bell hooks and the Power of Teaching: A Reflective Panel Discussion

A panel of WashU faculty, administrators, and staff will reflect on the life and legacy of bell hooks, with a particular focus on insights and lessons gleaned from Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom and Teaching Community: a Pedagogy of Hope.

Panelists

• Adrienne Davis, J.D. William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law; Founder & Co-director of the Law & Culture Initiative; Professor of Organizational Behavior and Leadership, Olin Business School
• Anna Gonzalez, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
• Meg Gregory, PhD, Associate Director for Faculty Programs and Services, Center for Teaching and Learning
• Eliza Williamson, PhD, Lecturer in Latin American Studies and Romance Language & Literatures
• Rafia Zafar, PhD, Professor of English, African and African-American Studies, and American Culture Studies

This event is open to members of the WashU community.

‘Hypnerotomachie’: A Rare Book Open House

University Libraries recently acquired a rare copy of Hypnerotomachie, printed in Paris in 1561. The book features gorgeous illustrations, interesting layouts, and notes from previous owners. Hypnerotomachie will be on display with other items from the Rare Book Collections that contextualize its importance in history.

Free and open to all, registration required.

Faculty Book Talk: Miguel A. Valerio

Sovereign Joy: Afro-Mexican Kings and Queens, 1539–1640, provides an exploration of how Afro-Mexicans affirmed their culture, subjectivities, and colonial condition through festive culture and performance.

Join us for a discussion with Miguel A. Valerio (Romance Languages and Literatures). His talk will be followed by a Q&A, and refreshments will be provided.

Free and open to all, registration required. Organized by University Libraries.

Intersections: Black and Indigenous Sound in the Early Atlantic World

Join us in exploring the intersections of Black and Indigenous sounds and music in the early Atlantic world. The event will feature short presentations from leading scholars, Q&A sessions, music, and a performance by the Charlottesville-based band Lua, known for their innovative blend of Latin-American and Appalachian tradition. The event is free and open to all.

This public event is part of a two-day symposium that focuses on sound in the early Atlantic world. In recent decades, thinkers in Black Studies and Indigenous Studies have transformed our understanding of this region's deeply multicultural past. But disciplinary, geographic, and linguistic divides can make it difficult for those working in diverse fields to bring research in these areas into dialogue. This symposium gathers scholars of music, history, literature and languages to converse about early Indigenous and Black performances in Latin America, the colonial United States, Atlantic Africa, Europe, and throughout the Atlantic basin.

This event is timed to coincide with Hispanic heritage month and Indigenous People’s Day in order, to highlight intersections among Indigenous and Black performances in Latin-American and Anglo American colonial histories. In the spirit of collaboration, participants converse across disciplines in pursuit of a more inclusive understanding of the colonial past.

Collective, interdisciplinary thinking is an important “next step” in the burgeoning field of early Atlantic sound. By moving beyond traditional subjects, geographies, and disciplinary divides, scholars can work together to tackle common challenges and better attune our ears to harmonies and resonances throughout the vast region.

Humanities Research Center, College of Humanities and Sciences, Virginia Commonwealth University
 

The fantastical anatomical collections of Frederik Ruysch: A symposium

Ruysch’s anatomical tableaux are some of the most compelling images in the history of scientific illustration: Fetal skeletons stand on mountains of kidney stones and specimens float in jars topped with arrangements of dried flowers — a vision of death and science that can be disconcerting to modern eyes. 

Becker Library had the honor of contributing images to a new English translation of the works of Frederik Ruysch. The latest edition was edited by Joanna Ebenstein of the Morbid Anatomy Museum, who joins us as keynote speaker for this special one-day event to celebrate the book's launch. 

In this symposium, we’ll explore the fascinating works of Dutch anatomist and botanist Frederik Ruysch and discuss the early modern artistic and scientific traditions that gave rise to his vision.

    
Keynote speaker

Joanna Ebenstein, Founder & Creative Director, Morbid Anatomy Museum

Panelists

Claudia Swan, Mark Steinberg Weil Professor of Art History, Washington University in St. Louis

Rebecca Messbarger, Professor of Italian, Washington University in St. Louis                  

Elizabeth Wyckoff, Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, Saint Louis Art Museum

New Perspectives Talk: Martín Chambi

Rest as Resistance: Photography of Martín Chambi

Karla Aguilar Velásquez, PhD student in Hispanic Studies, discusses the work of Indigenous photographer, Martín Chambi, who photographed Inca ruins and portraits of Andean communities in the early 20th century. The talk challenges Chambi’s association with Peruvian Indigenism, a cultural-political movement that celebrated the place of the Indigenous community within national identity, and considers how the photographs function as forms of resistance to performing exceptionality as national pride through scenes of leisure.

2022 Nobel Prize Laureate Annie Ernaux Reading & Discussion

In celebration of Annie Ernaux’s Nobel Prize, the Libraries and the Department of Romance Languages and Literature welcome you to a special reading and discussion. Ernaux is a prominent French writer, professor of literature, and was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature on October 6, 2022.