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A Conversation with Thomas Keenan

A Conversation with Thomas Keenan published on

 

 

As part of the 1949 UNESCO Human Rights Exhibition seminar series, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights is proud to present

 

Visual Culture of Human Rights

 

A Conversation with Thomas Keenan, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature; Director, Human Rights Program, Bard College

 

Date and time: Thursday 7 November 2013 at 6.15pm

 

Location: Second Floor Common Room, Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University (see directions here)

 

In a conversation with Thomas Keenan we will explore the historical and contemporary visual culture of human rights by drawing comparisons between UNESCO’s Human Rights exhibition from 1949 and the Family of Man exhibition from 1955. Questions will be raised about the role of images in giving meaning to the idea of human rights, be they linked to triumphant narratives, depictions of suffering, or acting as evidence.

 

This is the second event in a seminar series revolving around the largely unknown 1949 UNESCO Human Rights Exhibition – the first international event that sought to visually represent the history, meaning and content of the rights set out in the UDHR. The series will lead up to a new display of the exhibition archive at Columbia’s Buell Hall Gallery in April 2014. For more information, visit www.exhibithumanrights.org.

 

This seminar series is made possible with the support of the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, the Center for International History, and the Center for Human Rights Documentation and Research.

The event is free and open to the public with limited seating offered.

unesco event

Palestine and the Public Intellectual: Honoring Edward Said

Palestine and the Public Intellectual: Honoring Edward Said published on

If you cannot join us on October 30th for the conversation with Judith Butler and Cornel West titled, Palestine and the Public Intellectual: Honoring Edward Said, we invite you to watch the event on live-stream. We will begin at 7:15PM (Eastern). Please follow the link to tune-in:

Livestream: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/palestine/programs/featuredevent.html#livestream

 

Unfortunately, this event has been fully booked and registration is closed.

For those that have registered, please remember that registration does NOT guarantee entrance to the event and seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

We hope that you tune-in.

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Judith Butler and Cornel West, in Conversation
Palestine and the Public Intellectual: Honoring Edward Said

On the Tenth Anniversary of Edward Said’s passing, renowned scholars Judith Butler and Cornell West will discuss what it means to be a public intellectual and Edward Said’s impact on the academic discourse of Palestine.

Introduction
Lila Abu Lughod, Director of the Middle East Institute and Professor of Anthropology & Gender Studies, Columbia University

Moderator
James Schamus, Professor of Professional Practice, School of the Arts, Columbia University

Judith Butler is a leading scholar in the fields of ethics, political philosophy, feminist philosophy and queer theory. Visiting Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Program for Critical Theory at the University of California, Berkeley. Butler is the recipient of the Mellon Award for Distinguished Scholarship in the Humanities. Author of many influential books from Gender Trouble to Precarious Lives, her most recent book is Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism. She is active in gender and sexual politics and human rights, anti-war politics, and a board member of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Cornel West is a prominent academic and provocative democratic intellectual, activist, and author. Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary, he is emeritus from Princeton University. West has written 20 books on the subjects of race, gender and class in America including the influential Race Matters. Co-host of the popular radio show “Smiley & West” and co-author of a new book titled The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto, West keeps alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.

All attendees must RSVP and bring a photo ID. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

Sponsored by the Center for Palestine Studies (CPS) with the generous support of the Institute for Research in African American Studies (IRAAS) and the Anthropology Department, as well as the Middle East Institute (MEI), Heyman Center for the Humanities, Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWAG), Center for International History (CIH), Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race (CSER) and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society (ICLS).

October 30, 7PM (doors open at 6PM)
Low Library Rotunda (Enter gates on 116th & Broadway or Amsterdam Avenue)
Columbia University
RSVP Required (Registration Closed)