CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The war in Iraq, the “care sector” of the economy, the politics of water, and the preservation of music will be the topics of four late fall lectures in the Center for Advanced Study/MillerComm lecture series at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Also on the schedule is the CAS Annual Lecture, to be presented by Karl Hess, CAS professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois, on the topic of quantum computing, as well as another lecture in the CAS-sponsored “Memory Project.”
The MillerComm lecture series began in 1973 and is supported with funds from the George A. Miller Endowment and several co-sponsoring campus units. The lectures provide a forum for discourse on topics spanning the university’s many disciplines.
All CAS talks are free and open to the public.
The first of the four MillerComm lectures will come on Oct. 21, with “Iraq: From Sanctions to Occupation and Resistance,” presented by Tariq Ali, a writer, journalist, filmmaker and outspoken critic of the American occupation of Iraq. Ali will discuss themes from his book “Bush in Babylon,” and argue how Bush administration policies intended to promote democracy in the Middle East, by way of Iraq, may have precisely the opposite effect. His talk begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana.
Subsequent MillerComm and other CAS lectures:
• Oct. 22, “Android Dreams and Transnational Care Work,” by Nancy Folbre, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Folbre will explore the changing “care sector” of the economy, including the declining supply of unpaid labor, efforts to develop robots to assist the elderly, and the migration of women from developing countries to work in this sector. Her lecture begins at 4 p.m. in Room 314 of the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana.
• Nov. 3, the CAS Annual Lecture by Karl Hess, “The Debate Between Einstein and Bohr and Its Consequences for Quantum Computing.” Hess will explore questions surrounding the development of quantum computers that would eclipse the performance of conventional digital computers. His lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum.
• Nov. 4, “Water and Its Publics: Social Action Across Spaces and Scales,” by Amita Baviskar, a professor of sociology at the University of Delhi in India. Baviskar will discuss the local and global aspects of “hydropolitics,” concerning conflicts over the ownership, distribution and use of water. Her talk begins at 7:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana.
• Nov. 8, “Learning, Memory and Cognitive Development: They’re All in Your Connections,” by Jay McClelland, the Walter Van Dyke Bingham Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at Carnegie Mellon University. In this second of the CAS Memory Project lectures, McClelland will discuss ideas about how learning, memory and cognitive development arise from changes in the strengths and connections between neurons. His lecture begins at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center.
• Nov. 16, “Music Libraries and Archives in the Cultural Chemistry of America,” by Alan Jabbour, retired director of the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress. Jabbour will talk about the roles that archives, libraries and heritage centers play in the preservation of music and in the promotion of America’s diverse cultures. His lecture begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum.
For additional information, or to confirm scheduling details prior to a lecture, check the events section of the CAS Web site.
