Obermann Center for Advanced Studies

9/30 – What Is Critical Race Theory? Perspectives from Business, Law, & Sociology
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10/27 – Application Deadline for 2022 Interdisciplinary Research Grants
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Philosopher Asha Bhandary Makes Caregiving Disparities & Effects Visible
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Upcoming Events

What Is Critical Race Theory?: Perspectives from Business, Law, & Sociology

Thursday, September 30, 2021 7:00pm

Virtual

On July 1, 2021, Iowa House File 802 became law. Though the Act does not specifically mention “Critical Race Theory,” CRT was cited in discussions of the Act, and the Act restricts when and where the framework’s historical, social, and legal tools for understanding race-based inequities may be taught. But what is critical race theory, and how has it become the focus of acts and editorials? On Thursday, September 30, at 7:00 p.m. CST, a legal scholar, a sociologist, and a community advocate for…

Fall Institute on Teaching with Writing: Session 1

Friday, October 1, 2021 2:00pm to 5:00pm

Virtual

Creating Meaningful Writing Tasks: Breaking Assignments into Smaller Parts How do we design meaningful formal writing assignments that engage and motivate our students? How do we use smaller writing-to-learn tasks that scaffold and prepare them for those formal assignments as well as inform us instructors how they are learning what we are teaching? How do we build multimodal elements into assignments to expand meaning-making opportunities? This workshop will focus on designing and…

Obermann Humanities 3-Minute Thesis

Friday, October 1, 2021 4:00pm to 5:30pm

Virtual

The Obermann Center's 2021 Humanities Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) will take place on Friday, October 1, 2021, from 4:00–5:30 p.m. on Zoom. Our 3MT is specially designed to feature the work of UI humanities graduate students. The 3MT event challenges graduate students to articulate their complex research clearly and concisely to non-specialist audiences in three minutes or fewer. The presented research can be a student’s thesis or PhD work, research related to an internship or other outside…

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News

John Rapson's Communal Composition: Esteban and the Children of the Sun

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

In mid-June, a dozen musicians gathered in the basement of one of Iowa City’s oldest homes. There was a blues guitarist, a French mandole player, and a Celtic fiddler. The drummer was sequestered in the laundry room, and an electric guitarist’s amp was routed through a shower stall to limit distortion. In the midst of it all was John Rapson.

The Kindness of Strangers: Philosopher seeks to make caregiving disparities and their effects visible

Monday, September 13, 2021

During the pandemic, many of us have relied on the kindness of strangers. The work of people we didn’t know—store clerks, nurses, childcare providers, delivery people, and warehouse workers—allowed many of us to stay home during the past year and a half. As in the case of Blanche DuBois—she of Streetcar Named Desire fame—this reliance may have helped us in the short run, but it’s not necessarily the best societal approach to receiving care. Frontline workers are inordinately female and people of color....

Andrew Boge Reflects on the HWW Career Diversity Workshop

Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Imagine yourself on the tree-filled University of Michigan campus listening to people with advanced degrees in the humanities talk about their workplaces and career trajectories. One person gives an overview of jobs in university presses, while the next describes her work as a consultant for non-profits. And your task is to soak up information, meet new people, and turn on your imagination.

Apply for the Summer '22 Humanities Without Walls Predoctoral Career Diversity Workshop

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Launched in 2015 as an initiative of the Humanities Without Walls (HWW) consortium, this annual workshop welcomes 30 participants each summer from higher education institutions across the United States. HWW Summer Workshop Fellows work in a variety of academic disciplines. They are scholars and practitioners who bring experience in community building, museum curation, filmmaking, radio programming, social media, project management, research, writing, and teaching....

Seeing Asian American Life through the Video Essay

Monday, August 23, 2021

As each of us ponders how to live and work in the face of growing challenges—from pandemics to racist violence to climate change—scholars and artists are reconsidering their research questions, expanding methodologies, and devising forms for varied audiences. This year, the Obermann Center is hosting a series of informal conversations on research. Artists, scholars, social scientists, and scientists will explore what, in this moment, research can be and can do. We were therefore delighted when Professor Hyaeweol Choi asked if the Obermann Center would join the Korean Studies Research Network in inviting filmmaker, critic, and video essayist Kevin B. Lee to share recent video essays. In this innovative form, Lee illuminates Asian American experience by juxtaposing personal history, popular culture, and journalistic accounts of violence against Asian Americans.

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Tweets by ObermannCenter

The Anne Frank Tree: Taking Root in Iowa

On April 29, 2022, a new tree will be planted on the UI Pentacrest—a sapling propagated from the tree that grew near the annex where Anne Frank and her family hid during World War II. Join in a year of events surrounding the planting.

Behind the S(cr)een

Join us for the 2022 Obermann Humanities Symposium, Behind the S(cr)een: African Americans in the Entertainment Industries. The three-day event will take place April 21–23, 2022.

Audience at Obermann Conversation at ICPL

Obermann Conversations

An informal speaker series held in various locations around Iowa City as well as in the cozy and collegial Obermann Library. Once per month during fall and spring semesters, we feature work of faculty and research staff, often in conversation with a thought leader from our community.