The Leading Edge

Events

Monday, May 8

Traditional Chinese Instrumental Music: Performance & Demonstration — 3 p.m., Benton 305 A. Seating is very limited.

Bitter Stargazing after Mao: Gong Li and the Affective Politics of Weidao — After the end of the Cultural Revolution, new aesthetic and narrative freedoms of the 1980s brought Chinese film to the forefront of world cinema. Mila Zuo, Assistant Professor of Film in the School of Writing, Literature, and Film, will discuss cinematic affect and performative flavor in The Red Trilogy—a collaboration of director Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li, whose eroticized embodiment of national suffering and bitter feeling launched her to global stardom. 4 p.m., The Center for the Humanities, Autzen House, 811 SW Jefferson. 

Film Screening — White Frog – High-school freshman, Nick (The Twilight Saga’s Booboo Stewart), is a neglected teen with mild Asperger’s syndrome whose life is challenged and ultimately changed forever when tragedy hits his family. 6 p.m., Milam Hall 319. All films will be captioned.

Mr. D’Arcy’s Persians: The Adventures of Six Muslim Students in Jane Austen’s England — Public talk by Dr. Nile Green, a historian of the multiple globalizations of Islam and Muslims. His most recent book, the New York Times Editors’ Choice “The Love of Strangers,” reconstructs the beginning of modern Muslim-European exchange by following the first Middle Eastern students to study in Europe. 7 p.m., Milam Auditorium.

Tuesday, May 9

The Afghan Discovery of Buddha: The Intellectual Prehistory of Islamist Iconoclasm – Public talk by Dr. Nile Green. In March 2001, the world watched in horror as the Taliban detonated explosives beneath the colossal Buddhas of Bamiyan. Yet in the decades before the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s, official Afghan state historians celebrated the Buddhist and wider pre-Islamic past as the bedrock of Afghan civilization. This talk traces the influential interplay of French archaeology and Afghan nationalism. Noon, MU 208, La Raza. 

Wednesday, May 10

Israel Among the Angels: Biblical, Jewish, and Christian Views of Angels — Lecture by Dr. Mika Ahuvia. What are angels? Why have angels attracted and repelled religious peoples from antiquity to the present? In this presentation, Prof. Mika Ahuvia will discuss how angels became a part of Jewish and Christian life in the ancient world, and how these early controversies about angels may linger today. Noon, MU Council Room, 222. 

Is your breakfast causing cancer? — Public talk by Dr. Ross. Dr. Ross was the standard American doctor eating the standard American diet for 35 years treating a lot of symptoms with prescriptions. He made a choice to follow the science of nutrition instead of the (SAD) with its side effects, which changed his life. He now treats the root causes of disease, helping people prevent and reverse their chronic diseases. 4 p.m., Milam Hall 319.

Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Talk — Nora Naranjo Morse, sculptor of “Always Becoming,” the first sculpture in Washington, D.C. made by an indigenous woman, will speak following the second Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony. “Always Becoming” is composed of five large pieces made of organic materials are meant to dissolve over time. The concept of Always Becoming speaks to environment, community, and culture. 7 p.m., LInC 100.

Thursday, May 11

Dreaming of the Nation: Undocumented Youth Activism and US Citizenship Imaginings — This talk presents an analysis of citizenship as defined by Latinx DREAMer activism of the last decade and argues that in addition to their radical possibilities, migrant-rights rhetorics may also reify neoliberal discourses of gendered, sexualized, and racialized oppression. Drawing on Chicana feminisms and affect theory, CL@SE Engaged Scholar and assistant professor in SWLF Ana Milena Ribero gestures to alternative rhetorical frameworks that can help activists, scholars, and allies move from making rights-based claims for individual inclusion to making collective liberatory claims based on broad understandings and imaginings of justice. 12 – 1:30 p.m., MU 222.

Der Stürmer, Fake News, and the Making of the “Jewish Criminal” in Nazi Germany — Lecture by Katherine Hubler. While it is well-known that National Socialist propaganda frequently spread “fake news” about European Jews, few Nazi publications were as belligerent and unrestrained in their antisemitic attacks as Der Stürmer (The Stormtrooper). With its lurid imagery, reader-sourced content, and public visibility, Der Stürmer prefigured contemporary methods of fomenting bigotry and spreading misinformation. 3 p.m., Valley Library, Willamette Rooms.

Professor Thomas J. Christensen, William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War at Princeton University, will speak on U.S. — China relations. This event is sponsored by the Asian Studies Program in collaboration with the Citizenship & Crisis Initiative. FMI, contact Hua-yu Li, Director for Asian Studies Program. 541-737-6235. 4 p.m., LInC 228.

Award-winning science writer and journalist Ed Yong will present the inaugural public lecture of the Oregon State University Microbiome Initiative (OMBI) on May 11, 2017, based on his bestselling book on microbiome in the human body, I Contain Multitudes. He is one of the most prominent and influential science journalists on the contemporary scene having written for virtually every prestigious English-language media outlet. He is a writer for The Atlantic, where he enjoys the distinction of being the 159-year old magazine’s first staff science writer. 6-7:30 p.m., MU Horizon Room. This event is a part of SPARK: Arts+Science@OSU.

Friday, May 12

Music à la Carte — Jan Michael Looking Wolf. Noon, MU Lounge. 

Ethnic Studies Now! A Student Research Symposium — Please join us for a multi-institutional discussion of student research and creative work in Ethnic Studies. Students and faculty are invited from: Oregon State University, University of Oregon, Willamette University, Lewis & Clark, Portland State University, Western Washington University, Western Oregon University, Southern Oregon University, Chemeketa Community College, and more. Lunch Keynote by Dr. Laura Pulido, University of Oregon. 12-5 p.m., Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez.

Annual gathering of the Native American Flute Circle — The flute circle gathering, thought to be the largest in the world, brings together past and present students of Music 108, one of the most popular baccalaureate core courses at OSU, in a celebration of cultural diversity and togetherness. In May 2016, 375 participants joined in the largest iteration of the OSU event to date. 1:30 p.m., Student Experience Center Plaza..

Saturday, May 13

Hunting Birds with a Camera: How William Finley and Herman Bohlman Used Photography to Save Oregon’s Birds — Presented by Laura Cray & Bob Sallinger. The Oregon Historical Society is proud to present a retrospective on the work of early twentieth century nature photographers William L. Finley, Irene Finley, and Herman T. Bohlman. 6 p.m., Valley Library, Willamette Room 121. 

Recurring Events

Oregon State University Theatre will present in May the premiere of “The Upward-Beating Heart,” an original, devised work developed by OSU students. In theater, devised plays are those where the script originates from collaborative, often improvised work by a group of people, rather than by a writer or writers. “The Upward-Beating Heart” is based on Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet.” Performances will be held May 11-13 and May 19-20, beginning at 7:30 p.m., and on May 21 beginning at 2 p.m. in the Withycombe Hall Main Stage theatre, 2901 S.W. Campus Way, Corvallis. For tickets: http://bit.ly/1wgmTkJ.

Fairbanks Gallery will host a New Media Communications faculty exhibition, “Experiments in Story,” featuring work by Amanda Tasse, Carmen Tiffany, Dan Faltesek and Todd Kesterson May 8-31. The exhibit offers unique perspectives on the vital relationship between data collection and the visual arts. This multimedia exhibition will highlight strategies for visualizing complex information by presenting platforms were ideas can be more easily understood, interpreted and discussed. The gallery is located on the first floor of Fairbanks Hall and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. It is open until 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 18 for the Corvallis Arts Walk.

The Microbiome Art Project — This project is a collaboration between OSU’s research community and The Arts Center in Corvallis. The project focuses on microbial systems that affect human health, biodiversity of animal species, and air, earth and water quality. This exhibition asks both artists and researchers, How Can We See the Unseen? Through this exhibit, the arts will document and interpret complex research concepts and bring greater understanding for artists and the public, as well as offer a unique perspective to the scientific community. April 13 – May 27, The Arts Center, 700 SW Madison Avenue. This exhibit is a part of SPARK: Arts+Science@OSU.

Oregon State University’s Center for the Humanities is hosting an exhibition of work by Assistant Professor of Art Kerry Skarbakka titled “Blackout,” through June 8. This is Skarbakka’s second solo exhibition in Corvallis in a year. The installation is comprised of objects of art and understanding, encapsulated in the medium used to line the beds of trucks, and thus blacked out, or rendered void. Utilizing the significance of the Center for the Humanities and coinciding with the March for Science and Earth Day on April 22, the Skarbakka says the exhibition provides “a message of solidarity against attempts to defund and silence the arts, the sciences and the humanities.”

The Little Gallery proudly presents Betty LaDuke’s “Bountiful Harvest and Border Crossings,” April 3 – June 16. LaDuke’s wood panel murals document and narrate stories of Latino farm workers who work on farms in Oregon’s Rogue Valley. For more  information: 541-737-2146. 

Current Research, Publications and Creative Activity 

Assistant Professor of Ethnic Studies and CL@SE’s Associate Director of Research, Daniel López-Cevallos recently presented the following: López-Cevallos DF (April 29, 2017). El Sumak Kawsay como Política Pública en el Ecuador. Panel session presented at the 2017 Latin American Studies Association Diálogo de Saberes Congress, Lima – Perú. He was also invited to deliver a talk titled “Inequidades y Desigualdades en Salud: Una Mirada Desde Los Determinantes Sociales”  at the 2017 MPH Cohort Welcome Seminar, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito – Ecuador, May 2, 2017.

Charles Robinson (Dean’s Office) and Jason Fick (Music) were among the co-PIs from the Colleges of Agriculture, Business, Engineering, and Liberal Arts awarded an OSU Scaled Learning Innovation Grant for the Loom Learning Development Platform and Integrative Curriculum for Internet of Things and Internet of Agriculture proposal. Robinson and Fick will join an Internet of Things faculty collaboration team (representing The CO•, SPARK, and the Music Technology program) to participate in system and curriculum design during AY2017-18.

Emeritus Professor of Theatre Charlotte J. Headrick presented a paper “The Global Reach of Patricia Burke Brogan’s Eclipsed” at the annual meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies, at the Univ. of Misssouri, Kansas City, March 30. Additionally, Headrick performed in a reading of a portion of Anna Ziegler’s Photograph 51 about the life of Rosalind Franklin in March at the Marine Hatfield Science Center. Headrick’s essay “Lynne Parker:  ‘Radical’ Director. Reflections of a Fellow Director” was one of seventy essays to be included in The Contemporary Irish Theatre and Performance Study Reader, 2016.

Assistant professor of music technology Jason Fick was recently awarded a  $4000 College of Liberal Arts research award for his proposal “Interactive Music and Software Environment for Baroque Flute and Computer.”

Professor of music Steven Zielke lead the OSU Vocal Ensemble, a select group of singers focused on classical and popular vocal chamber music, at the Portland Business Alliance awards breakfast for more than 1000 Portland-area business leaders and guest speaker OSU President Ed Ray.

Instructor of music Lauren Servias served as an invited adjudicator for the piano division of the Salem Federated Music Club’s annual festival for the National Federation of Music Clubs.

Several members of the OSU music faculty were invited adjudicators at the Oregon Schools Activities Association music soloist competition on Saturday, April 29: Assistant professor of music Sandra Babb, director of vocal studies Nicholas Larson, and instructors of music Nathan Boal and Megan Sand. Also adjudicating at the contest were emeritus associate professors of music Tina Bull and Richard Poppino. 

Instructor of music Dana Reason delivered a remote lecture-performance titled “Blow Your Speakers Up: Archival Digging and the Pleasure of Repetition in Minimalism, The Beatles and Grime-Trap” for Soka University in Orange County, California.

Director of bands Chris Chapman conducted the Portland Wind Symphony on Saturday, May 6 in a performance featuring works by Bennett, Kallinikov, Alford, Grainger and Reed. Chapman is the conductor and artistic director of the semi-professional ensemble based in the Portland-metro area.