Who says you have to study abroad to participate in the global exchange of ideas?
The Center for the Humanities will bring two world-renowned scholars to Madison: Catherine Malabou (February 14 – March 11, 2011) and Jacques Rancière (April 3-16, 2011).
The scholars-in-residence program brings visiting scholars to campus. While here, the scholars participate in public lectures and colloquia, meet individually with students, teach graduate seminars, and, importantly, internationalize intellectual life on campus.
Malabou will return to campus to follow up her exciting 2010 Humanities Without Boundaries lecture, “Is Plasticity a New Name for Freedom?”
She will teach a 2-credit graduate level course, “Plasticity, Epigenesis, & Life,” that investigates the concepts of bio-power and biopolitics. In the words of History of Medicine Professor Richard Keller, “She's an extraordinarily interesting thinker who is breaking a number of boundaries between philosophy, literature, and biology.”
April brings Rancière, who will give a Humanities Without Boundaries lecture titled, “The Politics of Fiction.”
His recent work, which has influenced scholars and artists alike, examines the relationships between aesthetics and politics. During his time at UW-Madison, Rancière will teach a 1-credit graduate level course, “Doing or Not Doing: Aesthetic Paradigms and Political Issues,” which will theorize the political implications of an aesthetic regime of art. As he puts it, his writing has “reactivated the real scandal of democracy” because it understands democracy as radical equality rather than as a form of state.
Jacqueline Rose was the first scholar-in-residence (November 9-12, 2010). Meeting with faculty and students in the fields of World Literature, Feminist Theory, Jewish Studies, and English literature, to name just a few, Rose showed how psychoanalysis is a valuable lens for world politics – especially collective political fantasies.
English graduate student Duaa Salameh says that she was able to engage with Rose’s ideas in a “deeper and more comprehensive way” after meeting with Rose.
The Scholars-in-Residence program is made possible by support from the the Distinguished International Visitors Fund and the Jay C. and Ruth Halls Visiting Scholar Fund.