News

Artificial Intelligence and Artistic Endeavor

Posted on by

Artificial Intelligence and Artistic Endeavor: Pushing the Boundaries of Collaboration and Creativity,Kyle Booten (English, UConn) Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick (Kroc School, University of San Diego), Sue Huang (DMD, UConn). April 18, 3:00pm. Heritage Room, Fourth Floor Homer Babbidge Library.

Artificial Intelligence and Artistic Endeavor: Pushing the Boundaries of Collaboration and Creativity

Kyle Booten (English, UConn)

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick (Kroc School, University of San Diego)

and Sue Huang (DMD, UConn)

Thursday, April 18, 2024, 3:00pm, Heritage Room, HBL Library, 4th Floor

The event will also be livestreamed with automated captioning.

Register to attend virtually

Join us for an engaging discussion with Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick, human rights expert and member of an artists’ collective; Kyle Booten, co-founder of a literary journal dedicated to human-AI co-authored works; and Sue Huang, a visual artist who collaborates with AI. Together, they will explore how AI challenges us to reassess and redefine the concepts of collaboration and creativity.

“Smooth and Jagged Substrates of Thought,” Kyle Booten

In this talk, I’ll suggest that we should care less about whether or not computer-generated text can be “creative” and more about what sorts of human creativity can grow on top of it, on its surface—much the way lichen grows on bark. Sharing examples of my own work designing algorithmic writing assistants, I will suggest that AI-generated text is often unfortunately “smooth,” and I will share some tactics that I used in my recent book (Salon des Fantômes, Inside the Castle, 2024) to try make it more “jagged” and, perhaps, better for cultivating interestingly-shaped thoughts upon.

“Connective Creativity—Why Art is Collective Action, and How that Matters in the Age of AI,” Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick

 

“AI, Ecological Intimacies, and the Disappearing Landscape,” Sue Huang

Huang will present recent research which uses AI, scientific “found data” and natural language processing methods for exploring ecological intimacies between humans and nonhumans. In particular, she will speak about her current project Total Archive, a sci-fi performance and installation piece that explores a series of speculative government reports and “strange” objects found in a time capsule from the future. Prepared by an intern working at a government agency, these documents and artifacts reveal an ecological system in its final throes. The project presents poetry written in part by a fine-tuned AI that processes materials from digitized Smithsonian scientific field books and Internet-found amateur written erotica stories. Visuals in the video installation are derived from text-to-image AI and recombinatory methods that hybridize creatures from over 45,000 species listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species database.

Kyle Booten is an assistant professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. His research explores the ways that small-scale, personalized algorithmic systems may be designed to care for one’s own mind. He is the author of Salon des Fantômes (Inside the Castle, 2014), a book that documents a philosophical salon he attended with a cast of AI-fabricated characters, and the creator of Nightingale, a web extension that re-distracts the user with contextually-relevant excerpts from the poetry of John Keats (available in the Chrome Web Store). His poetry written with algorithmic feedback and interference has been published in Fence, Lana Turner, and Blackbox Manifold; his scholarly writing has recently appeared or is forthcoming in electronic book review, Critical AI, and xCoAx ’23.

Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick is an author, educator, and speaker. His work focuses on politics, culture, technology, and social change. His recent books include Wicked Problems (Oxford, 2022), The Good Drone (MIT Press, 2020) and What Slaveholders Think (Columbia, 2017), and his commentary includes articles in Slate, Al Jazeera, and the Guardian and appearances on BBC, NBC, and Fox News. Austin lives in California and holds academic appointments at the University of San Diego and the University of Nottingham.

Sue Huang is a new media artist whose work addresses collective experience. Her research explores ecological intimacies, human/nonhuman relations, and speculative futures. She is currently working on the project Total Archive, a performance work about a time capsule from the future. This project is supported by the Culture Council of the Emerson Collective and Leonardo @ Djerassi for 2024. Huang has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati; Philadelphia Contemporary; ISEA in Montreal; and Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria; among others. She has previously been an artist-in-residence at LMCC on Governors Island, Creative Science at NEW INC, and the Studios at MASS MoCA. Huang has received funding and project support from Science Sandbox, Rhizome, the James Irvine Foundation (MOCA, Los Angeles), and Creative Scotland (NEoN), the UConn Humanities Institute, among others.She received her MFA in Media Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and her BS in Science, Technology, and International Affairs from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is an assistant professor of Digital Media and Design at the University of Connecticut.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

Medical Humanities: The ‘Haunting’ Legacy at the Mansfield Training School

Posted on by

The Medical Humanities and Arts Initiative. A Site of Conscience: The 'Haunting' Legacy of the Mansfield Training School (UConn's Depot Campus). Dr. Brenda Brueggemann (English, UConn), Jess Gallagher (M.A. in Human Rights Studies, Columbia University) and the Mansfield Training School undergraduate research group. The presentation will be followed by a light reception and feature a poster exhibit on “Disability Institutionalization in the U.S.” by students in AMST / ENGL 2274W, “Disability in American Literature and Culture.” April 17, 3:30pm, UCHI Conference Room, Homer Babbidge Library 4th floor.

A Site of Conscience: The ‘Haunting’ Legacy at the Mansfield Training School (UConn’s Depot Campus)

Dr. Brenda Brueggemann (English, American Studies, & WGSS, UConn)

Jess Gallagher (B.A, Honors English, UConn & M.A., Human Rights, Columbia University)

and the Mansfield Training School undergraduate research group: Madison Bigelow, English; Collin Lamontagne, Political Science; Ally LeMaster, English & Journalism; Paula Mock, Sociology & WGSS; Ashten Vassar, Human Rights, Psychology, American Studies

Wednesday April 17, 2024, 3:30pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room (HBL 4-209)

The presentation will be followed by a light reception and feature a poster exhibit on “Disability Institutionalization in the U.S.”

The event will also be livestreamed with ASL interpretation and CART.

Register to attend virtually

The Mansfield Training School Memorial and Museum project explores the 133-year history of the Mansfield Training School (MTS) while also focusing on its ties to the University of Connecticut (UConn). Located less than 4 miles from UConn’s main campus, the former MTS, now called the UConn Depot Campus,” spans 350 acres but has been neglected for 30 years, resulting in boarded-up buildings covered in graffiti and ivy, vandalism, and frequent trespassing violations. Based on two years of archival and collaborative work thus far, this restorative inquiry and justice initiative aims to excavate the institutionalization of disabled lives and to educate community members about MTS’s history while promoting community and institutional accountability. The project poses the central question: What are the obligations of institutions and communities to address the legacies of disability institutionalization through mutual restorative inquiry? This interactive program will: offer highlights from the MTS timeline; share a few of the traveling exhibit poster boards under construction; explore some of the MTS-UConn cross-institutional connections; and feature brief snapshots from the UConn student research team’s satellite projects growing out of their work on the MTS project overall.

Brenda Jo Brueggemann is the Project Director for the Mansfield Training School Memorial & Museum @ UConn. She is a Professor of English, American Studies, and Women’s, Gender, Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at the University of Connecticut where she also serves as the Aetna Endowed Chair of Writing.

Jess Gallagher is the Project Co-Director for the Mansfield Training School Memorial & Museum @ UConn. Jess received their BA (Honors, English) at the University of Connecticut and MA in Human Rights at Columbia University. Jess intends to work as a disability oral historian.

Madison Bigelow is a senior at the University of Connecticut studying English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Madison hopes to pursue a career in legal advocacy and public interest with a specific focus on disability rights.

Paula Mock is a senior at UConn studying both Sociology & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Paula hopes to attend graduate school for a master’s degree in either social work or early childhood education.

Collin Lamontagne is a junior Political Science major at the University of Connecticut. His research interests center around politics, law, and policy.

Ally LeMaster is a senior English and journalism major at the University of Connecticut. Ally works as a legislative reporting intern at the Connecticut Mirror and is also currently editor-in-chief of Long River Review, UConn’s undergraduate-run literary magazine.

Ashten Vassar is a UConn senior majoring in Psychological Sciences and Human Rights with a minor in American Studies. Outside of the university, Ashten works with a grassroots coalition of institutional abuse survivors focusing on restoring agency through testimony and bringing public awareness.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. The event will include ASL interpretation, both in person and for the livestream. The livestream will also include computer assisted real-time transcription.

Undergraduate Fellows Talk: Anabelle Bergstrom and Brent Freed

Posted on by

Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellows. "The Self in a Hyperconnected World," Anabelle Bergstrom. “Vietnam in their Factories, Immigrant workers and the Global South during May 1968” Brent Freed. April 10, 1:00pm. Humanities Institute Conference Room, Homer Babbidge Library, 4th Floor.

Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows

Anabelle Bergstrom, “Minds Among Minds: The Self in the Hyperconnected World”

and Brent Freed, “Vietnam in their Factories, Immigrant workers and the Global South during May 1968”

Wednesday April 10, 2024, 1:00pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room (HBL 4-209)

The event will also be livestreamed with automated captioning.

Register to attend virtually

Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows Anabelle Bergstrom and Brent Freed will present on their fellowship projects.

“Minds Among Minds: The Self in the Hyperconnected World,” Anabelle Bergstrom

“Minds Among Minds: The Self in the Hyperconnected World” seeks to examine how modern modes of connectivity such as social media affects identity and authenticity. By drawing on William James’ three constituents of the Self, the project makes bold claims about the impact the online world has on narratives of the Self. It also attempts to acknowledge and remedy the growing gap between the online and analog worlds.

“Vietnam in their Factories, Immigrant workers and the Global South during May 1968,” Brent Freed

This talk will examine Kadour Naïmi’s memoir Freedom in Solidarity: My Experience with the May 1968 Uprisings. Naïmi, the son of an Algerian immigrant, was a college student in Paris during the spring uprisings in 1968, and his connection to three different important groups of actors in the 1968 uprisings—students, workers, and immigrants—provides a unique window into what relations looked like between these groups. Naïmi’s memoir will be used to explain both the roles of immigrants during the spring riots as well as how anti-colonial ideas were discussed alongside the treatment of immigrants in France.

Anabelle S. Bergstrom is a junior majoring in political science and philosophy with a minor in public policy. Anabelle is a member of the Honors Program, Special Program in Law, BOLD Women’s Leadership Network, and is a Undergraduate Research Fellow for the UConn Humanities Institute. She also works for the Office of Undergraduate Research as a Peer Research Ambassador. After finishing her undergraduate degree, Anabelle plans to attend law school and pursue a career as a legal professional.

Brent Freed is a junior pursuing a double major in History and Statistics. A native of Connecticut, he grew up just 20 minutes away from UConn’s Storrs campus. His main areas of studies include 1960s counter-culture movements and student protests.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl—A Film Screening

Posted on by

AMPE: Leap into the Sky Black Girl, a film screening. April 9, 7:00pm Konover Auditorium. Q&A with the directors following hte screening. Cosponsored by Africana Studies, UConn Humanities Institute, and UConn Global.

Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl

A film screening and Q&A

Wednesday April 9, 2024, 7:00pm, Konover Auditorium

Don’t miss the screening of the short documentary film Ampe: Leap into the Sky Black Girl. Following the film, there will be a Q&A with the film’s directors, Ife Oluwamuyide and Claudia Owusu.

This event is cosponsored by the Africana Studies Institute and the Humanities Institute.

Watch the trailer.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

Antoinette Brim-Bell and the Ethnic Studies Symposium

Posted on by

Connecticut Ethnic Studies Symposium. "Archival Activism and Public Memory." Keynote Speaker Antoinette Brim-Bell, Connecticut Poet Laureate. UConn Storrs Wilbur Cross, North Reading Room. Friday April 5, 2024. Keynote speech and lunch, 11:30am–12:30pm.

Connecticut Ethnic Studies Symposium

Friday April 5, 2024, 11:00am–6:00pm, Wilbur Cross North Reading Room

Keynote address by Antoinette Brim-Bell, Connecticut Poet Laureate, 11:30am

Register to attend the keynote. Lunch will be served.

Undergraduate students from across Connecticut will present their work at the 5th Annual Connecticut Ethnic Studies Symposium, on Friday, April 5th from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. This in-person symposium is sponsored by the UConn Co-op Legacy Fellowship program and the UConn Humanities Institute.

The keynote speaker will be Antoinette Brim-Bell, the Connecticut State Poet Laureate. Brim-Bell was selected and her address is sponsored by the UConn Humanities Institute’s Undergraduate Advisory Council. The keynote address will take place at 11:30am, following lunch at 11:00am. Those wishing to attend the keynote must register.

This year’s symposium will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1974 sit-in at Wilbur Cross Library in which state police arrested 219 Black students who demanded the construction of an African American Cultural Center. These students’ radical protests for Black liberation created permanent, physical spaces for students of color to gather and inspired cross-racial solidarity. With a theme of “Archival Activism and Public Memory,” the symposium will educate the community about using archives to reconstruct the public memory and honor student leadership in social movements.

For more details, see the CT Ethnic Studies Symposium website.

A schedule of panels and speakers is available here.

Antoinette Brim-Bell, Connecticut’s 8th State Poet Laureate, is the author of three full-length poetry collections: These Women You Gave Me, Icarus in Love, and Psalm of the Sunflower. She is a Cave Canem Foundation Fellow and an alumna of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA). Her poetry has appeared in various journals, magazines, textbooks, and anthologies. Additionally, Brim-Bell has published critical work, most notably, essays. A printmaker and collage artist, Brim-Bell exhibited both poetry and monoprints in Jazz: An exhibition of Poetry, Prints, and Photography at the Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery in New Haven, CT, and Sheroes, in partnership with the Alliance of Women Veterans at the Grove in New Haven, CT. She serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of Indolent Arts Foundation based in New York City, is a past Board Member of OneWorld Progressive Institute, and a past President of the Board of Directors of the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT. Additionally, Brim-Bell hosted a series of Black History Month television programs for the OneWorld Progressive Institute. She is also a former guest host of Patrick Oliver’s Literary Nation Talk Radio (KABF 88.3, Little Rock), for which she interviewed a variety of entertainers, literary figures, political pundits, and community developers. A sought-after speaker, editor, educator, and consultant, Brim-Bell is a Professor of English at Capital Community College in Hartford, CT.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

Undergraduate Fellows Talk: Breanna Bonner and Nathan Howard

Posted on by

Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows. Breanna Bonner, “The Space Between Black and Liberation: A Digital Exploration of Intersectional Invisibility" and Nathan Howard, "Homofascism: The Queering of Hate." April 3, 2:30pm. Humanities Institute Conference Room, Homer Babbidge Library, 4th floor.

Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows

Breanna Bonner, “The Space Between Black and Liberation: A Digital Exploration of Intersectional Invisibility”

and Nathan Howard, “Homofascism: The Queering of Hate”

Wednesday April 3, 2024, 2:30pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room (HBL 4-209)

The event will also be livestreamed with automated captioning.

Register to attend virtually

Undergraduate Humanities Research Fellows Breanna Bonner and Nathan Howard will present on their fellowship projects.

“The Space Between Black and Liberation: A Digital Exploration of Intersectional Invisibility,” Breanna Bonner

“The Space Between Black and Liberation,” aims to conceptualize Black Women’s experiences of Intersectional Invisibility in Social Movements. While Black Women hold two or more marginalized identities and are hyper-visible in the violence that necessitates the creation of social movements (e.g sexual assault, police violence, racial or gender-based discrimination), they are often invisible within the goals and outcomes of social movement advocacy. This research project aims to understand and combat intersectional invisibility through the creation of an educational, interactive website. Considering the guiding question: “how do we physically make invisibility visible,validated, and move towards solutions? ”The website explores historical contexts and interventions in Intersectional Invisibility, amplifies ethnographic research of Black Women students on campus, and creates a crucial guiding framework for future journalists, social movement advocates, and policy-makers.

“Homofascism: The Queering of Hate,” Nathan Howard

Violent homophobia is a core component of white supremacist fascist ideologies, such as white separatist movements and neo-Nazism. How, then, do we make sense of the historical and contemporaneous incidence of gay fascist activism? How do gay fascists make sense of, or even reconcile, their gay identity with the heterosexist expectations endemic to fascist projects? Why would they endorse the abuse of persons like them, or agitate for projects that seek to oppress them? “Homofascism: The Queering of Hate,” is an attempt to answer such questions, highlighting the primacy of gender in fascist and homofascist discourse.

Breanna Bonner, sophomore at the University of Connecticut (UCONN) double-majoring in Human Rights and Political Science. Breanna is a former Student Strategist for Kansas City Defender, a mentor for the Human Rights Close to Home Program, Research Specialist for UConn’s First Year Programing office exploring institutional barriers for students accessing Higher Education , and an Undergraduate Research Fellow for the UConn Humanities Institute. In her free time she enjoys hiking, ice-skating, embroidery, hanging out with friends, and using Twitter.

Nathan Howard is a senior at UConn, majoring in Philosophy with a minor in Music. Nathan is an assistant editorial board member at the undergraduate philosophy journal Stance and an Undergraduate Fellow at the UConn Humanities Institute. His research interests include fascism and extremism, nihilism, feminist and queer theory, and social and political philosophy. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, making music, doomscrolling on social media, and watching bad movies.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

Fellow’s Talk: Oscar Guerra on Unveiling Migration Trauma

Posted on by

2023–24 Fellow's Talk. Invisible Wounds: Unveiling Migration Trauma. Associate Professor of Film and Video Production, Digital Media and Design, Oscar Guerra. With a response by Ana Maria Diaz-Marcos. March 27, 12:15pm. UCHI Conference Room. Homer Babbidge Library, fourth floor.

Invisible Wounds: Unveiling Migration Trauma

Oscar Guerra (Associate Professor of Film and Video, DMD, UConn)

with a response by Ana María Díaz-Marcos (LCL, UConn)

Wednesday March 27, 2024, 12:15pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room (HBL 4-209)

The event will also be livestreamed with automated captioning.

Register to attend virtually

“Invisible Wounds: Unveiling Migration Trauma” chronicles 15-year-old Ruth’s migration from Honduras to the US upon discovering her pregnancy. Through interviews and home videos, the documentary intimately reveals the struggles of millions of undocumented migrants, emphasizing their contributions to the nation. Beyond the journey’s challenges, it delves into reuniting with family, adapting to new lives, and confronting anti-immigrant sentiments. The film critically examines mental health barriers, offering a timely and empathetic portrayal of the often-overlooked struggles faced by this vulnerable sector of American society.

Oscar Guerra is an Emmy® award-winning director, researcher, and educator. He is an Associate Professor of Film and Video at the University of Connecticut and a producer at PBS FRONTLINE. Dr. Guerra’s focus is storytelling that promotes critical thinking and social investment. He aims to produce media that provides a way for underrepresented groups to share and disseminate counterstories, contradict dominant and potentially stereotypical narratives, and strengthen their voices and identities. Dr. Guerra’s career spans the spectrum of television environments, music, multimedia production, documentaries for social change, promotional video, immersive media, and vast international experience. Follow him @guerraproduction.

Ana María Díaz-Marcos is a Professor of Spanish Literature at the Department of Literatures, Cultures and Languages. Her research interests include Spanish literature and theater, feminism and gender studies, and Hispanic antifascism in the press. She has published a monograph on representations of fashion in modern Spanish literature entitled The Age of Silk (2006). Her book Thinking out of the Box: Spanish Writers and the Quest for Emancipation (2013) examines the rising of a feminist consciousness in Spain. She is the editor of an open-access anthology of plays written by contemporary Spanish women playwrights: Escenarios de crisis: dramaturgas españolas en el nuevo milenio (2018). Her latest Digital Humanities projects include a bilingual exhibition about the history of the antifascist newspaper La voz (1937-1939) that was published in New York, a collection of articles from that newspaper that illustrate the intersections of Pan-Hispanic feminism and antifascism in the thirties, and a collection of cartoons from the press entitled “Sketches of Harlem” by Puerto Rican artist José Valdés Cadilla, that is on display at CUNY this Fall.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

NEW DATE: Faculty Talk: Julian Schlöder on the Inauthentic Self

Posted on by

2024 Faculty Talk. "What is an inauthentic self?" Assistant Research Professor, Philosophy, Julian Schlöder. March 27, 3:30pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room, Fourth floor

What is an Inauthentic Self?

Julian Schlöder (Assistant Research Professor, Philosophy, UConn)

Wednesday March 27, 2024, 3:30pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room (HBL 4-209)

The event will also be livestreamed with automated captioning.

Register to attend virtually

Although these are common phrases, it is somewhat unclear what it is to “be something one is not” or to “not be one’s authentic self.” There is, after all, no other source of selfhood than who one actually is. One also owes to no-one a particular way of being other than to oneself. But given that therefore the self is its own’s only yardstick, how can there be an inauthentic self? Towards an answer, I explore a conception of selfhood as meaning-making. One’s self-narrative creates meaning from bare facticity and is hence is not just something we tell about ourselves, but it is how we articulate our very self. Self-narratives can apprehend themselves as more or less coherent meaning-makers, so a self can fall short of its own standards. From this theoretical standpoint, I explore how stereotypes inflict damage onto selves by standing in the way of meaning-making, and how coming out as a queer identity is to create meaning from incoherence.

Julian J. Schlöder is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Connecticut. They studied philosophy, mathematics, and logic at the Universities of Bonn and Amsterdam, receiving their doctorate in 2018. They are a co-author of the monograph Reasoning with Attitude (Oxford UP, 2023).

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.

From Wine Moms to QAnon: A Workshop on Online Wellness and White Supremacy

Posted on by

From Wine Moms to QAnon: or, What’s the Problem with Self-Care? The Surprising Connections between White Supremacy and Online Wellness. Friday, March 22, 2024. 12:30pm Workshop. 2pm Panel 1: Unexpected Crossovers to Conspiracy. 3:30pm Panel 2: So What’s the Problem with Self-Care?. UCHI Conference Room.

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpreting, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities. The panel discussion will be livestreamed with automated captioning.

The Medical Humanities & Arts Initiative presents:

From Wine Moms to QAnon: or, What’s the Problem with Self-Care? The Surprising Connections between White Supremacy and Online Wellness

March 20, 2020
Writing Workshop: 12:30–2:00. Register to attend workshop.
Panels: 2:00–5:00pm. Register to attend panels virtually
Homer Babbidge Library, UCHI Conference Room

The spread of online racism, homophobia, and misogyny continues to wreak havoc in our homes, our schools, and our streets. Media coverage has illuminated how the toxic masculinity of the Proud Boys and other hate groups function in these spaces. Most of us—students and faculty alike—know to avoid these openly hateful spaces, and often take refuge in seemingly frivolous posts about wellness, beauty and self-care. Yet the spread of white nationalism continues unabated, often with “recruits” emerging in surprising places.

Join us for an interdisciplinary workshop and panel discussion that explores how mommy blogs and beauty influencer posts offer “innocent” vehicles for white supremacist tenets of purity, and rigid bodily surveillance.

The day will begin with a writing workshop (12:30-2:00 pm) in which all researchers working on adjacent topics will be invited to join us in group writing and discussion in response to a pre-circulated article. Join us for lunch and the opportunity to think and write with other scholars thinking through these thorny issues. This workshop is open to faculty and graduate students. Registration is required.

The workshop is followed by two panel discussions, open to all. Please consider inviting your undergraduate students; we are eager to learn from their perspectives on contemporary online culture.

Schedule:

12:30-2:00 Writing Workshop with Lunch Register for the workshop

2:00-3:30 Panel 1: Unexpected Crossovers to Conspiracy

“Conspiracism” Eric Berg, Philosophy, UConn
“Romance” Alexis Boylan, Art History, Africana Institute, UConn
“Wine Mom” Beth Marshall, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, CA

3:30-3:45 Coffee Break

3:45-5:00: Panel 2: So What’s the Problem with Self-Care?

“Retreat” Leigh Gilmore, English, The Ohio State University
“It Girls” Tracy Llanera, Philosophy, UConn
“Microbiome” Rebekah Sheldon, English, University of Indiana

Faculty Talk: Elizabeth Della Zazzera on French Poetry Almanacs

Posted on by

2024 Faculty Talk "The French Left Maastricht on May 4": Time, Place, and French Poetry Almanacs. Assistant Professor in Residence, History, Elizabeth Della Zazzera. Humanities Institute Conference Room, Homer Babbidge Library, March 20, 2024, 3:30pm.

“The French Left Maastrich on May 4”: Time, Place, and French Poetry Almanacs

Elizabeth Della Zazzera (Assistant Professor in Residence, History, UConn)

Wednesday March 20, 2024, 3:30pm, Humanities Institute Conference Room (HBL 4-209)

The event will also be livestreamed with automated captioning.

Register to attend virtually

On the May souvenir page of her 1814 copy of Hommage aux dames, Henriette Françoise Louise Rigano recorded that her husband, Albert Prisse, had traveled to Paris on May 19. On that same page, she wrote that “the French left Maastricht on May 4,” juxtaposing the movements of her family members with the history of the collapse of Napoleon’s European empire. Hommage aux dames was one of a series of very similar almanac titles (Almanach des dames, Almanach dédié aux demoiselles, etc.) produced in France and marketed to women in the first decades of the nineteenth century. This talk will explore how these almanacs, which were primarily poetry anthologies with calendars and sometimes souvenir pages attached, shifted the almanac’s relationship to locality and to time, not only because of their content and format, but also because of how they were used.

Elizabeth Della Zazzera is an assistant professor in residence in the University of Connecticut’s History department and Director of Communications & Undergraduate Outreach at the UConn Humanities Institute. A historian of modern Europe, she received her Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016. Her scholarship focuses on how ideas move on the ground—how their method of transmission and dissemination affects the ideas themselves—with a particular emphasis on the intellectual history of material texts and urban environments in revolutionary and post-revolutionary France. Her current book project explores the role of the periodical press, the theatre, and literary sociability in the bataille romantique: the conflict between romantics and classicists. She is also working on a project about French literary almanacs in the early nineteenth century. Her article, “Translating Revolutionary Time: French Republican Almanacs in the United States” was awarded the 2015 Book History essay prize.

Access note

If you require accommodation to attend this event, please contact us at uchi@uconn.edu or by phone (860) 486-9057. We can request ASL interpretation, computer-assisted real time transcription, and other accommodations offered by the Center for Students with Disabilities.