum-security facility. Another course will be taught this coming spring. The Center has tried to respond to international crises with appropriate programming. In the wake of the (in part) religiously inspired terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Center initiated a series of symposia on religion and violence. We are planning a symposium on climate change for spring of 2009 entitled ?Ethics, Religion, and the Environment.? It is my belief that a vigorous Humanities Center should not only support scholars of the humanities, but it should also stimulate the production of new works of art. To this end, through the generosity of the Bowerman family, the Humanities Center has commissioned a musi- cal composition about the life of legendary track coach Bill Bowerman that will debut this summer during the Olympic trials as part of the Oregon Bach Festival. ?Man of Or- egon,? a symphonic biography composed by UO music graduate Rebecca Oswald, will premier as part of a gala event honoring Bill Bowerman on July 1 in the Silva Con- cert Hall at the Hult Center. I hope to see you there! Let me conclude by thanking the extraordinary staff of the Oregon Humanities Center, and particularly Associ- ate Director Julia Heydon. As Director, I have continued to teach and to ful? ll my obligations as a faculty member of both the English and Classics Departments. The Associ- ate Director serves the Center full time, and Julia has done so with truly exceptional dedication and with great effec- tiveness. I have complete con? dence in Julia?s ability to assist?with your help?in crucial ways during this period of transition in the leadership of the Center. Oregon Humanities Center | winter 2008 3 OHC Director?s Report by Steven Shankman First-Class Mail U.S. Postage PAID Eugene OR Permit No. 63 Upcoming W.I.P.s We continue our series of work-in-prog- ress talks by University of Oregon faculty and graduate students on their current or recent research on Fridays at noon in the Humanities Center Conference Room, 159 PLC . Brown-bag lunches are welcome! January 25 Mark Johnson, philosophy, speaking on ?The Natural Sources of Morality.? February 15 Robin Zebrowski, graduate fellow, philoso- phy, speaking on ?We Are Plastic: Human Variability and the Myth of the Standard Body.? March 7 Kelly Sultzbach, graduate fellow, English, speaking on ?Nature Replies in a Modern Voice: The Relationship between Humans and the Environment in the Work of E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, & W.H. Auden.? All faculty and graduate students are encour- aged to attend. The conference room seats eighteen; early arrival is recommended. The University of Oregon is an equal opportunity, af? rmative action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. To arrange disability accommoda- tions for Humanities Center events or to obtain this newsletter in an alternative format, call 541-346-3934. This newsletter is also available on our website: www.uoregon.edu/~humanctr/ If you receive this newsletter through U.S. Mail and would like to be taken off our mailing list please let us know. Call 541-346-3934 or send an e-mail to: peg@uoregon.edu. OREGON HUMANITIES CENTER 5211 University of Oregon Eugene OR 97403-5211 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Inside-Out Teacher Training Opportunity The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, an innovative pedagogical and community-based service program be- gun at Temple University in 1997, was established to create a dynamic partner- ship between institutions of higher learning and correctional systems. The program is now being used throughout the country. On Friday, February 1 at noon in the Knight Library Browsing Room, Melissa Crabbe , Assistant National Direc- tor of Inside-Out, will speak with UO faculty and upper-division Hon- ors College students who are interested in learning more about the program. During 2006-07, to encourage hu- manities faculty to consider teaching in the Inside-Out Program, the OHC began offering a $2,000 scholarship each year, providing airfare and registration for one faculty participant to take the week- long training in Philadelphia. UO sociology professor Ellen Scott received the ? rst OHC scholarship, and during spring 2007 took the Inside-Out training, which she later described as ?an amazing, life-changing experience.? Besides adding signi? - cantly to her knowledge about the criminal justice system, Scott says the training allowed her to re? ect intensively upon her assumptions about pedagogy, knowledge, theory, group dynamics, and student-teacher in- teractions in completely new and astonishing ways. Two Instructor Training Institutes will be offered this summer in the Philadelphia area: July 7-13 and August 4-10. Anyone who is interested in learn- ing more about the Inside-Out Program is encouraged to attend the February 1st informational session. This event is open to the public. ?The images still make me weep, but the hope generat- ed, and humanity revealed, under the most impossible of conditions, helped to cre- ate the desire in me to be a part of this program. Thank you for this opportunity. I am truly humbled.? ?Ellen Scott, Sociology