Faculty Lecture Series § Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences §

Faculty Lecture Series

The Faculty Lecture Series in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences explores the college faculty’s diverse areas of interest in the humanities, natural, and social sciences. Come join the college for lively discussions about ideas and issues.

2008 Winter Semester Schedule

"Duppy or Gunman?": Articulations of the Supernatural in Caribbean Popular Culture
Andrea Shaw, Ph.D., assistant professor of English
Thursday, January 10, at 12:00–1:00 p.m. in Parker 240

Magical realism and the use of supernatural motifs resonate within post-colonial literature as a vibrant form of discourse through which historical traumas are often negotiated and both personal and communal marginalization expressed. Concurrently, this discourse, grounded in the supernatural, has taken place within Caribbean popular culture. From the Mighty Sparrow’s “Obeah Wedding” to Ernie Smith’s “Duppy or a Gunman,” numerous Caribbean songs make reference to the world of spirits and the practice of magic. This lecture will explore such articulations of the supernatural in Caribbean popular culture.

Are Inappropriate Relationships Inappropriate?
Michael D. Reiter, Ph.D, associate professor of psychology
Thursday, February 7, at 12:00–1:00 p.m. in Parker 240

Human beings enter into relationships with one another based on societal rules of appropriateness and inappropriateness. This talk focuses on those relationships that might be deemed inappropriate and try to deconstruct the truth behind their inappropriateness. The talk will also highlight how labeling a relationship as inappropriate has the power to impact people’s behaviors; preventing some people from entering into them or for those who do engage in them, to feel bad about being in them. Inappropriate relationships will be broken down into a taxonomy to demonstrate how there are varying degrees of inappropriateness. Their inappropriateness will be challenged.

Stacking the Deck: Japan, the International Whaling Commission, and the Resumption of Commercial Whale Harvests
Ed Keith, Ph.D., associate professor of biology
Tuesday, February 19, at 5:00–6:00 p.m. in Parker 240

During the 19th and 20th centuries, most populations of large whales were severely depleted by whaling. Beginning in the 1930s, the most seriously affected species were given protection, and, in 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) instituted a moratorium on commercial whaling. With protection, populations were expected to rebuild, and many have. However, certain nations, including Japan, Norway, and Iceland, have continued to harvest whales, either ignoring the IWC moratorium or by invoking the need to collect more data, i.e. “scientific whaling.” In an attempt to change IWC policies, Japan has embarked on a plan to recruit small, in some cases relatively new, nations that have at least some historical tradition of whaling into the IWC in order to engender support for the resumption of commercial whale harvests. This lecture will explore the politics behind the Japanese effort, the legitimacy of the claims of indigenous and/or historical whaling, the quality and utility of the information collected by “scientific whaling,” and the potential impact of the resumption of whaling on whale populations.

Who’s the Man? Truth and Power in America
Jason E. Piccone, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology
Thursday, March 13, at 12:00–1:00 p.m. in Parker 240

"The man" is used as a popular term to indicate those in power. Who exactly are the people in power? Further, what type of power do these people hold and how can power be redistributed in a socially just manner? This talk will explore how a small minority of people control the political, cultural, and economical power in our country and how this power has served to maintain an exploitative relationship over the rest of the populace. Finally, Piccone will discuss how power can be shifted away from this ruling class through the acquisition of knowledge, civic activism, and, ultimately, through a shift in our cultural paradigm.

Fuzzy Truth: What We Learn from Observing the World
Evan Haskell, Ph.D., assistant professor of mathematics
Thursday, April 3, at 12:00–1:00 p.m. in Parker 240

Scientists often talk about a search for absolute truth. However, scientists have one small problem with such a truth; in general, they cannot know it. How old is the universe? Scientists believe the universe is about 13.7 billion years old. To come up with this age, scientists have endeavored into the scientific method. The scientific method is a statistical process where seeing is believing. Beliefs are stated, and we ask if what we observe in the world is in logical agreement with what is seen. This form of hypothesis testing is used quite broadly outside of the classical sciences. For example, have you ever heard a judge pronounce a defendant "innocent"? This lecture will discuss the limitations of the scientific method and empirical means to uncover absolute truths about the world.

Truth and Politics:
The White Rose: The Courage to Challenge Evil by Stephen R. Levitt, LL.M., associate professor of legal studies
How to Tell the Truth About the Past: Lessons from Eastern Europe by Alex Cuc, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology
Thursday, April 24, at 5:00–7:00 p.m. in Parker 240

The White Rose: The Courage to Challenge Evil - In 1942–1943, a group of students in Munich began writing leaflets which called upon the population to resist the Nazi regime. In these leaflets, the students attempted to bring out the truth of the Holocaust and of the military situation, namely that Germany would lose the war. Ultimately, the authorities learned the identity of leaflets' authors. These students were brought before the courts and sentenced to death. Today in Germany, their memory and sacrifice are honored.

How to Tell the Truth About the Past: Lessons from Eastern Europe - Almost twenty years after the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, citizens and governments of these new democracies are still trying to find the best way to remember their Communist past. This talk will focus on the decision of some, but not all, Eastern European legislatures to open the files of the secret police, and how such laws have dramatically changed the lives and memories of the people living in these countries.

2007 Fall Semester Schedule

Philosophical Conceptions of Truth
Darren Hibbs, Ph.D., assistant professor of philosophy

The Soul of the Psychopath
Tom Fagan, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology

Truth and Power in Modern China
Tim Dixon, J.D., associate professor of history and legal studies

Truth, Power, and the Mexican Cult of Death: The Life and Art of Frida Kahlo
Barbara Brodman, Ph.D., professor of global studies and Latin American and Caribbean studies

For more information, please contact Jim Doan, professor in the Division of Humanities.