Some face-to-face events are returning. Check carefully for any requirements.
Professor of Caribbean Literature and Culture at Goldsmiths University, Joan Anim-Addo brings us her voice on Black Women’s Writing and the place of the Black figure in the Humanities. This event will be hosted in connection with Oxford ACS.
An Interdisciplinary Conference sponsored by Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars Hall and The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH). The conference.
In a time when globalization emphasizes the free flow of ideas, goods, and capital, migration appears at the forefront of political agendas in many countries around the world. Discussions on migration tend to focus on the economy, emphasizing the protection of the working class and the attraction of highly skilled migrants; on national identity, emphasizing nationalism and “us versus them” sentiments; and on national security, emphasizing protection from external threats. In the conference we will explore the ways religious and faith traditions contribute, challenge, and shift the discourse about migration.
For more information go to http://migrationfaithaction.org
or register at http://migrationfaithaction.org/register/
Writer of autobiography, poetry, fiction and journalism and Professor of Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths University Blake Morrison brings some of his latest work and interesting discussion to St. Anne’s.
Dr Simon Underdown (Oxford Brookes University) will explore how we made the journey from small-brained African apes to the dominant animal on the planet, answering questions such as ‘why are humans so smart?’, ‘why is there only one species of human?’, and ‘why are we the only animal with language and art?’.
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014
Professor Roger Griffin (Oxford Brookes University), author of ‘Terrorist’s Creed’, will draw upon actual examples of terrorist attacks and a number of films in this talk to help explain why ‘ordinary’ individuals carry out violent attacks, and what possibilities might exist for deradicalization (for years 14+).
As part of the Oxford Brookes University Festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 May 2014. #OutBurst2014
Alumni Lecture 2014.
In the Department of Social Policy and Intervention’s Centenary year, Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard, will deliver the Alumni Lecture, followed by a drinks reception. Make a booking by sending an email to events@spi.ox.ac.uk
Novelist Ali Smith, author of Artful, Hotel World, and The Accidental, returns to St. Anne’s after holding the Weidenfeld Visiting Professorship in European Comparative Literature in 2012.
The spiritual and second-order sense of scripture, according to which, for example, the crossing of the Red Sea denotes Baptism, and Jacob’s ladder denotes the cross, presents at least two epistemological challenges. First, the history of interpretation suggests that some kind of collective judgment has been made between acceptable and unacceptable interpretations, but the rules for making these judgments are unclear. Second, for a variety of reasons, spiritual interpretations of specific persons, objects or events in scripture cannot add to theological knowledge through argumentation. A further challenge, that the spiritual sense depends on belief in providential special divine action (SDA), ought not to exclude the study of this interpretation according to its own principles but may have contributed to a comparative neglect of this topic. Despite its historical popularity and influence, recent academic work on the spiritual sense has therefore been limited.
In this seminar, I examine the spiritual sense in the light of recent work in neuroscience. I argue that although particular spiritual interpretations are dependent on a body of pre-existing theological propositions, and cannot add to these propositions directly, this does not mean that these interpretations lack cognitive value. On the contrary, the spiritual sense is the fruit of a kind of insight most commonly associated with the right hemisphere of the brain, associating embodied experiences with otherwise abstract theological statements and integrating such statements within shared narratives. I further examine work on partial brain dysfunction to underline the risks involved from a neglect of the spiritual sense, and consider practical implications for religious life.
Dr Pinsent is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, a member of the Theology and Religion Faculty at Oxford University and a research fellow of Harris Manchester College. He was formerly a physicist at CERN, has degrees in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a second doctorate, in philosophy, from St Louis University. He is the author of The Second-Person Perspective in Aquinas’s Ethics: Virtues and Gifts, and a wide range of other publications on virtue ethics, neurotheology, science and religion, the philosophy of the person, divine action, and the nature of evil.
THIS SEMINAR WILL BE HELD AT THE SUTRO ROOM, TRINITY COLLEGE AT 8:30PM, PRECEDED BY DRINKS AT 8:15PM.
Between the artist and the museum
Friday 9 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)
Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre
A symposium with Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University) and Vik Muniz (Artist). Chaired by Paul Hobson (Director, Modern Art Oxford).
Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries
The inaugural Oxford Education Conference is taking place in Pembroke College, Oxford on the 10th May 2014. Specialists from all over the UK will be gathering to discuss educational inequality – one of the most significant issues of today’s society. Supported by OUSU and the Oxford Hub, the Oxford Education Conference has been organised by a student committee and will bring issues of gender, BME, socio-economic background, and further education to the foreground.
We will be hearing from former Minister of Education Andrew Adonis, Teach First/BBC Tough Young Teacher’s Charles Wallendahl, and countless experts from government, social investment groups, and academics. The Oxford Education Conference will offer delegates the opportunity to hear from pioneering experts in Education and will hope to offer some possible solutions to the issues we face today.
For more information (and to purchase your ticket), check out www.oxeduconf.com, www.facebook.com/oxeduconf, www.twitter.com/oxeduconf and join the conversation with the handle #oxeduconf14
India: A Short History
With Andrew Robinson, author
Saturday 10 May, 2-3pm, Headley Lecture Theatre
India is the world’s largest democracy and a fast-growing economy. It is also a civilization with roots more than four thousand years old, including the technically advanced cities of the Indus Valley, the Buddha, Hindu dynasties, the Mughal Empire, and the British Raj. This lecture looks at individuals, ideas, and cultures, as well as the rise and fall of kingdoms, political parties, and economies.
Tickets £5/£4
http://www.ashmolean.org/events/Lectures/?id=132
Led by David Aldridge, an academic philosopher, educationalist and experienced role-playing enthusiast, this evening is intended for curious or experienced gamers alike to sample Dungeons and Dragons, celebrating collaborative storytelling and raising serious questions about ethics, metaphysics, and our own potential as human beings (ages 16+).
Part of the Oxford Brookes University festival, Outburst, at Pegasus, 6-10 may 2014. #OutBurst2014
The following three papers will be presented around the theme of dreams and sleep, and their different interpretations across cross disciplinary research studies:
ANKE EHLERS: ‘Haunted by Trauma: Flashbacks and Nightmares in Post-traumatic Stress Disorder’
TIM VINEY: ‘Activity Patterns of Identified GABA-releasing Neurons in the Rodent Hippocampus During Movement and Sleep’
DELPHINE FAYARD: ‘Sylphic Dreams in Eighteenth-Century French Literature’
This seminar series provides an opportunity to network with other members of the University, and to hear how other researchers plan, conduct and complete their research projects. We meet each term on Mondays of 3rd Week at 5.30pm to hear very brief presentations by a graduate student, a research fellow and a senior fellow at Wolfson, and continue with lively discussion over wine, followed by dinner in hall.
In this lecture series, Naomi Richman explores the evolution of the ideas central to major global belief-systems such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism and Marxism, and their status in the modern world from a social-scientific and secular perspective.
6 Lectures run on Mondays starting the 12th May.
6-7pm, Roy Griffiths Room. ARCO Building, Keble College.
Free, open to all, and followed by discussion.
Weeks 1 and 2: Christianity and Secularisation. Week 3: Buddhism. Week 4: Judaism. Week 5: Islam. Week 6: Marxism, Nationalism and Scientific Humanism
For more information, contact Dr Bea Prentiss,
A view from the Pacific: re-envisioning the art museum
Tuesday 13 May 2014, 5-6.30pm (doors will open at 4.45pm)
Ashmolean Museum Headley Lecture Theatre
A lecture by Michael Govan (Humanitas Visiting Professor in Museums, Galleries & Libraries at Oxford University). Chaired by Professor Christopher Brown (Director, Ashmolean Museum). The event will be followed by a drinks reception to which members of the audience are warmly invited.
Free admission but booking is essential.
http://www.humanities.ox.ac.uk/humanitas/museums-galleries-libraries
Tour: Joseph Beuys & Jörg Immendorff
With Colin Harrison, Senior Curator of European Art
3–3.45pm on Wednesday 14 May and Wednesday 11 June
Tours are free, no booking is required. Please meet in Gallery 2.
http://www.ashmolean.org/exhibitions/details/?exh=92
Join us for a lunchtime talk by Geoff Kistruck – Associate Professor and Ron Binns Chair in Entrepreneurship at Schulich School of Business, York University. Geoff’s primary research interests involve social entrepreneurship and innovation, principally within the context of poverty alleviation efforts in base-of-the-pyramid markets.
His talk will focus on Base-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) markets and how they present significant governance challenges when undertaking large-scale investments. In the absence of strong legal institutions, organizations must design creative solutions for ensuring that local partners adhere to their agreements. Drawing upon social interdependence theory, his talk will propose that the use of alternative goal structures will serve to motivate local partners to fulfil their commitments.
Why is laughter such an important human social tool? Neuroscientist and stand-up comedian Prof Sophie Scott will discuss her research on laughter (and apparently rats laugh too!).
Speaker: Edward Fitzgerald, QC
Renowned human rights lawyer and leading advocate in death row cases worldwide. Part of the Mansfield Lecture Series, convener Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.
Magic Museums at Night
Special Ashmolean Late Night Opening
Friday 16 May
7–10pm
FREE ENTRY
For 2014’s Museums At Night event, the Ashmolean is putting on an evening of magic. Curators will be presenting the magical and mystical objects of the collection while visitors are invited for magic shows and workshops, tarot reading, stargazing, flamenco dance and more.
https://www.facebook.com/events/448472011951907/
How does the brain work?
And how can we switch on and off specific neurons?
Join us for a Pint of Science with top academics from Oxford University.
Internationally renowned historian Barbara Taylor will speak about her new book “The Last Asylum” with Ruth Harris (New College, Oxford) and Daniel Pick (Birkbeck College).
The book charts her years of psychoanalysis and her experiences as a patient in Friern Barnet, the mental hospital in North London.
Sandwiches will be available from 12:45 pm. Free and open to all.
You ever wanted to understand more about climate change? Is it real? what are the consequences?
Come join us for an expert panel from Oxford University who will shed some light on this highly debated subject
When is a volcano going to erupt and how do you measure that?
What is Magma and how can we start studying it?
These questions and more will be explained by top academics from Oxford University.
More details on our website.
https://www.facebook.com/events/575525219212880/
Associate Professor Jake Lynch is fighting a case in Australia’s Federal Court to uphold his right not to take part in institutional collaborations between the University of Sydney, where he directs the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, and two Israeli universities. The case against him, under Australia’s racial discrimination legislation, is brought by Shurat HaDin, a right-wing Israeli law centre and NGO.
Lynch will explain the rationale for the academic boycott of Israel, part of the original PACBI call issued by 170 Palestinian civil society organisations in 2005, and give an update on the court case.
His struggle is taking place on the frontline of a declared tactic by Israel of using the courts in countries around the world to stifle the BDS movement. He will set out what is at stake, describe the galvanising effect of the case on the movement in Australia, and explain how a successful boycott movement is an essential precursor to peace with justice.
Intellectual Property Discussion Group (IPDG)
Efficiently composing a piece of writing is an important marker of success in our education system. However, many individuals struggle to write well, particularly if they have any specific learning difficulties. In this lecture Professor Vince Connelly will demonstrate how the writing process often breaks down for these individuals and examine what can be done to try and improve their writing skills. This event is free and open to everyone.
How can we rewild animals to today’s environment?
How does the future of lethal viruses is going to be? Are they going to stick around with us as long as humanity exists
On Thursday 22nd at 6pm the Simpkins Lee will host a panel discussion exploring the battle for women’s education. Featuring a heavyweight line-up of Jane Robinson (author of the bestselling ‘Bluestockings’), Sarah Pine (OUSU VP for Women), Lyndall Gordon (alumni and Fellow of St. Hilda’s College) and Tim Whitmarsh (Head of ‘Women and the Humanities’ at TORCH), it promises to be a smashing 45 minute insight into the world of women’s colleges, the battle for equality, and why ‘women’s studies’ deserves a place on the curriculum.
event is free