Humanities Corridor

The Mellon Central New York Humanities Corridor is an interdisciplinary collaboration of three regional AAU (Association of American Universities) institutions with vigorous humanistic scholarly traditions: Syracuse University, Cornell University http://www.arts.cornell.edu/sochum/  and the University of Rochester http://www.rochester.edu/  The Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor is generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundationhttp://www.mellon.org/   through a four-year, $1 million award designed to raise public engagement with and visibility of the humanities throughout Central New York and to enhance the productivity of its key scholars, students, and community members.

 

Mellon Events and Activities 2009

We are pleased to announce the 2009 Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor projects which include 28 separate initiatives emerging from several new Working Groups, in addition to the six original Clusters: Cultures and Religions, The Interface between Humanities and Science/Technology, Linguistics, Philosophy, Musicology/Music History and Visual Arts and Cultures.

This year’s projects and events range from workshops on the role of Islamic jurisprudence in regulating warfare, disability issues within clinical care, the interface between syntax, phonology, and morphology in linguistics; to symposia that explore how architects shape their community, bi-lingual language mixing with English, and reflections on artwork of Winslow Homer in the 1870’s. Lectures, joint seminars, and performances are also being conducted on such topics as the philosophy of mind and science, theories of memory and space/place, the changing nature of music drama in increasingly pluralistic culture, the history of the organ and new American music. If you are interested in participating in any of these events, please contact Kathryn Tunkel at the SU Humanities Center: 315.443.7192 or kmtunkel@syr.edu

SPRING

18-19 February 2009: Visual Arts and Culture Conference (VAC8) Positioning Practice in Architecture, Featuring Sergio Fajardo, Teddy Cruz, Alejandro Echeverri (Organizers: Jon Yoder, Architecture, SU and Gregg Lambert, SU Humanities Center)

The Positioning Practice in Architecture Conference will explore the ways in which architects shape their community and the built environment and the role they play in civic engagement. It features some of today’s leading architectural visionaries: Sergio Fajardo, Alejandro Echeverri, Teddy Cruz, Aaron Levy, and William Menking. The conference will include three signature events—two lectures and a gallery exhibition. “The Urban Transformation of Medellín, Architecture, and Politics” lecture will be co-presented by Fajardo and Echeverri at 5 p.m. 18 Feb, and will be followed by a reception in Slocum Gallery. On 19 Feb at 3:30 p.m., Levy, Menking, and Cruz will jointly deliver the lecture “We, the Unsigned: Dispatches from the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Biennale” in Slocum Auditorium.

2-5 March 2009: Musicology/Music History (MMH1) Music and Spectacle Series “Music as Text/Text as Music Colloquium” (Organizer: Andrew Waggoner, Music, SU)

This Music and Spectacle series of concerts and a colloquium explores the topic of “Music as Text/Text as Music” by setting well-known literary works to music. It includes four events, each with performances by Sequitur, a premiere contemporary music ensemble from New York City: 2 March Sequitur Concert Featuring Music by Andrew Waggoner, Donald Crockett, and Harold Meltzer, at noon at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester; 3 March Sequitur Open Rehearsal and Colloquium, featuring workshopped final products by student and faculty composers, 2-5 p.m. at the Eastman School of Music; 4 March Sequitur Concert by Donald Crockett and Student Composers, 8 p.m. Setnor Auditorium, Syracuse University; 5 March Sequitur Concert at the Red House, a reprisal of the first concert, at 8 p.m. downtown Syracuse. These events are multi-disciplinary collaborations between Mellon Corridor student-composers and faculty with guidance by faculty members in creative writing and English, resulting in a pluralistic music culture. 

26-28 March 2009: Visual Arts and Culture Speaker Series (VAC1) Word and Image (Organizer: Steve Cohan, English, SU)

The Word and Image Speaker Series features a talk by Priya Jaikumar, Associate Professor, University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts: “Insurgent and Location Shots: Destruction and the Visual Productions of Place in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.” The lecture will be held on 27 March, 3 p.m. 500 Hall of Languages, Syracuse University, and will explore themes of film location, memory, architecture, and theories of space/place.

17 April 2009 Cultures and Religions Workshop (CR2) Islam and International Humanitarian Law (Organizer: William Banks, Law/PA, SU)

The Islam and International Humanitarian Law Workshop, 304 Tolley Humanities Building, Syracuse University, will explore the role of Islam in the ongoing development of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with special attention to its present-day challenges. The Workshop serves two purposes: to establish an interdisciplinary working group of Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor faculty that address questions of culture and religion in international armed conflicts, and to reassess the value of humanitarian mechanisms in international law that deal with new conflicts involving non-state entities, failed states, and vulnerable states.

Spring and Fall 2009 Interface between Humanities and Science/Technology Cluster (HST1) Planning Workshops and Conferences (organizers: Cathryn Newton, Earth Sciences, SU and Sam Gorovitz, Philosophy, SU)

•Understanding Translational Research Planning Workshop(Organizers: Ted Brown, History, University of Rochester and Evan Selinger, Philosophy, RIT)
• Disability, Bioethics, and Society Planning Workshop (Organizers: Amy Campbell, and Robert Olick, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Bioethics and Humanities)
•Sustainability Ethics Conference (Organizers: Evan Selinger, Philosophy, RIT, Ryne Raffaelle, Physics and Microsystems Engineering, RIT, and Wade Robison, Philosophy, RIT)

The Understanding Translational Research Planning Workshop will plan a future conference in 2010 that gathers leading scholars to address how to move basic biological knowledge efficiently to practical, health-improving applications in the clinic and community. The Disability, Bioethics, and Society Planning Workshop will plan to develop a major conference that examines the many health issues facing persons with disabilities and the growing interest in disability issues within clinical care, research, and health policy. This initiative brings together faculty from the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor, SUNY Upstate Medical University Center for Bioethics and Humanities, and the University of Rochester Medical Center to explore such topics as: the concept of disability, cognitive impairment and personal autonomy, and new technology, ethics, and policy. The Sustainability Ethics Conference, to be held in May 2009 at the Rochester Institute of Technology, is designed to clarify the central ethical issues in sustainability and inspire others to work in the area. Participating scholars from Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Arizona State University, and University of Colorado at Boulder will contribute a written version of their presentation to Five Questions in Sustainability Ethics.

Spring 2009: Philosophy Workshop (PHi1) On Metaphysics (Organizer: Karen Bennett, Philosophy, CU)

This two-day Workshop on Metaphysics, to be held at Cornell University, will feature faculty lectures and graduate students specializing in metaphysics, a strong core research area among the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor research institutions. Three to five members of various departments will present work-in-progress at the workshop.

Spring 2009: Visual Arts and Culture Graduate Student Forum (VAC7) Imagining America (IA)- SU Humanities Center Graduate Student Forum on Publicly Engaged Scholarship (Organizers: Jan Cohen-Cruz, SU-Imagining America and Gregg Lambert, Humanities Center, SU)

The IA-SU Humanities Center Graduate Student Forum on Publicly Engaged Scholarship, to be held at each of the three Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor campuses, will bring together masters and dissertation students for three discussion series on publically engaged scholarship to address the various shared interests, needs, and obstacles facing the next-generation of researchers involved in scholarship in action and collaborations with community partners. The discussions will include intellectual and emotional support as well as project feedback. Imagining America (IA) is a consortium of 85 colleges and universities committed to civic engagement though the arts, humanities, and design.

Spring 2009: Musicology/Music History Performance (MMH6) Cornell’s Organ Scholarship and Performance Project: Four Recitals (organizers: Kola Owolabi, Music, SU and Andrew Waggoner, Music, SU)

This two-day Workshop on Metaphysics, to be held at Cornell University, seeks to raise the visibility of a shared area of research and importance to all three collaborating Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor research institutes. “The Historical Organ and Improvisation across Three Centuries Symposium” is a series of four lecture-demonstrations with master classes, followed by four recitals. The emphasis is on practical application of historical research in actual improvisation. The first event, “17th-Century: Sacred Music and Improvisation,” by William Porter from the Eastman School of Music, features organ by Helmuth Wolff and will take place at the Unitarian Church in downtown Ithaca. The second event, “18th-Century: Virtuosity in Solo and Accompaniment,” by David Yearsley from Cornell University, will feature baroque violin by Martin Davids and Italian baroque organ and will take place at Sage Chapel. The third event, “19th-Century: Franz Liszt and the Art of Precluding,” by Shane Levesque, University of Hong Kong, will take place at Sage Chapel. The fifth event, “20th-Century: Gospel Music and the Art of Jimmy Smith,” by David Higgs of the Eastman School of Music, features the Hammond B-3 organ and will take place at the Carriage House Café in Ithaca.

SUMMER

Summer 2009: Philosophy (PHI4) Support for CU and UR Graduate Student Philosophers to Participate in Syracuse Philosophy Annual Workshop and Network (SPAWN) Conference (Organizers: Kara Richardson, Philosophy, SU and Melissa Frankel, Philosophy, SU)

The SPAWN Nature and Purpose Conference, to be held at Syracuse University, will explore causation and teleology in early modern philosophy. SPAWN, a themed conference, hosted by the Department of Philosophy each summer, traditionally features papers by younger speakers with commentaries by established scholars. It includes 24 invited participants and offers opportunities for scholarly networking.

3-7 August 2009: Philosophy Research Workshop (PHI5) Philosophy of Education (Organizer: Emily Robertson, Cultural Foundations of Education, SU)

The Philosophy of Education Research Workshop, to be held at Syracuse University, will expand and deepen a prior relationship among the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor research institutes on questions of the philosophy of education. Education philosophers such as Barbara Applebaum and Kenneth Strike from Cultural Foundations of Education at SU, Randall Curren from Philosophy at the University of Rochester, Troy Richardson from Education and the American Indian Program at Cornell University, among others, will participate in the workshop. Up to ten paper submissions from philosophy and philosophy of education doctoral students will be accepted from each university. Students will present their work as the focus of daily working sessions led by the author and responded to by a discussant.

FALL

18 August – 11 October 2009: Visual Arts and Culture Gallery Exhibition and 25-26 September Symposium (VAC6) Winslow Homer in the 1870’s: A Time of Crisis in American Art and Catalogue Project (Organizer: David Prince, SUArt Galleries, SU)

This project explores Winslow Homer’s time at Houghton Farm in Mountainville, New York between 1877-1879, a period which marked a crucial turning point in his work as a painter in oil and watercolor. The exhibition, Winslow Homer’s Empire State: Houghton Farm and Beyond, will run from 18 Aug-11 Oct at the SUArt Galleries at Syracuse University. This exhibition will coincide with the symposium, Winslow Homer in the 1870’s, includes a keynote address and other presentations on the history of the artist’s work. One important research product from this event includes a new catalogue project.

1-3 October 2009: Cultures and Religions Conference (CR1) Place/No Place: Spatial Aspects of Urban Asian Religiosity (Organizer: Ann Gold, Religion, SU)

The Place/No Place: Spatial Aspects of Urban Asian Religiosity Conference, to be held at Syracuse University, will explore the social, physical, and mental spaces created by new or changing religious influences, attending to individual identities and experiences at the intersection of religion and urban places. Themes might include the physical spaces opened up by religious buildings, less tangible new mental spaces urged by spiritual leaders in response to consumerism or globalization, making grand spaces or erasing places in global cities, and constructing identity/subjectivity in relation to urbanization.

8-10 October 2009 Visual Arts and Culture Conference (VAC3) Visual and Cultural Studies: The Next Twenty Years (organizers: Kendall Phillips, Communication and Rhetorical Studies, SU, Joan Saab, Art and Art History, UR, Anne Demo, Communication and Rhetorical Studies, SU)

The Visual and Cultural Studies: The Next 20 Years Conference, to be held at the University of Rochester, is a two-day conference celebrating the 20th anniversary of the cutting-edge Visual and Cultural Studies Program at the University of Rochester focused on the achievements of the past with an eye towards the future. A yearlong series of talks will follow from the kick-off conference that will include:
• Fall 2009 Visual Arts and Culture Key Words Shared Speakers Series (VAC4) to be held at Syracuse University and the University of Rochester
• Fall 2009 Visual Arts and Culture Joint Graduate Seminar to be held at SU and University of Rochester (VAC5), and includes a coordinated/joint graduate seminar among Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor participating students.

October 2009: Philosophy (PHI3) Upstate NY Early Modern Workshop and Speaker Series (Organizers: Melissa Frankel, Philosophy, SU and Andrew Chignell, Philosophy, CU)

The Upstate NY Early Modern Workshop and Speaker Series, to be held at Cornell University, will host visiting scholars from the Upstate/Central New York region who work in 17th and 18th century philosophy. This group of philosophers convenes a few times each semester to present and discuss ongoing work in early modern philosophy and to review work by regional scholars from SU, Cornell, the University of Rochester, but also featured work from scholars at Colgate University, Hamilton College, and University at Albany-SUNY. 

15-17 October 2009: Musicology/Music History (MMH3) Symposium on Music, Sound, and Film: The Moving Image (Organizers: Theo Cateforis, Music History, SU and Stephen Meyer, Fine Arts, SU)

The Music, Sound, and Film: The Moving Image Symposium, to be held at Syracuse University, includes film screenings and a performance by acclaimed composer Michael Nyman (The Piano), who will perform his score to the 1929 experimental silent film Man with a Movie Camera. Three accomplished film music scholars will speak on the subject of Film, Music, and Sound, and a banquet will follow to encourage lively discussions among symposium attendees. In conjunction with Owen Shapiro’s Syracuse Film Festival and the Humanities Center’s Syracuse Symposium “Light,” keynote speaker Richard Dyer, Professor of Film Studies at King’s College, University of London, will kick off this event (15 Oct, Syracuse University).

Fall 2009: Linguistics Workshop (LIN5) Global Englishes: Language Mixing, New Cultural Forms, and the Bilingual Mind (Organizers: Silvio Torres-Saillant, English, SU and Tej Bhatia, Linguistics, SU)

The Global Englishes Workshop, to be held in Fall 2009 at Syracuse University, includes a two-day intensive series of lectures exploring bilingual and trilingual language mixing with English. It will focus on two aspects of the bilingual mind in sociolinguistic literature: language separation coupled with language integration, and bilingual switching and mixing. Such topics to be explored will include cultural dynamics such as colonial history and neocolonialism that trigger large migrations and produce hybrid cultural, language, and literary forms, and new emerging domains of mixing as witnessed in advertising, popular culture, and literature. 

Fall 2009 Musicology/Music History Performance (MMH4) Brave New Works (Organizer: Andrew Waggoner, Music, SU)

The mission of Brave New Works, a vibrant performing ensemble of ten musicians dedicated to performing and promoting new music, is to engage, enrich and educate the community through contemporary music. The ensemble is presenting three concerts in three cities, Ithaca, Syracuse, and Rochester, and includes new works from students and faculty. The tour offers several master-classes aimed at the production of large-scale chamber works. 

1 September–1 November 2009 Musicology/Music History Roundtable and Research Project (MMH5) CNY Recorded Sound Collections (Organizer: Sean Quimby, E.S. Bird Library, SU)

The CNY Recorded Sound Collections Roundtable and Research Project, at Syracuse University, is an effort to increase awareness of the rich resources of the Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive, as well as the recorded sound collections at Cornell and the University of Rochester. The roundtable will provide a panel of leading experts on copyright and recorded sound who will discuss sampling, reproduction, and digitization, which will be video-streamed from the E.S. Bird Library website to the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor participating humanities programs: the SU Humanities Center, Cornell Society for the Humanities, and the Visual and Cultural Studies Program at the University of Rochester. A doctoral student will also conduct analysis of the Belfer Audio collection’s strengths and the areas of recommended growth.

October 2009 Interface between Humanities and Science/Technology (HST2) Research Project in the Digitized Humanities (Organizers: Timothy Murray, Romance Studies, CU, Thomas DiPiero, Art and Art History, UR, Gregg Lambert, Humanities, SU)

The Research Project in the Digitized Humanities is a Humanities Center research initiative that attempts to build capacity and provide technical support for developing virtual interdisciplinary humanities projects, including distance initiatives for Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor events between the three research institutions (SU, Cornell, and University of Rochester). The project seeks to virtually link the Society of the Humanities at Cornell with both the SU Humanities Center and the University of Rochester, with the intention of facilitating faculty and student participation from all sites. The inaugural event for this research initiative of the virtual Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor will be the “Network/Mobilities” Conference at Cornell in October 2009.


1 November 2009 Musicology/Music History Event (MMH2) New Chamber Music Intensive (Organizers: Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Eastman School of Music, UR and Roberto Sierra, Music, CU)

The New Chamber Music Intensive will bring two established chamber groups to the Syracuse University campus for a 4-day series of readings, workshops, and concerts. The program’s core will involve students in performance and composition and an emphasis on collaboration between students and guest artists, culminating in concerts of new chamber music. The guest ensembles are Nordlys of Denmark and the Meridian Phase II Ensemble from the United States. The events will include: chamber music coaching, open rehearsals with students and guest ensembles playing side by side; open rehearsals of student works coached by ensemble members and composition faculty; improvisation workshops including student work and work by established composers. At the end of the week, concerts will be performed at each university including works by students and established composers.

Fall 2009 Philosophy Joint Graduate/Faculty Seminar (PHI2) Reductionism (Organizers: Alyssa Ney, Philosophy, UR and Kevan Edwards, Philosophy, SU)

The Joint Graduate/Faculty Seminar on Reductionism, offered across two of the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor institutions, Syracuse University and the University of Rochester, will explore the topic of reduction—an emergent issue in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of science. Seminars will alternate between participating institutions and focus specifically on the potential reduction of (cognitive) psychology, in particular whether one should expect psychology to eventually reduce to a more fundamental physical science, such as neuroscience. It will be open to students from SU, Cornell University, and the University of Rochester, and will include 2-day visits from four senior philosophers working on the cutting edge of the topic. These visits will also involve a colloquium presentation by the visitor and post talk receptions.

Fall 2009 Visual Arts and Culture (VAC2) Film and Speaker Tour Featuring Philip Scheffner and Merle Kröger: Indo-German Cultural Transfer and The Halfmoon Files (organizer: Roger Hallas, English, SU)

The Film and Speaker Tour, which takes place at each Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor site, will present public screenings of the German filmmaker Philip Scheffner’s film The Halfmoon Files (2007), followed by a question and answer session. These events will also include presentations on Import-Export, the interdisciplinary project on cultural transfer that Kröger curated in Berlin, Vienna, and Mumbai in 2005. 

Fall and Spring 2009 Linguistics Cluster Activities (LIN1-4)(Organizer: Jaklin Kornfilt, Linguistic, SU)

• Hosting distinguished visitors
• Invited talks by linguistics faculty
• Collaborative courses
• State of the Art Workshop
This series of projects includes: hosting a distinguished visiting lecturer specializing in phonology at Syracuse University and Cornell for the Spring and Fall semesters, respectively; collaborative courses co-taught at SU, one per semester; and invited talks by linguistics faculty at SU, Cornell, and the University of Rochester, three times throughout each term. The final event, the State of the Art Workshop, to be held in the Fall at Syracuse University, will explore interfaces between syntax, phonology, and morphology and include student and faculty presentations, as well as talks by two invited participants.