Muhlenberg College Center for Ethics Announces Series Ethics of Space: Power of Place
The Muhlenberg College Center for Ethics will sponsor Ethics of Space: Power of Place, a series of programs that will examine three different sub-themes relating to the concept of “space.”Friday, August 28, 2009 11:22 AM
BOUNDARIES, including the invisible, the visible, and the geo-political; CONTROLLING SPACE, considering the differences and overlaps between public and private space, and physical and metaphorical space; and SPACE IN BODIES, which will tackle issues of shared identity, constructing differences, and the spaces between people.
Each year, the Center for Ethics sponsors an intensive series designed to encourage discussion and reflection on a timely, pertinent topic. Center for Ethics programs are free and open to all members of the Muhlenberg campus and the local community. For more information on the series, visit www.muhlenberg.edu/cultural/ethics.
Fall programs sponsored by the Center for Ethics will include:
BOUNDARIES:
Mapping the Muhlenberg Landscape: Borders, Boundaries, and Barriers
September 8, 7:00 p.m. , Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
This is an interactive event intended to explore the ways in which we define and use space on the Muhlenberg campus to work, play, and live. Attendees at this opening event will be asked to move about the Muhlenberg campus, exploring questions such as: How is space organized on campus? What boundaries exist here? Which spaces are accessible or inaccessible and to whom? Where do spaces intersect? How do our campus spaces function? And perhaps most important, what meaning[s] do these spaces have to us as we use them? Reception to follow event.
Art, Life, and Graffiti: A public lecture by Graffiti Artists Lady Pink & Julie Lien
September 22, 7:00 p.m., Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
How do graffiti artists mark space? What is graffiti and what does it have to do with space and power? Is graffiti art? Political or social activism? Vandalism? Or, is it some combination of all these things? To what extent do acts of graffiti and graffiti artists give voice to marginalized communities, signifying the multi-vocality of space? And how, in its public expression, does graffiti transcend boundaries and democratize art? Reception to follow event.
The Desire to Acquire: Or, Why Shopping Malls are Sites of Religious Violence: A film viewing and public lecture by Jon Pahl
October 5, 7:00pm Seegers Union, Great Room
Ever gotten lost in a shopping mall? That disorientation is a symptom of the spiritual problem Jon Pahl sees with malls as "sacred places" in a global religion of the market. Based on his books Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Places and Empire of Sacrifice: The Religious Origins of American Violence, this multimedia presentation will introduce a viewing of the recent film in which he appears, Malls R Us (2009, Instinct Films). Followed by a Q and A discussion with Dr. Pahl. Reception to follow event.
Conversations about Ecology and the Preservation of Wooded Spaces with Janisse Ray, Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow.
October 20, 7 p.m., Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
Co-Sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow Committee
Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow Janisse Ray is an environmental activist and poet whose work raises questions about southern rural space, its ecology, and the peoples that inhabit and interact with it. She is the award-winning author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, a highly praised book that combines elements of ecology and autobiography into a multifaceted work. Reception to follow event.
A Conversation with Mindy Thompson Fullilove, Author of Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America, and What We Can Do About It
October 28, 7 p.m., Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
Mindy Thompson Fullilove studies urban renewal and its largely negative effects on African-American communities across America. Her talk will focus on her continuing quest to explore the connections among race, class, urban displacement, and health in America. Reception to follow event.
Geo-Politicized Space: Race, Representation & the 2010 Census: An Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion
November 4, 7 p.m., Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
Co-Sponsored by the Department of Political Science
This multi-scholar panel of academic experts from a range of fields will discuss the implications of the 2010 Census with an emphasis on the affects of the Census and political apportionment on race and representation. Panelists include Peter Wagner, Executive Director of the Prison Policy Initiative; Bruce Cain, Professor of Political Science at US Berkeley; and Aitya Stokes-Brown, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bucknell University.
Out of the Water Closet: Gender, City, and the Public Toilet, a talk by Harvey Molotch.
November 10, 7 p.m., Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
According to Harvey Molotch, Professor of Sociology and of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University, public restrooms are radically unstable places at the intersection of the public and private spheres, providing a window on the social and political world. In his talk he will address question such as: How “public” are public restrooms? How is the line between private acts and public space negotiated in public washrooms? What can the toilet tell us about gender and cultural politics? Reception to follow event.
The St. Bernard Project- Displaced people in New Orleans – A Conversation with Liz McCartney
November 16, 7 p.m., Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
The Katrina disaster in New Orleans and the city’s subsequent attempts to rebuild the city raise myriad questions about the intersections of public and private space, and the connections among space, race, and political power in urban America. In conjunction with National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, Liz McCartney (CNN Hero 2008) will discuss the unique challenges faced by displaced people in southern Louisiana. Reception to follow event.
Modernist Aesthetics and Urban Politics, a Public Lecture by Thomas Bender, University Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History, New York University.
November 18m 7 p.m., Miller Forum, Moyer Hall
Co-Sponsored by Phi Beta Kappa
Thomas Bender joined the faculty of New York University in 1974, where he now holds the position of University Professor of the Humanities and professor of history. His research interests span the history of cities, intellectual and cultural history, including the history of universities and academic disciplines, urban culture, forms of narrative in history, and, most recently, the global context of American history. Reception to follow the event.
