In Brief: February 9

Join celebration of Darwin Day

BGSU will celebrate Darwin Day Thursday (Feb. 12) with three short talks in honor of Charles Darwin’s monumental contribution to our understanding of evolution and humanity. The event begins at 1 p.m. in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union Theater and is free and open to all.

Dr. Juan Bouzat, biology, will speak on “Charles Darwin’s One Long Argument.” Dr. Michael Bradie, professor emeritus of philosophy, will speak on “Darwinism and Cultural Evolution,” and Dr. Neil Browne, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus of economics, will discuss “Social Darwinsim: Mainstream Economics’ Perversion of Darwin’s Thought.”

The celebration of science, education and humanity is sponsored by the Honors College; the departments of biology department, philosophy, economics, psychology, and environment and sustainability, and the Center for Undergraduate Research and Scholarship.

The public is invited to view the exhibition of Quilt I of the Lynch Quilts Project, “Her Name Was Laura Nelson,” in the lobby of the Dorothy Uber Bryan Gallery between Feb. 5 and March 5.

This quilt is the focus of BGSU second-year art history graduate student Viola Ratcliffe, who is writing her thesis under the direction of Dr. Allie Terry-Fritsch on the quilt and the role of witnessing in community formation. Ratcliffe will introduce the speaker.

In addition to the ARTalk, Crowe Storm will serve as a guest juror for the BGSU Spring 2015 BFA Thesis Exhibition and meet with high school students from Maumee Valley Day School in Toledo, where she will be featured as their Black History Month speaker.

The BGSU talk is sponsored by the BGSU Graduate Art Student Organization, the Division of Art History and the Department of Ethnic Studies, and is free and open to the public.

Ray Browne Conference looks at cultural, critical confluences

The annual Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies will take place from Friday-Sunday (Feb. 13-15) in the Bowen-Thompson Student Union.

This year’s theme is “Cultural Landscapes and Critical Possibilities: Perspectives on the Local and Global.” The conference is organized by the Culture Club and the Popular Culture Scholars Association.

Inspired by activism that is both powered by and influences new uses of technology, this year's conference seeks to engage discussions on the linkages between the local and global, as well as material and digital spaces.

Highlights of the conference include:

  • The Ray and Pat Browne Keynote Address, by AtPeace Matika Taylor of the Detroit Water Brigade, on "Water Goes, Where Energy Flows”: An Exploration of How the Current of Popular Culture Affects the Tidal Wave of the Global Water Crisis,” at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the Union Theater.
  • The Battleground States Keynote Address, by Brittney Cooper, of Rutgers University and the Crunk Feminist Collective, “We Can’t Breathe: Making Black Lives Matter in the 21st Century,” at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the Union Theater.
  •  A featured workshop facilitated by Justin Wedes of Detroit Water Brigade, on

“Where the Tweets Meet the Streets: How Social Media Does (and Doesn’t) Transform Social Justice Work,” at 11:30 a.m. Sunday in 207 Union.

Additional sponsors are the School of Cultural and Critical Studies, the Department of History, Department of Popular Culture Studies, the Stoddard and O’Neil Endowment for Studies in Popular Culture, Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, BGSU Access Diversity and Inclusion Programs and the LGBT Resource Center.

The conference is free and registration is optional. Learn more.

Updated: 12/02/2017 12:39AM