Fall 2023 Research Seminar Schedule
Seminars are open to all graduate students, faculty and staff of the University of Kansas and their guests. All seminars will be held from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm, unless noted otherwise. No prior registration is required. Please sign up below to receive e-mailed information about each seminar.
Papers for sessions are available as password protected PDF files via their individual entries below.
If you would like seminar paper password information, e-mail Hall Center Administrative Associate April Walton at hchseminars@ku.edu.
You can sign-up to receive e-mail updates for individual seminars by filling out this online form.
Colonialism Seminar
This seminar examines the history and legacy of colonialism in Latin America. Meetings provide an opportunity for a dynamic examination of hemispherical and transatlantic connections across four major themes: identity, territory, religion, and cultural production.
For more information, contact Robert Schwaller (History, 864-9435, schwallr@ku.edu) or Christine Bourgeois (French, 864-9074, cbourgeois@ku.edu)
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Charlie Samuelson - French & Italian, University of Colorado, Boulder
“TBD”
Monday, November 06, 2023
Hayden Nelson - History, KU
“The Wooden West: Industrial Capitalism and Indigenous Dispossession in the North Woods, 1825-1860”
Disability Studies Seminar
The Disability Studies Seminar will provide a much-needed forum for scholars to explore and share research on topics relevant to disability within and across the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Scholars within Disability Studies tend to recognize disability in terms of social construction and minority culture.
For more information, contact Ray Mizumura-Pence (American Studies, 864-2302, rpence@ku.edu) or Sherrie Tucker (American Studies, 864-2305, sjtucker@ku.edu).
Thursday, August 31, 2023
Lydia Epp Schmidt - American Studies, KU
“On Dandelions and Dis/connection: Toward an Expansive Pain Care Protocol”
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Michelle Jarman - Wyoming Institute for Disability Studies; Gender & Women's Studies, University of Wyoming
“Interdependence as Ecosystems of Care: Insights from Crip Memoirs”
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Hassan Reeder - Counselor Education, Emporia State
“The Silent Struggle: Intersectionality Between Disability and Imposter Syndrome”
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Sean Kamperman - English, KU
“Who’s Evidence? Toward a Community-Based Epistemology of Mental Health Care”
Gender Seminar
The Gender Seminar studies gender as a basic concept in humanistic scholarship and/or as a fundamental organizing principle in social life.
For more information, contact Marie Grace Brown (History, 864-9462, mgbrown@ku.edu) or Katie Batza (Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, 864-2310, batza@ku.edu).
Thursday, September 07, 2023
Ekin Birdir - Psychology, KU
“Decolonial Interventions to Feminist Psychology”
Thursday, October 05, 2023
Brian Donovan - Sociology, KU
“Gaylors and Hetlors: Listening to Sexual Identity in the Taylor Swift Fandom”
Humanities Out Loud: Music, Theater, Literature & Culture Seminar
The Humanities Out Loud seminar seeks to link forms of cultural production that employ the medium of sound in the making, dissemination and/or interpretation of cultural expression. Music and other performing arts are a particularly dynamic area of culture because they emerge in public spaces and speak to identity, cultural difference, and power dynamics in inescapable ways.
For more information, contact Araceli Masterson-Algar (American Studies, 864-3851, aracelimasterson@ku.edu) or Jonathan Mayhew (Department of Spanish & Portuguese, 864-0287, jmayhew@ku.edu).
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Benjamin Fraser - Spanish and Portuguese, University of Arizona
“Tete Montoliu, Jazz, Barcelona: Reflections from Popular Music Studies, Urban Studies, and Disability Studies”
Monday, October 23, 2023
Paul Laird - Musicology, KU
“Broadway Orchestration’s Contribution to Characterization and Dramatic Impact: The Case of West Side Story”
Monday, November 27, 2023
Purna Bangere - Mathematics / Music, KU
“Metaraga: geometric foundation for a music without East or West”
Medieval & Early Modern Seminar
The Medieval & Early Modern Seminar meets each semester to discuss original work relating to any aspect of the history, culture, literature, art, or society of any part of the world between c. 400 and c.1800.
For more information, contact Jonathan Lamb (English, 864-2525, jonathanplamb@ku.edu) or Caroline Jewers (French & Italian, 864-9028, cjewers@ku.edu).
Thursday, September 21, 2023
Tracy Rutler - French and Francophone Studies, Penn State University
“TBD”
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Charlie Samuelson - French & Italian, University of Colorado, Boulder
“TBD”
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Emily Casey - Art History, KU
“TBD”
Nature & Culture Seminar
Nature is our oldest home and our newest challenge. This seminar brings the perspective of the humanities to bear on past and present environmental issues. It includes research on the changing perception, representation, and valuation of nature in human life, on the reciprocal impact of environmental change on social change, and on the variety of ways we use, consume, manage, and revere the earth. Co-sponsored by Environmental Studies.
For more information, contact Phillip Drake (English, pdrake@ku.edu, 864-4520) or Alex Boynton (Environmental Studies, ajboynton@ku.edu, 864-9648)
The Nature & Culture Seminar will resume in Spring 2024
Trans* Studies Seminar
The core focus of trans* studies, as defined by Susan Stryker and Paisley Currah, is the study of “transsexuality and cross-dressing, some aspects of intersexuality and homosexuality, cross-cultural and historical investigations of human gender diversity, myriad specific subcultural expressions of ‘gender atypicality,’ theories of sexed embodiment and subjective gender identity development, law and public policy related to the regulation of gender expression.” The Trans* Studies Seminar will study the modes of cultural, social, political, and linguistic production of knowledge that have assembled predominant hierarchical and binary divisions between male/female, straight/queer, human/non-human across history and cultures. In keeping with the evolving place of this field in various disciplines, we find that it is important to speak of trans* studies instead of “transgender” studies because of the exciting implications for broader humanistic inquiry that such an approach promises.
For more information, contact Marta Vicente (Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, 864-2235, mvicente@ku.edu) or Abraham Weil (Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, 864-2310, abraham.weil@ku.edu).
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
Arlowe Clementine - WGSS, KU
"Harold, Maude, Malatino, and Me: Re-reading "Harold and Maude" through a "T4T Praxis of Love"
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
RB Perelmutter - Slavic Languages & Literatures and Jewish Studies, KU
“Deglobalization and nonbinary language innovations in Russian during Russia's war against Ukraine”
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Megan Kaminski - English and Environmental Studies, KU
“In Bloom (poems)”