Faculty Events

In October 2018 the UB Humanities Institute and the Melodia E. Jones Chair Jean-Jacques Thomas co-sponsored an international symposium, “Buffalo: Transatlantic Crossroads of a Critical Insurrection /Carrefour transatlantique d’une insurrection critique,” held at the Buffalo-Niagara Marriott. Video production of participants’ speeches complete, and are available on the web at https://vimeo.com/album/5785586. Thanks are due to the UB faculty members and administrators from the College of Arts and Sciences, Romance Languages and Literature, Visual Studies, English and Comparative Literature who chaired the panels and introduced the speakers.

Fall 2018 Performance Research Workshop events coordinated by RLL Associate Professor of French Christian Flaugh with Ariel Nereson (Theatre & Dance) and Lindsay Brandon Hunter (Theatre & Dance) included: “Playing With Arts and Identity in the Theatre of Koffi Kwahulé,” Judith G. Miller (New York University); “Beautiful Tangles: Neo-Futurism, Truth, and the Brain,” Chloe Johnston (Lake Forest College, Chicago Neo-Futurists); and “Staging Creolization: Renewing the Theatrical Activism of Edouard Glissant,” Emily Sahakian (University of Georgia).

Associate Professor of Italian Laura Chiesa organized the April 8, 2019 Symposium, “Sounds: Avant Garde, Modernism and Fascism” in conjunction with the HI Modernisms Research Workshop, HI “Humanities to the Rescue,” and the BPO Kurt Weill festival. The symposium featured keynote talks by Kim Kowalke (University of Rochester), Jacques Lezra (UC Riverside), and Peter Szendy (Brown University), as well as performances of selected Kurt Weill’s musical works by faculty and students of UB’s Department of Music.

Assistant Professor of French Fernanda Negrete invited guest speaker Margaret Iversen to lecture on contemporary women artists and psychoanalysis on April 10 and 11, 2019, funded through the Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Culture and an Honors College Faculty Fellow course infusion fund. Iversen’s presentations were “Cornelia Parker’s Transitional Objects, “ and “Moyra Davey: Fifty Minutes.”

As part of the Early Modern Research Workshop’s two-year thematic focus on violence, Assistant Professor of Spanish Henry Berlin and Erik Seeman (History) co-organized a one-day event entitled Early Modern Violence: A Symposium, examining the distinctive aspects of violence in the 15th-18th centuries. Presenters were Susan Juster (Michigan, History); Hal Langfur (UB, History); Nicole Legnani (Princeton, Spanish and Portuguese), and Cynthia Nazarian (Northwestern, French and Italian). Panels were moderated by Carla Mazzio (UB, English) and Assistant Professor of Spanish Stephanie Schmidt. The event was brought to a close with a roundtable moderated by Associate Professor of French Amy Graves Monroe.

Each year the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures sponsors an event highlighting Spanish-language culture, thanks to the generous contributions of Father Patrick Zengierski. This year’s lecture focused on ‘Immigrants, Refugees, and Populists.’ In a day-long series of events, UB students, faculty and the Buffalo community gathered to dialogue on current issues facing refugees and immigrants in Latin America, Europe and the United States. ‘The Immigration Paradox,’ a documentary film created by Lourdes Lee Vasquez (director) and Bryan Vasquez (producer) was introduced by the creators, who also participated in a community roundtable discussion following the film screening. Professor Sebastiaan Faber of Oberlin College gave an invited presentation of refugee issues in the Iberian context. We thank both Father Zengierski and the UB Humanities Institute for their co-sponsorship of the event.

“The Worth of Women,” a theatrical work by the 16th century noblewoman Moderata Fonte. The UB Italian Language Fund, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, the HI Performance Research Workshop, the HI Early Modern Workshop and the UB Gender Institute co-sponsored a performance of a 16th century dialogue between seven Venetian noblewomen on gender issues and the responsibilities of husbands and father. With an introductory presentation by Professor Sarah G. Ross of Boston University entitled, “Performing Feminism in Renaissance Venice,” the performance brought to campus the New York City-based Kairos Italy Theatre for the first time. Thanks are due to Assistant Professor of Italian Paola Ugolini for organizing this event.

The Melodia E. Jones Chair also sponsored the 6th Annual Big Buffalo Quebec Film Festival April 10-12, 2019. This year’s invited guest was Academy Award winner M. Sylvain Bellemare, sound-design engineer for the film industry. Films screened were Jésus de Montréal; Les Aimants, Un crabe dans la tête; and Incendies.