This Week at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture
November 7, 2016
The Bridge #7 - Performance and Roundtable Discussion

Tuesday, November 8, 7:30 - 9:30 pm
Logan Center for the Arts
Performance Penthouse (Room 901)
915 East 60th Street

free and open to the public

A performance by, and roundtable discussion with, the musicians of Bridge #7, which includes:

Khari B (spoken work)
Jeb Bishop (trombone)
Frédéric Bargeon-Briet (bass)
Magic Malik (flute)
Guillaume Orti (saxophone)
Tyshawn Sorey (drums)

The roundtable discussion following the concert will be co-moderated by CSRPC Faculty Affiliate Travis Jackson (Music, UChicago) and Alexandre Pierrepont (executive Director of the Bridge).

Spend election night with these amazingly talented creative musicians, and enjoy a particularly robust "election night" post-event reception. Celebrate or commiserate with your fellow devotees of jazz.

Tuesday, November 15, 4:30 pm
Classics Building, Room 110
1010 East 59th Street

free and open to the public; rsvp
 
Molly A. Warsh joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh as Assistant Professor of World History in 2012. Prior to coming to Pittsburgh, Molly was a two-year NEH postdoctoral fellow at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture in Williamsburg, VA and an Assistant Professor of Iberian World History at Texas A&M University. She completed her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University in 2009. Molly is the author of the forthcoming American Baroque: Pearls and the Nature of Empire 1492-1700, under contract with the Omohundro Institute/University of North Carolina Press. The book considers the early Caribbean pearl fisheries and their role in shaping expectations and practice of maritime empire in Spain and beyond in the early modern era. Molly is also co-editor (with Philip D. Morgan) of an anthology of collected essays, Early North America in Global Perspective, published by Routledge in August 2013. Her articles have appeared in the William & Mary Quarterly and Slavery & Abolition. As Interim Associate Director of the World History Center, Molly contributes to the development of the History Department's undergraduate and graduate program in World History and plays an active role in the Center's many ongoing activities.

Organized by Professors Larissa Brewer-García (CSRPC Affiliate; Romance Languages and Literatures) and Christopher Taylor (CSRPC Affiliate; English), with support from the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture, the Center for Latin American Studies, and Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Chicago.
 
Click here for more information.  
Thriving in the Academy: A Panel Conversation with Faculty of Color

Wednesday, November 9, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Center for Identity + Inclusion
5710 South Woodlawn Avenue

free and open to the public

Join UChicago faculty members for advice, guidance, and a discussion on successfully navigating academia as graduate students of color.

Panelists:

Matthew Briones (CSRPC Faculty Affiliate; Associate Professor of American History and the College)

Adrienne Brown (CSRPC Faculty Affiliate; Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature and the College)

Adow Getachew (CSRPC Faculty Affiliate; Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College)

Marci Ybarra (CSRPC Faculty Affiliate; Assistant Professor of the School of Social Service Administration)

Moderated by Erin Pienda (CSRPC Affiliate; Provost's Career Enhancement Postdoctoral Scholar in Political Science).


For questions or to request accommodations, please contact 773.702.5710 or omsa@uchicago.edu.
The Reproduction of Race and Racial Ideologies Workshop - Rachel Howard, "The Soul is Saved While Minds are Made Safe: Pentecostal Community Development in Chicago"
Thursday, November 10, 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture
First Floor Seminar Room
5733 S University Ave

Join us for this continuation of the Autumn 2016 Race Workshop series, curated by Professor Michael Dawson under the theme "Race and Capitalism."  We are pleased to welcome  Rachel Howard, Doctoral Student in the Department of Anthropology, on  " The Soul is Saved While Minds are Made Safe:  Pentecostal Com munity Development in Chicago".   Click here for the paper.

Full workshop schedule  here

Join the Race Workshop listserv

The workshop enjoys support from the Council on Advanced Studies (CAS) and the CSRPC at the University of Chicago. 
Thursday, November 10, 6:00 - 7:30 pm
Logan Center for the Arts
Seminar Terrace Room (801)
915 East 60th Street

free and open to the public
 
Chinelo Okparanta is the author of Happiness, Like Water (2013) and Under the Udala Trees (2015), each a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Her honors include an O. Henry Prize, two Lambda Awards in Fiction, and finalist selections for the Etisalat Prize, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the Caine Prize, and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. She has held fellowships and faculty appointments at Columbia University, City College of New York, Purdue University, Colgate University (Olive B. O'Connor Fellow in Fiction), University of Iowa (Provost's Postgraduate Visiting Writer), Middlebury College (Bread Loaf's John Gardner Fellow in Fiction), and Howard University (Hurston/Wright Foundation Summer Writing Workshop Fiction Faculty), among others. She has been awarded residencies by the Jentel Foundation, the Hermitage Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and Hedgebrook. Her stories have appeared in magazines including Granta, The New Yorker, and Tin House. She is currently Professor of English & Creative Writing at Bucknell University, where she is also Grange and Rogers Faculty Research Fellow.

 
Click here for more information.  
Thursday, November 10, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture
Community Room
5733 South University Avenue

free and open to the public; rsvp
 
A lecture by, and conversation with, Pap NDiaye, author and professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris. Post-lecture discussion will be moderated by Michael C. Dawson (Professor, Political Science, Faculty Director, CSRPC).
 
Pap NDiaye is a historian, specializing in the social history of the United States with a focus on its minorities. He holds a doctorate from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) where he was a lecturer before being selected in 2012 as Professor at the Institut d' Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). NDiaye is a pioneer of "Black Studies" in French, and co-founded the Circle of Action for the Promotion of Diversity in France (CAPDIV) with Patrick Loze. He is currently working on a global history of civil rights in the 20th century.

Click here for more information.  
Alternative Histories of Labor: 
"Union Maids" and "The Willmar 8"
Sunday, November 13, 3:00 pm
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
915 East 60th Street
 
free and open to the public; rsvp

South Side Projections  continues its Alternative Histories of Labor series with a double feature of films about women organizing. Union Maids is an Oscar-nominated 1976 film about three women labor organizers in 1930s Chicago, and The Willmar 8 is about a bank strike over sex discrimination in Minnesota. Three-time Oscar-nominated director Julia Reichert and Chicago Women in Trades board member Sarah Joy Liles will be present for discussion.

About the Films (text by Kathleen Sachs):
Union Maids: " Union Maids  is an important, compelling, and happy new film, product of a new class conscious socialist movement that is emerging out of the strengths of both the New and Old Lefts," wrote feminist historian Linda Gordon in a 1977 issue of Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. "The film, if it is as widely used as I hope it will be, should also help to build that movement by making it possible to understand and use our history." The history in question is that of working-class organizers; the film is about three women industrial workers-two white and one black-who rose through the ranks of the CIO to become formidable labor activists. First told in Alice and Staughton Lynd's Rank and File: Personal Histories of Working Class Organizers, their stories provide unique insights into both the history of labor organizing and the place of women within it. "It reasserts the potential of leadership by people who are at once exceptional and ordinary," Gordon observed, a sentiment that's mirrored by the filmmakers' straightforward approach to documenting their compelling-and crucial-stories. (Julia Reichert, Jim Klein, Miles Mogulescu, 1980, 48 min., 16mm print courtesy of Indiana University Libraries).

The Willmar 8 : In the small town of Willmar, Minnesota, in December 1977, eight female employees of a Citizens National Bank decided they'd had enough with being paid less and having fewer opportunities for advancement than their male coworkers. They set up a picket line outside their place of employment (when the wind chill was -70° Fahrenheit!), thereby starting the longest bank strike in American history. Dubbed the Willmar 8, the strikers garnered national media attention as well as support from the Women's Movement, with the National Organization for Women sending volunteers to join in the picket line. Noted actress Lee Grant directed this documentary about the affair, which originally aired on PBS in 1981; it follows the strikers from the start of the protest to its resolution. Gloria Steinem raved that "there could be no better film to show skeptics what the women's struggle is all about or to show women that the struggle is worth it." (Lee Grant, 1980, 50 min., 16mm print courtesy of Chicago Film Archives).

About the Speakers:
Three-time Oscar nominee  Julia Reichert's films have screened in major film festivals worldwide, including Sundance, New York, Telluride, Cannes and Rotterdam. Growing Up Female, which was her student project at Antioch College, was recently named to the National Film Registry. Her films have screened theatrically around the US, playing in over 100 cities, and internationally in theaters and television in dozens of countries. She is a proud co-founder of this distribution co-op New Day Films, a founder of the Independent Feature Project, a retired professor of film production at Wright State University, a mom, and a grandma.  Sarah Joy Liles  is a rank-and-file member of Pipe Fitters' Local 597 in Chicago, a trustee of the Illinois Labor History Society, and secretary of the board of directors for Chicago Women in Trades. She is also active in her community, historic Pullman.

About the Series:  The spread of "right to work" laws and the Fight for $15 movement have brought renewed focus to labor issues. Drawing on the energy of these and other current struggles in the workplace, Alternative Histories of Labor aims to expand on the dominant narrative of labor movements as mostly white and mostly male. These six film screenings and discussions highlight the contributions of women and racial/ethnic minorities to US labor movements.

The series is sponsored by South Side Projections; Illinois Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly; The MacArthur Funds for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus FoundationSEIU Healthcare Illinois IndianaBlack Cinema HouseContratiempoAguijón Theater; and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and CultureReva and David Logan Center for the Arts, and Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at the University of Chicago.

Click here for more information.  
save the date /  Angela Davis and Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor on Freedom is a Constant Struggle
Wednesday, November 16, 8:00 - 6:30 pm
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
5850 South Woodlawn Avenue
 
free and open to the public; 

Activist, scholar, and author Angela Y. Davis will discuss her new book Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement, with author and activist Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis illuminates the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world.

Reflecting on the importance of Black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles-from the Black freedom movement to the South African antiapartheid movement. She highlights connections and analyzes today's struggles against state terror, from Ferguson to Palestine.

Facing a world of outrageous injustice, Davis challenges us to imagine and build the movement for human liberation. And in doing so, she reminds us that "freedom is a constant struggle."

Angela Y. Davis is a political activist, scholar, author, and speaker. She is an outspoken advocate for the oppressed and exploited, writing on Black liberation, prison abolition, the intersections of race, gender, and class, and international solidarity with Palestine. She is the author of several books, including Women, Race, and Class and Are Prisons Obsolete? She is the subject of the acclaimed documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners and is Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States. Her articles have been published in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, Jacobin, New Politics, the Guardian, In These Times, Black Agenda Report, Ms., International Socialist Review, Al Jazeera America, and other publications. Taylor is assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Princeton University.

Both authors' books will be available for sale from Haymarket Books. Book signing to follow.

Click here for more information.  
save the date/  Race and Capitalism
Thursday, November 17, 4:30 - 6:00 pm
Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture
Community Room
5733 South University Avenue
 
 
free and open to the public; rsvp

The Race and Capitalism project presents a panel discussion with:

Jason Jackson (Lecturer in Political Economy, Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Virginia Parks (Madeline McKinnie Endowed Professor, Urban and Environmental Policy, Occidental College)

Barbara Ransby (Professor of History, African-American Studies, and Gender and Women's Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago)

J. Phillip Thompson (Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Kristy L. Ulibarri (Assistant Professor of English, East Carolina University)

MODERATOR
Michael C. Dawson (John D. MacArthur Professor, Department of Political Science and the College, Director of the CSRPC, University of Chicago)

About the Race and Capitalism project:
The Race and Capitalism project initiated by the Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC) at the University of Chicago is a multi-institution collaboration that seeks to reinvigorate, strengthen and deepen scholarship on how processes of racialization within the U.S. shaped capitalist society and economy and how capitalism has simultaneously shaped processes of racialization. This project was initiated and conceived at the CSRPC and the Washington Institute for the Study of Inequality and Race (WISIR) at the University of Washington. Central questions include: 1) What is the relationship between racial and economic inequality; 2) How has the relationship between various racial and ethnic groups, the economy and civil society changed over time; and 3) What theoretical approaches to the studies of capitalism and race best explain the empirical reality of 21st century capitalism. Four working groups are being formed to investigate respectively the theoretical, historical, global aspects and contemporary empirical contours of this project. Key goals include: increasing collaboration between scholars across disciplines; advancing the state of scholarship on race and capitalism; and where appropriate, highlighting key findings from the project for use in public discourse.

OPPORTUNITIES
Call for Papers, Proposals, and Presentations
Call for Proposals|  
BMRC Summer Short-Term Fellowship

Through an international competition, the Black Metropolis Research Consortium offers 1-month residential fellowships in the City of Chicago for its Summer Short-term Fellowship Program. Generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation since 2009, the Summer Short-term Fellowship Program has engaged scholars, artists, writers, and public historians from the United States and Europe to better formulate new historical narratives of Chicago¹s past. The new, original research and art developed through this program is significant as it illuminates the national and international importance of Chicago's African American community.
 
The process will open on November 15, 2016 and will close on January 15, 2017.

For more information and to apply, click here.
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Call for Nominations |
Diversity Leadership Awards

A commitment to diversity is central to our mission of discovery and the DLA¹s seek to recognize University faculty, staff, and alumni members who display leadership in fostering diversity both on campus and within the surrounding community. Recipients will exemplify and advance the cause of justice and equality by demonstrating diversity and inclusion by promoting inclusive workplaces, addressing unique needs of those from diverse backgrounds, educating the community, and advocating for equal opportunity.

All Nomination materials due by November 14, 2016.

For more information and to submit a nomination, click  here. 
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Call for Applications | 
2017 Carter Manny Award

The Graham Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2017 Carter Manny Award, the foundation's annual award for Ph.D. students working on dissertation topics in architecture. Applications are due November 15, 2016.

Established in 1996, the Carter Manny Award supports dissertation research and writing by promising scholars whose projects have architecture as their primary focus and the potential to shape architectural discourse. 

Two Carter Manny Awards are given each year, one for dissertation writing and one for dissertation research. Doctoral candidates must be officially enrolled in schools in the U.S. and Canada and nominated by their department in order to apply.

For more information, click here.
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Call for Papers |
eighteen hundred and more: mourning the needy dead in the chaos of protest

What is our response to the fact of premature Black death? The recent string of police murders has renewed not only an active conversation about race, racism and racialized disparities, but has also sparked a new era of civil disobedience. Since January 1, 2015, eighteen hundred and more have been killed by police - six hundred and ninety six black. At this pace, by the time of our conference, one hundred and forty seven more black lives will have been cut short. But police violences are only the tip of the iceberg. Water. Education. Housing. Prisons. The systematic devaluing of Black life has been and continues to be foundational to the socio-political ordering of the United States.

The first conference of the newly minted African American Studies Department at Princeton University will explore the relationship between premature Black death and collective mourning. This conference seeks to bring together intellectuals, artists and organizers working across many different disciplines, mediums and movements that speak to the precarity and the possibility of Black life in the US and abroad.

Please submit an abstract of no more than 400 words, a short biographical description, and your contact information by December 10, 2016. Proposals and questions should be sent to conference organizers Nyle Fort and Heath Pearson at eighteenhundredandmore@gmail.com 

For more information, click here.
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Call for Papers | 
Caribbean Philosophical Association annual conference: "Shifting the Geography of Reason XIV: 
Theorizing Livity, Decolonizing Freedom"

Jamaican Rastafari coined the neologism "livity" to denote a particular "way of life," a righteous "way of life." Comprehensive in scope, livity can refer to dietary habits, personal aesthetics, and/or the various beliefs, whether secular or metaphysical, that guide our actions in the everyday lifeworld. An unreservedly normative concept, livity concerns our daily existence as well as our most fundamental relationships - specifically, our relationships with nature, other human beings, and the divine, broadly conceived.

We encourage proposals that explore these themes - livity and freedom - and we invite, as always, individual and panel proposals that otherwise reflect our commitment to "shift the geography of reason." Submit your proposals online at http://caribphil.org/cpa-2017.html by Monday, December 19th and please include the full name, email address, institutional affiliation, and paper title of each potential participant. (Proposals from independent scholars are also encouraged.)

Questions about this conference should be directed to caribphil2017@gmail.com. Additional details, including specific dates and location, are forthcoming.
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Call for Applications | 
2017 DCASE Individual Artists Program (IAP) Grants

The Individual Artists Program aims to assist Chicago's professional artists and creative entrepreneurs in creating work that elevates their careers and brings value to the City of Chicago.

This year's IAP program will include significant updates to guidelines and eligible program categories. All applicants are required to attend an Application Assistance Workshop in order to apply for a grant.

IAP guidelines will be available at chicagoculturalgrants.org on November 1, 2016. The IAP Application period opens on December 1, 2016, and the Deadline for applications is January 13, 2017. Absolutely no extensions will be granted.  

The mission of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is to enrich Chicago's artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. To support this mission, DCASE provides more than $1 million annually in direct funding for Chicago's arts community through its Cultural Grants Program.

For more information and to register for a MANDATORY pre-application workshop, click here.
Fellowship, Job, Internship + Volunteer Opportunities
Call for Applications |tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor of Latina/Latino Studies at San Francisco State
 
San Francisco State University, Department of Latina/Latino Studies invites applicants for a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor position in  Latina/Latino Studies beginning August 2017.

The department seeks individuals with expertise in Latina/Latino history.

The position requires undergraduate teaching in Latina/Latino Studies, 
mentoring and advising undergraduate students, developing an active ongoing 
scholarship program in one¹s area of specialty, and ongoing committee and service assignments. Depending on their expertise and experience, the possibility exists for teaching in the Ethnic Studies graduate program.

Submit letter of intent/interest, a current CV, sample of scholarly papers, teaching philosophy, description of research interests, and letters of recommendation from three references. Teaching evaluations will be requested 
at a later date.

Submit all materials online to Dr. Katynka Martinez at katynka@sfsu.edu by  November 14, 2016 . Review of applications will continue until the position  is filled.

For more information and to apply, click here.
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Call for Applications | 
tenure-track Assistant Professor at School of Transborder Studies, Arizona State University
 
The School of Transborder Studies (STS) at Arizona State University invites applications for a tenure track position as Assistant Professor in the area 
of Transborder Community Development and Health, with specific focus on population health and the study of the social, behavioral, and economic determinants of health disparities affecting Mexican-origin and Latinx 
populations. Anticipated start date is August 2017.

We are especially interested in applicants who have experience developing and conducting 
population based research within the U.S.-Mexico transborder region. 
Substantive areas of research may include: aging; gender, sex and sexual minority health; occupational and environmental health; health policy and 
eeds ofhealth care access; and other relevant areas that address the needs of transborder populations.
 
The successful candidate will be expected to teach at the undergraduate and  graduate levels including interdisciplinary courses in the area of Mexican and Latinx health and research methods, conduct applied research, publish in peer-reviewed academic journals or in other high-quality scholarly venues  and contribute to the ongoing development of the School of Transborder Studies through service to the university and profession as appropriate with 
rank.

To apply, please send to Arboleda@asu.edu as a single PDF document the following materials: 1) a detailed letter of application, addressed to Dr.  Carlos G. Vélez-Ibáñez, Search Chair, which describes how the applicant's training and experience meet the qualifications listed above; 2) detailed curriculum vitae, and 3) the names and contact information (including email  addresses) of three references who may be contacted at later stages of the search. Questions may be sent to the committee chair at Carlos.Velez-lbanez@asu.edu
 
Initial deadline for complete applications is November 14, 2016. If not filled, reviews will occur weekly and thereafter until the search is closed. 
 
For more information and to apply, click here.  
For more opportunities - jobs, internships, fellowships, grants, CFPs, and the like - of interest to current and recent students working in the area(s) of race and ethnic studies, and activism, please visit Sarah's Tuohey's Blog - a resource page created by our Student Affairs Administrator.
EVENTS AROUND TOWN
on view through Dec. 17 |
Black Drawls Opening Reception

Gallery 400,  University of Chicago at Illinois
400 South Peoria Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607

Exhibition of art by David Leggett, 2014 CSRPC/APL Artist-in-Residence

Black Drawls, the first large-scale presentation of artwork by Chicago-based David Leggett, presents paintings, drawings, ceramic sculptures, wall decals, and installations that challenge hierarchies of taste and power in art and popular culture. Drawing on a rich legacy of humor and satire created by forefigures such as painter Robert Colescott, and comedians Robin Harris and Richard Pryor, Leggett tackles many themes head on: race, racism, art history, popular culture, hip-hop, political movements, and sexuality, among others.

Utilizing the surfaces of his paintings and drawings as an empty plane onto which he drops a series of iconic and intertwined references, Leggett layers juxtapositions that are funny, absurd, and cuttingly poignant. These references come in the form of witty caption-like text, illustrated figures, collaged images, and abstract shapes, and are often accompanied by the use of craft materials such as glow-in-the-dark paint, googly eyes, and glitter. When once asked to describe his work to a stranger, Leggett responded "I would tell them it's everything wrong with the world in bright colors." Also working with repeated imagery, Leggett uses the connected familiarity of one face in several works as a subject, spectator, and commentator.

The exhibition also includes a gallery of references, sources, and influences, including historic and recent comic book pages and cartoon stills; artworks by artistic forebearers; classic and obscure films of black comedians' routines; photographs; items of clothing; Leggett's collection of popular culture figurines and stuffed toys.

For more information, click here. 
Wed., Nov. 9 |
The MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics presents Dr. Anne Darpkin Lyerly on Ethics and Pursuit of The Good Birth

Wednesday, November 9, 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Billings Hospital, Room P-117
860 East 59th Street

Anne Drapkin Lyerly, MD, MA
Associate Director, The Center for Bioethics University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
 
Dr. Lyerly is an obstetrician/gynecologist and bioethicist who studies ethically complex clinical and policy issues in women's reproductive health. She is au- thor of A Good Birth , aimed at describing what constitutes a "good birth" from the perspectives of birthing women themselves. She co - founded the Obstetrics and Gynecology Risk Research Group, which conducts research on how risk is assessed and managed in the context of pregnancy. She also co - founded the Sec- ond Wave Initiative, an effort to ensure that the health interests of women are fairly represented in biomedical research and drug and device policies. She is PI on the NIH - funded PHASES study to address the ethics of HIV research and pregnancy, and co - PI on a Wellcome Trust - funded project to address the ethics of research involving pregnant women in the context of Zika and other public health emergencie.

For more information and to register, please click here. 
Thu., Nov. 10 |
Nicole Mitchell Residency - Liberation Narratives

Thursday, November 10, 7:30 pm
Logan Center Performance Hall
915 East 60th Street
General Admission $20, students and children $5

Liberation Narratives is a spoken word jazz collaboration between Chicago treasure and distinguished poet Haki R. Madhubuti and composer/flutist Nicole Mitchell. Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble will feature Madhubuti performing poems from his book, Liberation Narratives, which covers nearly 50 years of his creative history.  

For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here. 
on view Nov. 13 - Dec. 17 |
The Particular Poetics of Things 

Opening Reception  
Sunday, November 13, 3 - 5 pm
Regular Gallery Hours: Saturdays 12 - 4 pm & by appointment
Goldfinch Gallery
 
319 North Albany Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60612

Exhibition featuring the art of Nazafarin Lotfi, 2015-16 CSRPC/APL Artist-in-Residence

GOLDFINCH is pleased to present The Particular Poetics of Things, a group exhibition of works by four artists whose site-responsive practices balance an architectural command of space, form, and material with an abiding interest in surface description and the passage of time. Utilizing highly personal and intuitive approaches to a post-Minimalist vocabulary, each of these artists transforms mundane materials into strikingly poetic visual forms.
 
Rana Siegel's 'ice works' compactly illustrate the interest in temporality, transience and fragility shared by all four artists. Consisting of elegantly looped strips of ribbon or fabric held in place by blocks of ice, Siegel¹s small-scale sculptures will slowly dissolve and transform over the course of the gallery¹s initial open hours. After the ice melts, the fabric strips will remain, their placement in space no longer supported by a frozen armature but instead determined solely by the forces of gravity and dissolving liquid.
 
Alchemical transformation of everyday materials is also central to the art of Nazafarin Lotfi, who constructs richly-layered abstract works from newspaper, cardboard, or cast-off items. Intimately-scaled and absent of specific narrative points of reference, her sculptures' muted palettes and time-worn textures speak instead to the ways in which history and memory accumulate and/or inscribe themselves upon the surface of things over time.
 
Temporal metamorphosis is likewise enacted in, and activated through, Tina Tahir's floor piece, which is composed of fragrant spices and brightly colored pigment laid out in decorative patterns like an Oriental rug. Drawing her audience in with ornamental seduction, Tahir lays out designs based on opium poppies and armament graphics meant to suggest socio-political subtexts that have fragmented the Middle East and led to its exploitation by the West. As in all of Tahir¹s installations, the audience will eventually be invited to walk on the floor piece, physically dispersing and muddying its rich surface decoration.
 
The 'plucked paper' that Neha Vedpathak uses to sculpt her architectonic works is a delicately textured, lace-like material the artist creates herself by separating the fibers of hand-made Japanese paper. This labor-intensive, meditative technique is central to Vedpathak's practice of intuitively responding to organic materials like paper, stone, and earth. For this exhibition, Vedpathak has created a site-specific intervention that mirrors and disrupts Goldfinch's architectural environment in ways that highlight the raw beauty of the gallery space.

For more information, click here. 
Mon., Nov. 14 |
OMSA Herritage Series presents Matika Wilbur

Monday, November 14, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Center for Identity + Inclusion
5710 South Woodlawn Avenue

Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) graduated from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California and also trained at the Rocky Mountain School of Photography.

Wilbur began her extraordinary portrait work after a dream in which her grandmother Laura Wilbur, a prominent Swinomish tribal leader, urged her to return home from a South American assignment and begin photographing her own people. She first focused on portraits of Coast Salish elders in We Are One People, she probed the breadth and complexity of contemporary Native American identity with We Emerge and a 2011 one-person exhibition, Save the Indian, Kill the Man, at The
Seattle Art Museum.

Wilbur's photographs have been included in Seattle Art Museum's, The Gifts: Pacific Coast Salish Art and she has also exhibited at the Royal British Columbia Museum of Fine Arts, the Nantes Museum of Fine Arts in France, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, the Kittredge Gallery at the University of Puget Sound, and Tacoma Art Museum. Her photographs have been acquired for the permanent collections of Tacoma Art Museum and Seattle Art Museum. 

For more information and to register, please click here. 
If approved, we will share your event in our weekly 
e-newsletter the Monday before it is held.