Research and Creative Collaboratives, 2005-06
Art as Knowing
The Art as Knowing Collaborative comprises a working group of artists and scholars from across
the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences engaged in conversation about artistic practice
and ways of knowing. Questions engaging the group include these: How does art work as a way of producing,
negotiating, and communicating knowledge? And how is that way of knowing of value across the disciplines
as well as beyond the University? How do art theory and practice help us think about the forms of
creativity, improvisation, visceral pleasure, and non-deliberative thought that inspire and occur in
scholarship in every discipline? How can the arts stimulate new insights into recurrent problematics
in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences? And how can such a discussion be sensitive to
cultural difference when the very category of art is itself an artifact of Western history? The
conveners for the Art as Knowing Collaborative are Lynn Lukkas, Department of Art,
and Maria Damon, Department of English.
Asian/Asian American Bodies in Performance
The Asian/Asian American Bodies in Performance Research Collaborative focuses on the uses and representations of
the Asian/Asian American body in both historical and contemporary settings. The group’s questions include the following: How
do particular stagings of Asian/Asian American bodies intervene into the mainstream representations of
Asian/Asian Americans? What are the shifts from “Asian” into “Asian American” bodies, and how do they
complicate national and racial boundaries? How do these performances get produced, how do they circulate,
who consumes them, and why? How does scholarly work on Asian and Asian American performance intersect
with theories of nationalism, transnationality, and globalization? The convener for the Asian/Asian American
Bodies in Performance Research Collaborative is Josephine Lee, Department of English.
Asian Film
The Asian Film Collaborative considers the historically produced concept of Asian film with an eye toward
the ways in which it has both guided and limited the production and reception of film from Asia through biweekly
screenings, workshops, an Asian Film Collaborative Web site, and panel discussions. The convener for the Asian
Film Collaborative is Mark Anderson, Department of Asian Languages and Literatures.
Politics of Populations
The Politics of Populations Research Collaborative took a leadership role in designing the 2005-06 University Symposium.
During this academic year, the group meets biweekly for the purpose of launching broad interdisciplinary
conversations on topics that parallel the University Symposium: spaces of exclusion and inclusion; understanding
genocides; the legal, cultural, and psychological dimensions of citizenship and migration; the politics of
epidemics; teaching about race; and art and diasporas. During fall semester 2005, members of the collaborative
will introduce one another to various disciplinary approaches. During spring semester 2006, the group’s
work will focus more intently on developing research projects, course proposals and thematic groups. The conveners
for the Politics of Populations Collaborative are M. J. Maynes, Department of History, and Evelyn
Davidheiser, Institute for Global Studies.
Science/Nature/Culture
The Science/Nature/Culture Collaborative brings together faculty and graduate students from diverse disciplines
to explore questions such as these: How are the new science knowledges and technologies transforming our understanding
of subjectivity and the body? How do new scientific knowledges and technologies challenge our understanding
of nature, culture and politics? And, what is the relation between new knowledge and technologies and democratic
institutions and practices? The convener for the Science/Nature/Culture Collaborative is Karen-Sue Taussig, Department of Anthropology.
Theorizing Early Modern Studies (TEMS)
TEMS is a collaborative, interdisciplinary workshop investigating Europe and the wider world during the early
modern period (late sixteenth through early nineteenth centuries). TEMS has three primary endeavors: to undertake
and promote research that moves beyond traditional liberal arts themes, methodologies, and disciplinary divisions; to create conditions promoting truly collaborative research involving the humanities and social sciences; and to
further both the research of and field-shaping conversations of participants. The convener for the TEMS Collaborative
is Juliette Cherbuliez, Department of French and Italian.