Clark’s Fall Dialogue Symposium to Focus on the Power of Narrative

Friday, September 05, 2014

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Clark University’s upcoming Fall Dialogue symposium “Tell Me a Story: Exploring the Power of Narrative,” will explore storytelling as a form of personal and artistic expression as a scholarly methodology that crosses and connects disciplines, and as an act of social and political empowerment. Professionals from varied fields will share how they utilize the power of narrative in their lives and in their work.

Clark’s fall symposium will be held at the Higgins School of Humanities throughout the fall. Check out the list below for the events that will take place over the semester; all events will be open and free to the public.

For more information about any of these events, call 508-793-7479 or email [email protected]. More events are listed at http://www.clarku.edu/higgins-school-of-humanities/calendar/index.cfm.

Narrative and the Storyteller Within: A Community Conversation

Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - 7 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

Narratives start with the self – the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell others, and the stories others tell about us. Tap into the storyteller within during a discussion and writing exercise facilitated Jessica Bane Robert, assistant director of the Writing Center and Writing Program at Clark University.

Stories for Hot Weather: In Between Impossible and Easy, Between Despair and Denial

Thursday, September 18, 2014 - 7:30 pm

Jefferson Academic Center, Room 320

Climate change is here. We're not going to prevent it, but we are going to choose how severe it gets and how we respond. Writer, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit suggests that in between despair and denial, there is a lot of space for thought and action, and what we do depends in part on how we tell our stories.

Solnit is the author of 16 books and a contributing editor to Harper’s and TomDispatch.com.

This event is part of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future (UHF), a year-long conversation among 13 women on the implications of climate change for our world. A dialogue between Solnit and members of the Council will follow the talk. This lecture is co-sponsored with the UHF Council and supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Two Women Talking: RESTOR(Y)ING Culture, Gender, Sexuality and Tradition

Thursday, October 2, 2014 - 7 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

In this LIVE unscripted performance, Benaifer Bhadha and Monsoon Bissell weave their life stories together — stories that take place between western and eastern worlds, touching on issues of personal identity, culture, gender, sexuality, violence, illness, and tradition.

Bhadha currently teaches with Narativ, Inc and has worked as a clinical social worker, human rights activist, and community organizer. Bissell has an active coaching practice and is the Co-Dean of Programs for the Indian Society for Applied Behavioral Sciences.

This event is co-sponsored with the Department of Political Science and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Clark University.

Narrating Race: A Community Conversation

Tuesday, October 7, 2014 - 7 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

Enter into the space where words, images, and stories of race intersect to explore the role of narrative in the way we talk about race. Betsy Huang, associate professor of English and Chief Officer of Diversity and Inclusion at Clark University, will facilitate the discussion.

What Do You See? An Artist Talk and Exhibition Opening

Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - 7 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

Photographer Wing Young Huie has captured images of the dizzying socioeconomic and cultural realities of American society over his 35-year career. By exploring and juxtaposing “authentic selves” and “idealized realities,” each photograph tells multiple stories about the subject, the artist, and the viewer.

Huie’s best-known projects are large-scale public installations, and his work has generated five books. In 2012, he opened The Third Place, a gallery in South Minneapolis that invites artists and thinkers to engage in salon-style discussions with the public.

The exhibition will run from October 15 through December 17.

Caregiving as Moral Experience

Monday, October 20, 2014 - 7 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

Dr. Arthur Kleinman will discuss the primacy of the patient’s lived experience of illness, the relationship between narrative and caregiving, and the ways in which the humanities and interpretive social sciences matter for doctors and other caregivers.

Kleinman is professor of medical anthropology in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

This event is co-sponsored with the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment at Clark University.

Fright Night in the Higgins Lounge

Wednesday, October 29, 2014 - 7 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

Clark University Professors Gino DiIorio, Jay Elliott, and Jennifer Plante will offer readings of their favorite scary stories and explore the power of narratives that play upon our most basic fears and vulnerabilities.

Poetry and History: An Evening with Natasha Trethewey

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - 7 pm

Atwood Hall, Downing Street, Worcester

United States Poet Laureate (2012-2014) and Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey will read poems from Thrall, Native Guard, Bellocq’s Ophelia, and other works.

In May 2014, Trethewey concluded two terms as the 19th Poet Laureate of the United States. She is currently the State Poet Laureate of Mississippi. She is the author of four collections of poetry and the recipient of numerous fellowships. Trethewey also contributed to “Where Poetry Lives,” a feature on the PBS NewsHour.

This event is part of the Higgins School’s African American Intellectual Culture Series and is co-sponsored with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of the Provost at Clark University.

Fragile Fatherhood: What Being a Daddy Means in the Lives of Low-Income Men

Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - 7 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

Across the political spectrum, unwed fatherhood is denounced as one of the defining social problems of today. But does the narrative of the “deadbeat dad” tell the whole story? Kathryn Edin, one of the nation's leading poverty researchers, uses ethnographic observations, in-depth interviews and mixed method approaches to go beyond quantitative research and uncover deeper truths.

Edin is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Margaret Mead Fellow at the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences.

This event is co-sponsored with the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise and the Urban Development and Social Change Program at Clark University.

In addition to the Symposium offerings listed above, the Higgins School of Humanities will continue its examination of storytelling during the following events in the fall:

In the Workshop of the Mind: The Hidden Helpers of Early Modern Authors and Scholars

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 - 4:30 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

Using examples from paintings, manuscripts, and printed books, Professor Ann Blair will explore how collaboration was just as (and perhaps even more) widespread and essential to scholarship during the early modern period than it is in current times. Clark University Provost and Professor of Philosophy Davis Baird will offer commentary.

Blair is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at Harvard University.

This event is part of the Roots of Everything lecture series and is sponsored by Early Modernists Unite (EMU), a faculty collaborative bringing together scholars of medieval and early modern England and America, in conjunction with the Higgins School of Humanities. It is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

“DEFAMATION” A Play by Clark Alumnus Todd Logan ‘75

Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - 7 pm

Razzo Hall, Traina Center for the Arts, Downing Street, Worcester

Race, class, religion, and law collide when an African American businesswoman from Chicago’s South Side sues a Jewish real estate developer from the North Shore for defamation in this thought-provoking courtroom drama by playwright and author Todd Logan.

Logan has written several plays that have been performed in Chicago in recent years. He also is a filmmaker and humorist whose works have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, and Writer’s Digest.

This event is co-sponsored with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Clark University.

Slavery on their Minds: Representing the Peculiar Institution in Contemporary Children’s Picture Books

Thursday, November 13, 2014 - 4 pm

Higgins Lounge at Dana Commons

A growing number of children's picture books recount the history of American slavery and are making their way into classrooms and libraries. Professor Raphael Rogers will explore the connection between these texts and the historical scholarship about the “peculiar institution.”

Rogers is visiting assistant professor of education at Clark University. In addition to teaching in Massachusetts public schools, he has served as a literacy coach, consultant, and university supervisor of student teachers in a number of urban schools.