Crosscurrents in Time: A Video Trilogy by Aline Motta Begins March 31

Part of next week's symposium, Frequências: Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Cinema & the Black Diaspora

As part of next week's Oberman Humanities Symposium & International Programs Major Project Award, Frequências: Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Cinema & the Black Diaspora, the UI Stanley Museum of Art will host contemporary artist Aline Motta's video installation, Crosscurrents in Time: A Video Trilogy.

In the work, "Motta engages with her matrilineage as a visionary compass to reconcile with the hidden dimensions of time, space, and self. Photographic portraits of women in her family immersed in water respond to and generate new currents of energy emanating from the past. Cities on and named after water, and the border between Portugal and Spain provide the setting for encounters with archival and narrative fragments related to Black slavery, the healing wisdom of grandmothers, and a poetic resistance to historical amnesia." 

This multi-channel installation of three related videos will be on view in the Lauridsen Family Gallery at the Stanley Museum of Art from March 31 through August 1, 2023. 

April 14-15: Mellon Sawyer Seminar Closing Event

Special guest artists Jaime and Gilbert Hernández

All good things come to an end, and the Racial Reckoning through Comics Mellon Sawyer Seminar could not be prouder to announce the participation of Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, creators of the award-winning Love and Rockets comics, for its closing event on April 14-15.

The “Hernandez Bros” are two Latino siblings and arguably the most influential artists in today’s alternative comics. They started in the '80s, depicting the punk scene of LA and the fictional town of Palomar through strong female characters in a world that resembled their own reality, full of people of color and differently abled and LGBTQ characters in complex, fun, sad, and tender stories. They continued publishing their comics for forty years and were the first comics artists to let their characters age accordingly. Now, Maggie, Hopey, Luba, and the others are in their 60s!

Together with “the Bros,” artist Natalia Hernandez and scholars Qiana Whitted and Darieck Scott  will join us for the last round of discussions on racial representation in comics.

Comics at FilmScene

We have partnered with FilmScene for a series of movie adaptations from comics. The series will close with KCET's Love and Rockets: The Great American Comic Book documentary, followed by a Q&A with the Hernandez Brothers.

For more information, please visit our website.

Apply for Faculty Engagement Corps

Office of Community Engagement opportunity will focus on community-engaged teaching

We're delighted that the Office of Community Engagement has opened applications for Faculty Engagement Corps! The FEC will provide faculty and instructional staff with training in critical areas of community engagement, including community-engaged teaching and building community partnerships. 

If you teach at the UI and are interested in learning about how you can infuse community engagement into your courses, consider joining the FEC and attending the orientation on June 5 and 6, 2023. 

FEATURED PODCAST

Under Review: Rethinking Humanities Graduate Education

This podcast is produced and hosted by two recent PhDs, Dr. June Ke and Dr. Lauren Burrell Cox (now Assistant Director of the Obermann Center). In each episode, June and Lauren speak to guests about pressing issues such as the tenure-track jobs crisis, economic outcomes for humanities PhDs, future directions for graduate education, and professional development that takes into account diverse paths and the current realities of the job market. Under Review serves as a resource for helping graduate students in the humanities feel more empowered as they navigate the academy and take the next steps in their careers.

Obermann Working Groups

Space, structure, and discretionary funding: Apply by April 11

The Obermann Working Groups program allows participants from across the campus and beyond to explore complex issues at a moment when cross-disciplinary collaboration is crucial to address shifting domains of knowledge and a rapidly changing world. We're now accepting applications for 2023-24 Working Groups.

Kumpf Baele and International Programs Launch Anne Frank Initiative

Last year, Kirsten Kumpf Baele (German, CLAS) secured a grant from the Anne Frank Center USA to plant a descendant of Anne Frank's beloved chestnut tree on the UI campus—the 13th "Anne Frank tree" to be planted in the U.S. Kumpf Baele, along with collaborators at the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies; UI Building and Landscape Services; the Division of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures; and the UI German Department, planted the sapling on the UI Pentacrest in April 2022 and organized a series of associated events, including the Provost’s Global Forum: Teaching Anne Frank, a workshop, traveling exhibit, lectures, and film screening, all of which focused on the continued importance of Anne Frank’s legacy. 

Now, one year later, Kumpf Baele and UI International Programs have launched the Anne Frank Initiative, whose mission is to investigate Anne Frank’s literary contributions and her legacy in a more contemporary context.

Directed by Kumpf Baele, the Anne Frank Initiative will create unique opportunities that

• link Anne Frank’s legacy as a writer with one of the nation’s premier writing universities;
• teach others about the dangers of prejudice and discrimination and how to stand up to injustices, particularly during a time when antisemitism and other forms of bigotry are on the rise; and
• recognize Anne Frank’s status as a Jew, refugee, and adolescent with the lived experience of Jews, refugees, and young people in Iowa and the American Midwest.

We're delighted to see this initiative "take root"!

University of Iowa Joins American Council of Learned Societies Research Consortium

“We are delighted to welcome the University of Iowa as a member of the ACLS Research University Consortium,” said ACLS President Joy Connolly. “The University of Iowa is a world-famous beacon of creative writing and humanistic scholarship. Its Obermann Center for Advanced Studies is known for its collaborative leadership in generating new ways of thinking about doctoral education and the significance of the humanities within academia and well beyond. We are excited to deepen our relationship with the University of Iowa community and work together to sustain and enhance current advances in the humanities and interpretive social sciences.”

The ACLS Research University Consortium comprises a select group of ACLS Associate Members. These 43 eminent institutions play a crucial leadership role in supporting the national infrastructure of humanities and interpretive social sciences research.

“At a pivotal moment in its history of writing, creative arts, and humanistic inquiry, the University of Iowa is thrilled to be joining the American Council of Learned Societies,” said Roland Racevskis, Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) at the University of Iowa.

Associate Vice President of Research Kristy Nabhan-Warren agreed, adding that “the Consortium membership solidifies our university’s commitment to the humanities as a part of its broad and publicly engaged research mission. Roland and I are thrilled that Iowa is embarking on this partnership with ACLS and its member institutions, and that CLAS and the Office of the Vice President for Research will build on our partnership.”