Barbara Fields to Deliver ISI Lecture

The Interdisciplinary Studies Institute (ISI) is delighted to host Professor Barbara Fields, who will visit UMass from February 18-20 for the ISI 2014 Residency. Professor Fields will present a public lecture entitled “Was Emancipation a War Crime?” on Wednesday, February 19th in Campus Center 165-169 at 5 p.m. In addition, through the course of her stay she will visit classes in an array of departments and take part in several graduate seminars, as well as engage with this year’s ISI fellows, who are discussing the theme of “Emancipation” through the year.

Professor Fields is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a 1992 MacArthur Fellowship, the John H. Dunning Prize of the American Historical Association, the Founders Prize of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society, and the Thomas Jefferson Prize for the Society of the History of the Federal Government. Professor Fields is Professor of History at Columbia University.

For a complete schedule of events, see our Residency page.

Photographer and Activist Zanele Muholi Visits Smith College

The Interdisciplinary Studies Institute (ISI) is pleased to co-sponsor the event 'Black Queer Born Frees in South Africa' at Smith College on February 4, 2014. Photographer and visual activist Zanele Muholi will show photographs and a video produced in Durban as part of a presentation exploring Black Frees (the generation born in post-apartheid South Africa and known as Mandela's great-grandchildren) and how each person expresses him/herself queerly in a time of troubling hate crimes in South Africa. The young adults she depicts are those born in 1990-1994, and openly gay/lesbian/trans with/in South African borders. This event will take place in the Browsing Room of Neilson Library on the Smith College campus on Tuesday, February 4 from 5-7pm.

Muholi's work will be on display at the Williams College Museum of Art from February 1, 2014 - April 27, 2014.

Theaster Gates to Give Public Lecture

The ISI is a proud cosponsor of the upcoming Theaster Gates visit to UMass. Gates will give a public lecture on November 4 titled "Du Bois: The Early Social Practitioner," at 5:00 PM Thompson 104 at UMass Amherst. His talk is part of the programming for the exhibition "Du Bois In Our Time" at the University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMass Amherst.

The artist Theaster Gates has developed an expanded practice that includes space development, object making, performance and critical engagement with many publics. Founder of the non-profit Rebuild Foundation, Gates is currently Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago.

ISI Cosponsors "Du Bois In Our Time" Symposium and Exhibition

The Interdisciplinary Studies Institute (ISI) is a proud sponsor of the upcoming "Du Bois in Our Time" Symposium and Exhibition at the University Museum of Contemporary Art at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Displaying artwork from internationally acclaimed artists from around the world, the exhibition aims to stimulate conversation about the legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois for modern times. The exhibition opens on September 10, 2013 and a series of education events will continue into the fall semester, free and open to the public.

The interdisciplinary symposium on September 28, 2013 brings together diverse panelists to discuss Du Bois in the twenty-first century and to put in artists and scholars in conversation with students and the community. This event is also free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Guatanamo Public Memory Project Opens

The ISI is a proud sponsor of the "Why Guantanamo?" public memory project, whose exhibition opens on September 11 at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst campus. UMass is the first stop for this national touring exhibition, which depicts the history and continuing debate around the Guantanamo Bay prison and military base. The exhibition can be viewed in the Herter Art Gallery from 11:00-4:00, September 11- October 9.

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