The Syracuse University Humanities Center, based in the College of Arts and Sciences, continues its spring series of lectures, workshops, and performances. Special guests include hip-hop activist and Public Enemy associate Harry Allen, Spanish author and critic Laura Freixas, British-Nigerian singer and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador nominee Ola Onabulé, and cultural theorist Cary Wolfe.

“This spring is one of the Humanities Center’s most ambitious to date,” says Vivian May, director of the center and associate professor of women’s & gender studies. “We’re excited to support a rich array of scholars and artists who engage with the humanities as a public good. Many of them are committed to addressing issues of broad societal concern in the public and scholarly realms.”

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit syracusehumanities.org or call 315-443-7192.

The March schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, March 1
Lecture: “Prototyping Absence, Remaking Old Media”
4:30 p.m.
Guerlac Room in the Andrew Dickson White House, Cornell University (29 East Ave., Ithaca, N.Y.)
Jentery Sayers, assistant professor of English and director of the Maker Lab in the Humanities at the University of Victoria (Canada), discusses how historians of media and technology, when conducting archival research, often encounter devices that no longer work or exist only as illustrations, fictions, or one-offs. Sayers outlines ways to prototype absences in the historical record. Supported by The Central New York Humanities Corridor, from an award by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Organizers: The CNY Humanities Corridor, The Society for the Humanities (Cornell), and Cornell University Library

Co-Sponsors: The Writing Program, The Writing Program’s Student Organization and Composition & Cultural Rhetoric Graduate Circle, the Humanities Center, and the Department of English (all in A&S); Syracuse University Libraries; and the Digital Humanities Working Group of The CNY Humanities Corridor


Thursday, March 3
Lecture: “Making Things, Writing Things: Prototyping as a Compositional Strategy”
2:15-3:45 p.m.
The Kilian Room (500), Hall of Languages
Syracuse Symposium continues its yearlong “Networks” theme with a presentation by Sayers, who examines scholarly communication, with an emphasis on rapid prototyping (i.e., the production of abstract models in tactile form). Supported by The CNY Humanities Corridor, from an award by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Co-Sponsors: The Writing Program, The Writing Program’s Student Organization and Composition & Cultural Rhetoric Graduate Circle, and the Department of English (all in A&S); Syracuse University Libraries; and the Digital Humanities Working Group of The CNY Humanities Corridor


Thursday, March 3
Panel Discussion: “Poetry of Content: A Roundtable Discussion with Exhibition Artists”
7-9 p.m.
Watson Theater
SUArt Galleries’ “Poetry of Content” features an evening with the show’s participating artists: Robert Birmelin, Tim Lowly, Bill Murphy, Gillian Pederson-Krag, and Joel Sheesley, moderated by Jerome Witkin, professor of painting in the School of Art in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (SU:VPA). “Poetry of Content” is co-curated by Witkin and David Prince G’83, associate director and curator of collections at SUArt Galleries.

Co-Sponsors: The Program in Painting in the School of Art (SU:VPA) and the Department of Art & Music Histories (A&S)


Friday, March 4
Mini Seminar: “Scalar for Beginners: An Introduction to Media-Rich Scholarly Communication,” led by Jentery Sayers
9 a.m. to noon
Room 227, Huntington Beard Crouse Hall
Sayers provides an overview of Scalar, a free open-source authoring and publishing platform that facilitates long-form, web-based scholarship. Supported by The CNY Humanities Corridor, from an award by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Co-Sponsors: The Writing Program, The Writing Program’s Student Organization and Composition & Cultural Rhetoric Graduate Circle, and the Department of English (all in A&S); Syracuse University Libraries; and the Digital Humanities Working Group of The CNY Humanities Corridor


Wednesday, March 9
Lecture: “To Kill a Mockingbird: From Jim Crow to Black Lives Matter”
2-2:45 p.m.
Syracuse Stage (820 East Genesee St.)
Kevin Maillard, a professor in the Syracuse University College of Law and an expert on sex, race, and family in the United States, leads a pre-performance discussion and Q&A about the ongoing relevance of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Organizer: Syracuse Stage

Wednesday, March 9
Lecture: “The Poetics of Extinction”
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Room 123, Sims Hall
Cary Wolfe, the Bruce and Elizabeth Dunlevie Professor of English and director of the Center for Critical and Cultural Theory (3CT) at Rice University, delivers The CNY Humanities Corridor Mellon Distinguished Visiting Collaborator Public Lecture. He will focus on how art, science, and philosophy respond to the concept of extinction, along with society’s ethical responsibilities to other forms of life.

Principal Organizer: The CNY Humanities Corridor

Co-Sponsors: The Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies (SU:VPA) and the Humanities Center (A&S)


Thursday, March 10
Screenings and Talkback: “Between Species”
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Hosmer Auditorium, Everson Museum of Art (401 Harrison St., Syracuse)
“Between Species,” an Urban Video Project / Light Work exhibition exploring what it means to be an “animal,” presents an evening of curated videos, followed by a conversation between Cary Wolf, The CNY Humanities Corridor Mellon Distinguished Visiting Collaborator, and Maria Whiteman, an assistant professor of drawing/intermedia at the University of Alberta and a Lynette S. Autrey Visiting Scholar at Rice University's Humanities Research Center.

Principal Organizer: The CNY Humanities Corridor


Friday, March 11
Mini-Seminar: “After Biopolitics”
9 a.m. to noon
Room 304, Tolley Humanities Building
Registration required: RSVP mmditmar@syr.edu by Monday, March 7
Cary Wolfe delivers The CNY Humanities Corridor Mellon Distinguished Visiting Collaborator Mini-Seminar. His presentation will address connections between animal studies and post-humanism, systems theory and pragmatism, biopolitics and biophilosophy, and American literature and culture.

Principal Organizer: The CNY Humanities Corridor

Co-Sponsor: The Humanities Center (A&S)

Tuesday, March 22
Lecture/Recital: “A Global Journey Through the Arts”
4-5:30 p.m.
Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (Room 114), Bird Library
British-Nigerian singer Ola Onabulé reflects on his success as an R&B performer, singer-songwriter, record producer, studio head, and label owner. In line to become a UNESCO Honorary and Goodwill Ambassador to Nigeria, he is joined in conversation by James Gordon Williams, assistant professor of African American studies in A&S.

Co-Sponsors: The Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation; Office of the Provost (Syracuse University); and Office of the Dean, the Humanities Center, Department of Art & Music Histories, and The Africa Initiative, on behalf of the Department of African American Studies (all in A&S)


Wednesday, March 23
Lecture: “Shooting the Enemy: My Life in Pictures with the People Who Became P.E. (Public Enemy)”
7-8:30 p.m.
Watson Theater
Harry Allen (a.k.a. “The Media Assassin”), a hip-hop activist, journalist, D.J., and photographer, discusses his involvement with the legendary group Public Enemy. Moderated by Theo Cateforis, associate professor of music history and cultures and chair of the Department of Art and Music Histories in A&S.

Co-Sponsors: Departments of Art & Music Histories and African American Studies, as well as the Humanities Center (all in A&S); the Student Association’s Co-Curricular Fee Fund (Division of Student Affairs); and the Bandier Program in the Setnor School of Music (SU:VPA)


Thursday, March 24
Dinner/Workshop: “The Possibilities for Urban Acupuncture in Three Syracuse Neighborhoods”
5:30-7 p.m.
Nancy Cantor Warehouse, Ste. 405 (305 West Fayette St.)
Anne Mosher, associate professor of geography in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, co-organizes a "working dinner" to discuss the role of arts and technology in making local communities safer and more vibrant.

Co-Sponsor: Office of Community Engagement and Economic Development

Tuesday, March 29
Welcome reception for Laura Freixas, the Humanities Center's 2016 Jeanette K. Watson Distinguished Visiting Professor
5-6:30 p.m.
Goldstein Alumni & Faculty Center
Freixas is a Spanish author, publisher, literary critic, and translator. Known the world over for her fiction and nonfiction writing, including the award-winning Feminine Novel and Its Readers (The National University of Córdoba, 2009), she is a renowned scholar and proponent of living female writers. The event includes light refreshments, live music, and an author book-signing.

During her visit to campus, Freixas will be hosted by Kathryn Everly, professor of Spanish literature and culture in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics in A&S.


Thursday, March 31
Lecture: “Woman According to Clarice Lispector”
4-6 p.m.
Peter Graham Scholarly Commons (Room 114), Bird Library
Laura Freixas considers the life and work of the late Clarice Lispector, arguably the most important Jewish writer since Franz Kafka.


The Humanities Center, located in the Tolley Humanities Building, is a hub of humanities research, fellowships, and public programming. Click here for the complete Spring 2016 schedule.