CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Prize-winning poets, journalist Naomi Klein, and a University of Illinois physicist will be among the speakers this fall on a diverse schedule of lectures and discussions at the U. of I.
Five of the 14 events will focus on immigration. Among other topics on the schedule are children's books, comic books, Arab attitudes, human rights, superconductors, Cambodia, Cuba, capitalism in Latin America, and Dante's "The Divine Comedy."
The lectures and discussions are sponsored by the Center for Advanced Study at the University of Illinois. Several are part of the CAS MillerComm series, begun in 1973 and supported with funds from the George A. Miller Endowment and several co-sponsoring campus units. The MillerComm 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 event on the fall schedule, on Sept. 9, will be the CAS Annual Lecture, this year given by Dale J. Van Harlingen, a CAS Professor of physics at Illinois, on "Searching for Unconventional Superconductors: A Quantum Map-Quest." Van Harlingen will discuss the quest to explain the extraordinary and puzzling properties of superconductors, especially those discovered in recent decades, and their potential for technological impact. His talk begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana.
Subsequent lectures:
• Sept. 11, "Migration and National Development: Reconciling Opposite Views," by Alejandro Portes, a professor of sociology at Princeton University. Portes will discuss the factors involved, and schools of thought, regarding human migration and its effects on the development and policies of both sending and receiving countries.
His lecture, part of a CAS campuswide initiative on immigration, begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
• Sept. 18, "A New Deal for the Nursery: Golden Books and the Democratization of American Children's Book Publishing," by Leonard S. Marcus, author, critic and children's book historian. Marcus will discuss the forces, technologies and marketing innovations that came together in the creation in 1942 of the children's book publisher Little Golden Books, and how it revolutionized the way families viewed books for young people. His MillerComm talk begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
• Sept. 24, "Enchiladas, Dim Sum and Apple Pie: Immigration and Food," a presentation by U. of I. Chancellor Richard Herman and professors Jorge Chapa, sociology; Amy Gajda, journalism; and Martin Manalansan, anthropology. Herman will discuss the significance of immigration, and the professors will discuss the relationship between various migrations and notions of ethnic and American food. The presentation, part of the CAS immigration initiative, begins at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W. Illinois St., Urbana, and will end with a spread of ethnic foods.
• Oct. 2, "The View From the Street: Attitudes Toward Politics and Religion Among Ordinary Citizens in the Arab World," by Mark Tessler, the Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan. Tessler will discuss findings from opinion research in the Muslim world and how those findings challenge popular U.S. and European notions of a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. His lecture begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
• Oct. 7, "What's New About the New Immigrants?" by Nancy Foner, professor of sociology at the City University of New York. Foner will discuss the parallels and contrasts between the current large influx of immigration and that of a century ago, as well as how the earlier influx helped shape the immigrant experience of today. Her talk, part of the CAS immigration initiative, begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
• Oct. 8, "The Old New Media of Comics Art: Comics and Graphic Novels in the 21st Century," by Damian Duffy, a doctoral candidate in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and John Jennings, a professor of graphic design, both at Illinois. Duffy and Jennings, curators of a fall exhibition on comics at the Krannert Art Museum, will discuss the art found in comic books, comic strips, graphic novels and manga, as well as the history and future of these forms. Their talk begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
• Oct. 22, "Forum on Comparative Immigration Policy Issues," featuring as panelists Illinois professors Doug Kibbee, French; Alejandro Lugo, anthropology; and Dorothee Schneider, history. The forum, part of the CAS immigration initative, begins at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center.
• Oct. 23, "The Flute Player: Moving Beyond the Madness of War," by Arn Chorn-Pond, a human-rights activist and founder of Cambodian Living Arts. Chorn-Pond will discuss his life before and after the Khmer Rouge killing fields, and his work to revitalize his Cambodian homeland, its people, and their cultural heritage. His MillerComm talk begins at 7 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
• Oct. 28, "Merwin, Pinsky and Powers," a discussion of Dante's "The Divine Comedy" featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin, former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky, and author Richard Powers, a CAS Professor and the Swanlund Chair in English, serving as moderator. The discussion, a CAS and Krannert Center for the Performing Arts CultureTalk event, is being held in conjunction with the Program in Medieval Studies conference "Translating the Middle Ages." The event begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Colwell Playhouse Theatre at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana.
• Oct. 29, "Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism in Latin America," by Naomi Klein, author of a similarly titled 2007 book, as well as of the book "No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies."
Klein, who is also a columnist for The Nation and The Guardian, will lay out her view of how Latin America became a laboratory for neoliberal economic ideas such as those championed by Milton Friedman and his "Chicago Boys." Her MillerComm talk begins at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Smith Memorial Hall, 805 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana.
• Nov. 3, "In the Trails of the Historic Diaspora: Africa's New Global Migrations and Diasporas," by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Zeleza's talk, part of the CAS immigration initiative, begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
• Nov. 5, "Human Rights and the Struggle for Global Justice," by Geoffrey Robertson, author of the book "Crimes Against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice," and one of three jurists on the United Nation's new Internal Justice Council. Robertson will examine the hopes and challenges in the current struggle for global justice. His MillerComm talk begins at 4 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center.
• Nov. 13, "The Cultural Politics of Identity and the Cuban Revolution," by Louis Perez, the J. Carlyle Sitterson Professor of History at the University of North Carolina. Perez will discuss the "special relations" between Cubans and North Americans from the late 1800s forward and how they established the climate that greeted the Cuban revolution in 1959. His MillerComm talk begins at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium.
Those interested in attending CAS events should note that occasionally they must be canceled or rescheduled, and lectures may be added later in the semester. For additional information, or to confirm details prior to a lecture, check the events calendar on the CAS Web site.
To receive notification on individual events, phone 217-333-6729 or e-mail cas@illinois.edu; indicate your preference for postal mail or e-mail.
Also check the Web site for audio podcasts and streaming video of many CAS presentations, which are generally posted one to two weeks after the event.
