Event Archive: 2014-2015
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SPRING 2015 LECTURES & CONFERENCES
Newsworthy: New Forms of Journalism, Personal Essay and Public Reflection in an Age of Entertainment
Thursday, January 22, 2015
6:00 p.m.
Devlin Hall, Room 101
Effective citizen governance depends upon retaining and restoring legibility, which in the largest sense means restoring the link between the citizen and the information and ideas she needs to govern in the 21st听century global environment.听 However, it is increasingly difficult to find and interpret the information we need to govern ourselves, in an era when the lines between news and opinion, between journalism and entertainment have become alarmingly blurred.
Nevertheless, it need not be the case that all such blurrings of aesthetic boundaries are equally obscuring in their effects on legibility. Experiments in 鈥淣ew Journalism鈥 in the 1970鈥檚 and since have combined the aims of traditional reportage with the power of literary techniques to create accounts of social reality at once more accurate and more compelling.听 Perhaps such journalism and other contemporary media forms contribute to the necessary space for reflection regarding the deeper implications of the day鈥檚 news events, and sustain governance in an age of manipulated reactivity and Infotainment.
听is an American poet and critic. He was born in Chicago in 1950 and was educated at Grinnell College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Ph.D. in Folklore. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor, the Prix de Rome, and an Academy of Arts and Letters Award. In 2008, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Edward Hirsch鈥檚 first collection of poems,听For the Sleepwalkers听(1981), received the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets. His second collection,听Wild Gratitude听(1986), won the National Book Critics Award. Since then, he has published six additional books of poems:听The Night Parade听(1989),听Earthly Measures听(1994),听On Love听(1998),听Lay Back the Darkness听(2003),听Special Orders听(2008), and听The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems听(2010), which brings together thirty-five years of poems. Hirsch is also the author of five prose books, including听A Poet鈥檚 Glossary听(2014),听Poet鈥檚 Choice听(2006),听How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry听(1999), and is the editor of听Theodore Roethke鈥檚 Selected Poems听(2005) and co-editor of听The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology听(2008).
Edward Hirsch is the recipient of an Academy of Arts and Letters Award, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Lila Wallace-Reader鈥檚 Digest Writers鈥 Award, and the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and was awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Hirsch taught for six years in the English department at Wayne State University and seventeen years in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. He is now president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
听is an American essayist, writer, and historian. The Kemper Professor of American History at Harvard, she is also听a staff writer at听The New Yorker.听Much of her research, teaching, and writing explores absences and asymmetries of evidence in the historical record. Her current work concerns the histories and technologies of evidence and of privacy.
Lepore听received a B.A. in English from Tufts University, an M.A. in American Culture from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University. 听Her latest book,听The Secret History of Wonder Woman,听was published in October 2014.听Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin听(2013), which was named听罢颈尘别听magazine鈥檚 Best Book of the Year, was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award for Nonfiction, and winner of the Mark Lynton Prize.
Lepore's other works include听The Mansion of Happiness: A History of Life and Death听(2012), a finalist for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and听The Story of America: Essays on Origins听(2012), which was shortlisted for the PEN Literary Award for the Art of the Essay,听and听New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan听(2005), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.听During a Guggenheim Fellowship year beginning in 2015, Lepore will be working on a book calledDickens in America, an account of the novelist鈥檚 1842 American tour.听
听is an American author of works of creative nonfiction. He is a graduate of Cowell College of the University of California at Santa Cruz. He was a staff writer at听The New Yorker听for over twenty years and was a two-time recipient of the George Polk Award (for Cultural Reporting and Magazine Reporting) and a Lannan Literary Award. 听He has taught previously at Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, Bard College, Vassar College, Sarah Lawrence College, and New York University.
Weschler鈥檚 books of political reportage include听The Passion of Poland听(1984),听A Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers听(1990), and听Calamities of Exile: Three Nonfiction Novellas听(1998). His 鈥淧assions and Wonders鈥 series currently comprises Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin听(1982),听David Hockney鈥檚 Cameraworks听(1984);听Mr. Wilson鈥檚 Cabinet of Wonder听(1995), which was shortlisted for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award,听A Wanderer in the Perfect City: Selected Passion Pieces听(1998),听Boggs: A Comedy of Values听(1999),听Robert Irwin: Getty Garden听(2002),听Vermeer in Bosnia听(2004),听Everything that Rises: A Book of Convergences听(2006), which received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism in 2007, and听Uncanny Valley: Adventures in the Narrative听(2011).
Weschler is currently the director emeritus of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University, where he has been a fellow since 1991, and is the artistic director emeritus with the Chicago Humanities Festival. He is a contributing editor to听惭肠厂飞别别苍别测鈥s, the听Threepenny Review, and听The Virginina Quarterly Review听and recently retired from his position as Chair of the Sundance Documentary Film Festival. He is currently a distinguished writer-in-residence at the Carter Journalism Institute at New York University.
听is the Director of the American Studies Program and Director of the Lowell Humanities Series at Boston College. He received his B.A. at Wesleyan University and received his Ph.D. at Yale University. He regularly writes for听The New York Times Magazine听and the听Washington Post Magazine, is a regular columnist for the听Boston Globe, and is a commentator for WGBH FM. Rotella is also an editor of the "Chicago Visions and Revisions" series at the University of Chicago Press.
Rotella鈥檚 published works include听October Cities听(1998),听Good With Their Hands; Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt听(2002), and听Cut Time: An Education at the Fights听(2003),听which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and听Playing in Time: Essays, Profiles, and Other True Stories听(2012). His articles and chapters have also appeared in听The New Yorker,听Critical Inquiry,听American Quarterly,听The American Scholar,听Raritan, the听New York Times, the听Chicago Tribune, the听Boston Globe,听Transition,听Harper's,听DoubleTake,听Boston,听Slate,听The Believer,听TriQuarterly, and听The Best American Essays.
Rotella has held Guggenheim, Howard, and Du Bois fellowships and received the Whiting Writers Award, the L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award, and The American Scholar's prizes for Best Essay and Best Work by a Younger Writer. He has also received U.S. Speaker and Specialist Grants from the State Department to lecture in China and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At Boston College, Rotella specializes in American Studies, urban literature and culture, American literature, and creative nonfiction writing.
Dangerous Passions: The Politics of Modern Honour
Friday, February 13, 2015
12:00 p.m.
10 Stone Ave, Room 201
Boston College
听is Director of the Centre for Governance and Public Policy and Professor in the School of Government and International Relations. His research interests are in democratic theory and practice, political philosophy, political leadership and comparative constitutionalism. He has published in the foremost political theory journals (History of Political Thought, Review of Politics, and Political Theory), public policy journals (co-winner of the American Society for Public Administration Mosher Award in 2007), and law journals (Melbourne University Law Review; Federal Law Review; Sydney Law Review). His books include Judging Democracy (2000), an examination of judicial politics, jurisprudence and constitutionalism; Machiavelli in Love (2007), a theoretical enquiry into the origins of modern political thought; and a series of co-edited books exploring the changing nature of legitimacy, law and leadership, especially in Asia: Globalisation and Equality (2004); Westminster Legacies (2005); Dissident Democrats (2008); Political Legitimacy in Asia (2011).
Professor Patapan is an authority on democratic leadership, a theme he has explored in a recent co-authored book, The Democratic Leader (OUP, 2012) that investigates the unique strengths and limitations of leadership in democracies, as well as the co-edited collections Dispersed Democratic Leadership (OUP, 2009) and Good Democratic Leadership (OUP, 2014)
Thomas Jefferson and the French Revolution
Thursday, February 19, 2015
5:00 p.m.
Devlin 101
听work is concerned with European and European colonial history from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century. His recent work focuses on the impact of radical thought (especially Spinoza, Bayle, Diderot, and the eighteenth-century French materialists) on the Enlightenment and on the emergence of modern ideas of democracy, equality, toleration, freedom of the press, and individual freedom. His books include听European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550鈥1750听(1985);听The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477鈥1806听(1995);听Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity, 1650鈥1750听(2001);听Enlightenment Contested: Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670鈥1752听(2006); and听A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy(2009).
Conference听Legally Blind: Law, Ethics, and the Third-Reich
Tuesday, March 10 鈥 Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Heights Room, Corcoran Commons
Boston College
Representing the Wondrous Life of the Prophet in Islamic History
Friday, March 13, 2015
4:30 p.m.
Gasson Hall, Room 305
The Prophet Mohammed led an exemplary life. Generations of scholars, mystics, and literati have collected, preserved, and commented upon his sayings and actions as models to be emulated. 听Some of these treatises became canonical religious texts; others belong in the domain of听adab听(belle-lettres) or folklore. A small number have been illustrated. These illustrations span the period from the 12th听to the 19th听century and come from all corners of the Islamic world. They offer a window into the beliefs, imagination, and cultural references of the artists and their audience. They also constitute a complementary yet distinct discourse from that of the texts, which can be read as a parallel telling of the Prophet鈥檚 life story with its own accents, peculiarities, and symbolism.
That is precisely what I will attempt to do in this lecture. Using images from the various schools of Islamic painting, Arabic, Persian, Turkic, and Indian, I will 鈥渞e-tell鈥 the Prophet鈥檚 life story, highlighting the particular moments emphasized in the painterly tradition and explaining their significance. Along the way, I will try to account for the various artistic techniques and representational conventions that informed the depiction of the Prophet across time.听 My aim is not to present an exact history, but to try to penetrate an aspect of piety and reverence of the Prophet as depicted in Islamic painting that is lost in today鈥檚 hardened and ahistorical attitudes that reject the entire tradition.
听is the Aga Khan Professor and the Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT.听 An architect and a historian, his scholarly interests include the history and historiography of Islamic architecture, art, and cultures, urban history, modern Arab history, contemporary Arab art, and post-colonial criticism.
Professor Rabbat has published more than 100 scholarly articles. 听His most recent books are:听Mamluk History Through Architecture: Building, Culture, and Politics in Mamluk Egypt and Syria听(London, 2010), which won the British-Kuwait Friendship Society Prize in Middle Eastern Studies, 2011,听al-Mudun al-Mayyita: Durus min Madhih wa-Ru鈥檃n li-Mustaqbaliha (The Dead Cities: Lessons from its History and Views on its Future)听(Damascus, 2010), and an edited book,听The Courtyard House between Cultural Reference and Universal Relevance听(London, 2010),听and听al-Naqd Iltizaman: Nazarat fi-l Tarikh wal 鈥楿rurba wal Thawra (Criticism as Commitment: Viewpoints on History, Arabism, and Revolution)听(Beirut, 2014). 听听
Rabbat worked as an architect in Los Angeles and Damascus. 听He was a visiting professor at the 脡cole des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS), Paris (2009) and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universit盲t, Munich (2007). 听He regularly contributes to a number of Arabic newspapers such as听颅补濒-贬补测补迟听and听al-鈥楢rabi al-Jadid听on current political and cultural issues and serves on the boards of various cultural and educational organizations.听 He also consults with international design firms on projects in the Islamic World and maintains several websites focused on Islamic architecture and urbanism.
The Thin Blue Line from Crime to Punishment
Thursday, March 26, 2015
12:00 noon
Barat House, Boston College Law School
听teaches and writes in the fields of criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, and political theory. In these fields, she is interested in the intersections of authority, law, and physical violence. She is currently completing a book about efforts to use the law to reduce or regulate state violence. Her scholarship has appeared in numerous journals, including the Yale Law Journal, the California Law Review, and Constitutional Commentary. She was appointed the Eileen Denner Research Fellow in 2010. Professor Ristroph joined the Seton Hall faculty in 2008 after serving as Associate Professor at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Before she began to teach law, Professor Ristroph was an associate in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York City. She has a J.D. and a Ph.D. in political theory from Harvard University.
Putin with Karen Dawisha
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
5:00 p.m.
Devlin 101
听is the Walter E. Havighurst Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political Science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and the Director of the University鈥檚 Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies. She received her Ph.D. from the London School of Economics in 1975 and taught at a number of British and American Universities before coming to Miami with her husband Adeed in 2000. Since coming to Miami, in addition to establishing the听, she has continued to do research and teaching in the areas of post-communist transitions and Russian politics.
Constitutional Rights and Human Rights
Thursday, April 9, 2015
3:30 p.m.
Barat House
Boston College Law School
听is Robert Walmsley University Professor, Harvard University, where he has taught since 1963. He is the author of听Brennan and Democracy听(1999), and has published widely in the fields of constitutional law and theory, comparative constitutionalism, South African constitutionalism, property law and theory, local government law, and general legal theory. Professor Michelman is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a past President (1994-95) of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy. He has served on the Committee of Directors for the annual Prague Conference on Philosophy and the Social Sciences, the Board of Directors of the United States Association of Constitutional Law, and the National Advisory Board of the American Constitution Society. In 2005, Professor Michelman was awarded the American Philosophical Society鈥檚 Phillips Prize in Jurisprudence and, in 2004, the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Prize.
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Panel Discussion: Fidelity and Change in Constitutional Interpretation
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
5:00 p.m.
Barat House, Boston College Law School
听is Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School and the founder and director of Yale's Information Society Project, an interdisciplinary center that studies law and new information technologies, as well as the director of the Knight Law and Media Program and the Abrams Institute for Free Expression at Yale. Professor Balkin received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Cambridge University, and his A.B. and J.D. degrees from Harvard University. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and founded and edits the group blog听. His books include听Living Originalism;听Constitutional Redemption: Political Faith in an Unjust World;听The Constitution in 2020听(with Reva Siegel);听Processes of Constitutional Decisionmaking听(5th ed. with Brest, Levinson, Amar, and Siegel);听Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology;听The Laws of Change: I Ching and the Philosophy of Life;听What Brown v. Board of Education Should Have Said; and听What Roe v. Wade Should Have Said.
Katharine Young听joined the faculty as Associate Professor in July 2013. Before coming to Boston College, she was an Associate Professor at the Australian National University, and has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at Boston University and a Byse Teaching Fellow at Harvard Law School. Her fields of expertise are economic and social rights, comparative constitutional law and international human rights law.
Professor Young鈥檚 recent book, Constituting Economic and Social Rights (OUP, 2012), is published in the Oxford Constitutional Theory series. Other recent publications appear in the听Harvard Human Rights Journal, the听Harvard Law Review Forum, the听International Journal of Constitutional Law, the听Australian Year Book of International Law, and the Yale Journal of International Law.
Professor Young completed doctoral and masters studies in law (the S.J.D. and LL.M.) at Harvard Law School and legal studies at Melbourne University and at the University of Heidelberg. She has been a Fellow at Harvard University鈥檚 Project on Justice, Welfare and Economics, the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Professor Young has professional legal experience in Melbourne, New York, in the United Nations and in an NGO in Accra, Ghana. She served as Clerk for The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG at the High Court of Australia. At Boston College, she teaches Contracts and Human Rights and Global Poverty.
听received his J.D.听magna cum laude听from Harvard Law School and a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University. He practiced litigation at Cravath, Swaine & Moore before becoming a law professor. During the 1999-2000 year, he was a Faculty Fellow in Ethics in the Harvard University Center for Ethics and the Professions.
Since coming to Boston University School of Law in 2007, Professor Fleming has organized conferences entitled听The Most Disparaged Branch: The Role of Congress in the 21st Century, Justice for Hedgehogs: A Conference on Ronald Dworkin's Forthcoming Book, Justice: What's the Right Thing To Do? A Symposium on Michael Sandel's Recent Book, Originalism听and听Living Constitutionalism and On Constitutional Obligation and Disobedience. He is organizing a major conference tentatively entitled "America's Political Dysfunction: Constitutional Connections, Causes, and Cures," to be held at Boston University in November 2013. All have been (or will be) published in听Boston University Law Review. He is Faculty Advisor to听Boston University Law Review.
Before joining the faculty of Boston University School of Law, Fleming was the Leonard F. Manning Distinguished Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law. While at Fordham, he organized or co-organized many conferences in constitutional theory, including听Fidelity in Constitutional Theory, The Constitution and the Good Society, Rawls听and听the Law and A New Constitutional Order?, together with听Theories of Constitutional Self-Government, Integrity in the Law听and听Theories of Taking the Constitution Seriously Outside the Courts, all published in听Fordham Law Review. He also co-edited (with BU Law Professor Linda C. McClain) a symposium on听Legal and Constitutional Implications of the Calls to Revive Civil Society, published in听Chicago-Kent Law Review. In 2007,听Fordham Law Review听published a symposium on听Minimalism versus Perfectionism in Constitutional Theory, focusing on Professor Fleming's book,Securing Constitutional Democracy, along with Cass R. Sunstein's book,听Radicals in Robes.
听is an internationally recognized legal theorist, who works in constitutional theory, procedure, and the philosophy of law.听听Professor Solum received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and received his B.A. with highest departmental honors in philosophy from the University of California at Los Angeles. While at Harvard, he served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he worked for the law firm of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore in New York, and then clerked for Judge William A. Norris of the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit.
Professor Solum was the John E. Cribbet Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois.听听听He was a member of the law faculty of the University of San Diego, where he received the Thornes Prize as Best Teacher. He also taught at Loyola Marymount University and has been a Visiting Professor of Law at Boston University, at the University of Southern California, and, before joining the faculty, at Georgetown Law.
Professor Solum served as a White Paper Author for the Committee on Alternative Court Structures of the Commission on the Future of the California Judiciary, and he has also served the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) twice as Chair of the Jurisprudence Section, as Chair of the Section on Constitutional Law, as Chair of the Section on Law and Interpretation, as Chair of the Committee on Scholarship, and as a Member of the Committee to Review Scholarly Papers.
Surveillance in a Security-Concerned Society
Friday, April 24, 2015
2:00 p.m.
McGuinn Hall, Room 121
Boston College
Torin Monahan听is a professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina. His book听Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity听won the Surveillance Studies Book Prize in 2011. Dr. Monahan has written two other books on the topic, has coauthored two more, and Monahan is an associate editor of the leading academic journal on surveillance,听Surveillance & Society. He is currently overseeing an NSF-funded project, which investigates the data-sharing practices of the Department of Homeland Security "fusion centers", sites oriented toward the provision of national security.
David Rosen听is a Professor of English at Trinity College. He and Aaron Santesso recently authored a widely-acclaimed book titled听The Watchman in Pieces: Surveillance, Literature, and Liberal Personhood, which won听Modern Language Association鈥檚听James Russell Lowell Prize. He has also written as well as a number of scholarly articles on surveillance from a literary perspective.
Shaun Spencer听is a Professor of Law and the Director of Legal Skills and the University of Massachusetts School of Law. He has previously taught at Harvard Law School as well as Boston College Law School. He is an expert in privacy law and has authored numerous academic articles on privacy and surveillance, including most recently an examination of how the law treats the privacy of information entitled听鈥淭he Surveillance Society and the Third-Party Privacy Problem.鈥
FALL 2014 LECTURES & CONFERENCES
The Arts and the Culture of Democracy
Thursday, September 11, 2014
6:00 p.m.
Devlin Hall, Room 101
There is a conversation between the arts and democracy that is vital but often invisible, and which sustains and contributes to that human flourishing we hope for from democratic society. What is the nature of that conversation? While there may be tension between any kind of explicit political agenda and great art, can we say that the arts give to democratic culture a picture of human thriving that reminds us we are not yet done with the question of what it is to pursue happiness?
听is an American poet and critic. He was born in Chicago in 1950 and was educated at Grinnell College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Ph.D. in Folklore. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor, the Prix de Rome, and an Academy of Arts and Letters Award. In 2008, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Edward Hirsch鈥檚 first collection of poems,听For the Sleepwalkers听(1981), received the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets. His second collection,听Wild Gratitude听(1986), won the National Book Critics Award. Since then, he has published six additional books of poems:听The Night Parade听(1989),听Earthly Measures听(1994),听On Love听(1998),听Lay Back the Darkness听(2003),听Special Orders听(2008), and听The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems听(2010), which brings together thirty-five years of poems. Hirsch is also the author of five prose books, including听A Poet鈥檚 Glossary听(2014),听Poet鈥檚 Choice听(2006),听How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry听(1999), and is the editor of听Theodore Roethke鈥檚 Selected Poems听(2005) and co-editor of听The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology听(2008).
Edward Hirsch taught for six years in the English department at Wayne State University and seventeen years in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. He currently serves as the President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
听is a Professor of International Economic Law at the School of Law at the University of Warwick. She is a graduate of the University of Wales, where she received her LL.B., and the University of Leicester, where she obtained her LL.M. and Ph.D. Her research interests are in international economic law, particularly the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She has published widely on WTO law and is an expert on international agricultural trade, and has spoken widely about her research in the United States, Europe, and East Asia. As a consequence of her work, she was invited to become a member of the editorial board of the journal听Jurisprudence听and was also appointed as an expert on international economic law to the Research Foundation Flanders.
Smith was first introduced to James Boyd White鈥檚 work when she was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Minnesota in 2008. She was inspired to use White鈥檚 work as a methodology for her own work on international agricultural trade regulation, arguing that pro-environmental reforms were never fully incorporated into trade agreements due to differences in use of language between environmentalists and trade lawyers, and that this difference must be abridged. She has also edited a symposium on Law and Language published by Oxford University Press, and is currently working on a book on food security in international economic law, which also incorporates White鈥檚 ideas about the power of language and the use of speech.
Smith is the Founding and now Co-Director of the WTO Scholar鈥檚 Forum, an initiative designed to bring together experts on the law of the World Trade Organization to discuss topical issues. She recently completed a two-year project entitled听Food Security, Foreign Direct Investment and Multilevel Governance in Weak States听with support from a grant from the Swiss National Fund. Before joining the University of Warwick, Smith previously taught at the University College of London, the University of Sheffield, and the University of Leicester.
Professor Smith will be discussing the work of James Boyd White at this event.
听is an American law professor, literary critic, scholar, and philosopher who is credited for founding the 鈥淟aw and Literature鈥 movement. White is a graduate of Amherst College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Graduate School, where he obtained an M.A. in English. After graduation from law school, White spent a year as a Sheldon Fellow in Europe and practiced law in Boston for two years. He began his teaching career at the University of Colorado Law School and also was a professor at both the Law School and College of the University of Chicago.
He has published numerous books:听The Legal Imagination听(1973),听Constitutional Criminal Procedure听(1976),听When Words Lose Their Meaning: Constitutions and Reconstitutions of Language, Character, and Community听(1984),听Heracles' Bow: Essays in the Rhetoric and Poetics of the Law听(1985),听Justice as Translation: An Essay in Cultural and Legal Criticism(1990),听"This Book of Starres": Learning to Read George Herbert听(1994),听Acts of Hope: The Creation of Authority in Literature, Law, and Politics听(1994),听From Expectation to Experience: Essays on Law and Legal Education听(2000),听The Edge of Meaning听(2001); and in 2006, both听Living Speech: Resisting the Empire of Force听and an edited volume,听How Should We Talk About Religion?
White has served as a governor of the Chicago Council of Lawyers and is a member of the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and was a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar in 1997-98. He is currently a professor of English emeritus and the L. Hart Wright Collegiate Professor.
听is an American author of works of creative nonfiction. He is a graduate of Cowell College of the University of California at Santa Cruz. He was a staff writer at听The New Yorker听for over twenty years and was a two-time recipient of the George Polk Award (for Cultural Reporting and Magazine Reporting) and a Lannan Literary Award. 听He has taught previously at Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, Bard College, Vassar College, Sarah Lawrence College, and New York University.
Weschler鈥檚 books of political reportage include听The Passion of Poland听(1984),听A Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers听(1990), and听Calamities of Exile: Three Nonfiction Novellas听(1998). His 鈥淧assions and Wonders鈥 series currently comprises Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin听(1982),听David Hockney鈥檚 Cameraworks听(1984);听Mr. Wilson鈥檚 Cabinet of Wonder听(1995), which was shortlisted for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award,听A Wanderer in the Perfect City: Selected Passion Pieces听(1998),听Boggs: A Comedy of Values听(1999),听Robert Irwin: Getty Garden听(2002),听Vermeer in Bosnia听(2004),听Everything that Rises: A Book of Convergences听(2006), which received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism in 2007, and听Uncanny Valley: Adventures in the Narrative听(2011).
Weschler is currently the director emeritus of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University, where he has been a fellow since 1991, and is the artistic director emeritus with the Chicago Humanities Festival. He is a contributing editor to听惭肠厂飞别别苍别测鈥s, the听Threepenny Review, and听The Virginina Quarterly Review听and recently retired from his position as Chair of the Sundance Documentary Film Festival. He is currently a distinguished writer-in-residence at the Carter Journalism Institute at New York University.
听is the Director of the American Studies Program and Director of the Lowell Humanities Series at Boston College. He received his B.A. at Wesleyan University and received his Ph.D. at Yale University. He regularly writes for听The New York Times Magazine听and the听Washington Post Magazine, is a regular columnist for the听Boston Globe, and is a commentator for WGBH FM. Rotella is also an editor of the "Chicago Visions and Revisions" series at the University of Chicago Press.
Rotella鈥檚 published works include听October Cities听(1998),听Good With Their Hands; Boxers, Bluesmen, and Other Characters from the Rust Belt听(2002), and听Cut Time: An Education at the Fights听(2003),听which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and听Playing in Time: Essays, Profiles, and Other True Stories听(2012). His articles and chapters have also appeared in听The New Yorker,听Critical Inquiry,听American Quarterly,听The American Scholar,听Raritan, the听New York Times, the听Chicago Tribune, the听Boston Globe,听Transition,听Harper's,听DoubleTake,听Boston,听Slate,听The Believer,听TriQuarterly, and听The Best American Essays.
Rotella has held Guggenheim, Howard, and Du Bois fellowships and received the Whiting Writers Award, the L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award, and The American Scholar's prizes for Best Essay and Best Work by a Younger Writer. He has also received U.S. Speaker and Specialist Grants from the State Department to lecture in China and Bosnia and Herzegovina. At Boston College, Rotella specializes in American Studies, urban literature and culture, American literature, and creative nonfiction writing.
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Symposium听Science is Power: Politics and Knowledge in the Thought of Francis Bacon
Friday, September 12, 2014
8:00 a.m. 鈥 6:45 p.m.
McGuinn Hall, Room 521 听
Boston College
This one-day conference focuses on Bacon鈥檚 seminal plan to master nature by a methodical experimentalism. Leading scholars from around the world will discuss the premises of this natural science and its relation to radical political, social, and cultural reform.
Co-sponsored by the听听at Boston College.
Community and Individuality in Aesthetic Experience
Tuesday, September 16
5:00 p.m.
McGuinn Hall, Room 521
Paul Guyer is the inaugural Jonathan Nelson Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Brown University.
Having written nine books on Immanuel Kant and translated a number of the philosopher鈥檚 works into English, he is widely regarded as one of world鈥檚 foremost Kantian scholars. His scholarship has been particularly influential in interpreting Kant鈥檚 views on aesthetics, transcendental idealism, and freedom. Additionally, Professor Guyer has published on the history of aesthetics and modern philosophy, and on other historical figures in philosophy, including John Locke, David Hume, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer, and others.
Professor Guyer graduated听summa cum laude听from Harvard College. After receiving his Ph.D. at Harvard University with a dissertation directed by Stanley Cavell, he taught at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Illinois-Chicago, and the University of Pennsylvania. He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the Princeton University Center for Human Values. Professor Guyer鈥檚 awards include the Centennial Medal of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Franklin J. Matchette Prize of the American Philosophical Association, and the Research Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Two Humanitarianisms
Wednesday, September 17
3:30 p.m.
East Wing 120, Boston College Law School
John Witt is the Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law at Yale Law School, where he teaches courses in American Legal History, Torts, and History of the Laws of War.
After receiving his B.A., J.D., and Ph.D. in History鈥攁ll from Yale University鈥擯rofessor Witt served as a law clerk to Judge Pierre N. Leval on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Subsequently, he became a professor of law at Columbia University before returning to Yale in his current position. In 2010 he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship to continue his project on the laws of war in American history.
Professor Witt鈥檚 most recent book,听Lincoln鈥檚 Code: The Laws of War in American History,听was awarded the 2013 Bancroft Prize, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, was selected for the American Bar Association's Silver Gavel Award, and was a听New York Times听Notable Book for 2012. His previous works include听Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law听and听The Accidental Republic: Crippled Workingmen, Destitute Widows, and the Remaking of American Law鈥攚hich was awarded the 2002 Thomas J. Wilson Prize for its examination of the development of American tort law at the turn of the 20th century.
The Prophetic Task of Legal Thought
Thursday, October 16
3:30 p.m.听
Barat House, Boston College Law School
Roberto Mangabeira Unger is a renowned theorist whose political activity helped bring about democracy in Brazil in the 1980s. Successfully bridging the gap between theory and politics in both the United States and Brazil, he is widely recognized as one of the world鈥檚 leading public intellectuals.
Raised in both the United States and Brazil, Unger subsequently studied law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and completed his LL.M. at Harvard Law School. Due to political upheaval in Brazil, he was invited to stay at Harvard in the S.J.D. program. Unger first received recognition with the publication of his books听Knowledge and Politics听and听Law in Modern Society听in 1975 and 1976, respectively. At the same time, he became one of the youngest tenured faculty members at Harvard Law School at just 29 years old. His scholarship鈥攚hich encompasses social theory, legal thought, economics, and philosophy鈥攈as focused on how to empower humanity. Through it, Unger has emphasized the need for experimentation and revision as an alternative to institutionalized social, political, and economic activity.
Unger became involved in Brazilian politics in the 1970s, when he emerged as one of the ideological leaders opposing the country鈥檚 military dictatorship. Following Brazil鈥檚 democratization, he has served as an adviser to two presidential candidates, headed a state-run foundation for homeless children, and launched his own exploratory bids for the presidency in 2000 and 2006. His political activity culminated in his appointment from 2007 to 2009 as the Brazilian Minister of Strategic Affairs under President Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva, a position that allowed him to push for a broadening of the middle class through an expansion of credit to smaller producers. Since then, Unger has focused his political work on the northwestern Brazilian state of Rond么nia, where he is heading efforts to modernize farming techniques and to transform education from rote learning to creative engagement.
Symposium on Constitution-Making and Constitutional Design
Friday, October 31
8:30 a.m. 鈥 6:30 p.m.
Murray Function Room, Yawkey Center
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EVENT SCHEDULE
8:00 a.m. | Continental Breakfast听 |
听 | 听 |
8:30 a.m. | Opening Remarks Vlad Perju, Director of the Clough Center and Professor, Boston College Law School Introduced by听Richard Albert, Boston College Law School |
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8:45 a.m. 听 | Panel 1:听The Period Between Old and New Constitutions MODERATOR:听Richard Kay,听University of Connecticut School of Law What is a Constitutional Transition? Constitutional Transition: Conventional Legal Systems and Conventional States Navigating Constitutional Crises: The Reference Power as a Tool of Transition Constitutions and Constitutional Orders Constitutional Ruthlessness Constitutional Stickiness |
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10:15 a.m. | Break |
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10:30 a.m. 听 | Panel 2:听Constitution-Making and -Breaking MODERATOR:听Mila Versteeg, University of Virginia School of Law Revolution and Negotiation in the Constituent Process: Questions of Time and Sequence Constraining Constitutional Replacement The Upstream Problem in Constitutionalism Designing Constitution-Making Processes |
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12:00 p.m. 听 | Lunch Keynote Comparative Constitutional Law,听Quo Vadis? Introductions by听Richard Albert, Boston College Law School and听Eugene Mazo, Wake Forest University School of Law |
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1:30 p.m. 听 | Panel 3:听The Role of Constitutional Courts in Constitutional Design MODERATOR:听Ruti Teitel, New York Law School Judicial Review and Constitutional Specificity The Geographical Dimensions of New Constitutional Courts The Law of Constitution-Making Judicial Review of Constitutional Amendments and New Constitutions in Comparative Perspective |
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3:00 p.m. | Break |
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3:15 p.m. 听 | Panel 4:听Non-Constitutional Influences on Constitutional Law and Constitutional Design MODERATOR:听Katharine Young, Boston College Law School The Conventions of Constitutional Amendment in Canada The Administrative State, the Rule of Law, and Democracy: Comparative Models of Judicial Review Paradoxes of Islamic Law and Constitutionalism The Implementation of Constitutional Rights by Statute Germany鈥檚 Civil Law Constitution International Institutions in Ukraine's Constitutional Change |
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4:45 p.m.
听 | Closing Remarks Darin Johnson, Esq., Chief of Staff, Office of the Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions (2012-2014), U.S. Department of State Introduced by听Richard Albert, Boston College Law School |
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5:00 p.m.听 | Reception听 |
The War on Japan's Pacifist Constitution听
Panel Discussion
Wednesday, November 5
12:00 p.m.
Barat House, Boston College Law School
Tom Ginsburg听is the Leo Spitz Professor of International Law and Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is primarily known as a scholar of international and comparative law, with a focus on constitutions and East Asia.
Professor Ginsburg holds a B.A. in Asian Studies, a J.D., and a Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. Before entering legal academia, he worked for the Asia Foundation, served as a legal advisor at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague, and consulted with international development agencies and foreign governments on democratic governance.
Professor Ginsburg has served as a visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, Kyushu University, Seoul National University, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Trento. He currently co-directs the Comparative Constitutions Project, a National Science Foundation-funded effort to analyze the constitutions of all independent nation-states since 1789. His books include听Judicial Review in New Democracies听(2003), which won the C. Herman Pritchett Award from the American Political Science Association for best book on law and courts;听The Endurance of National Constitutions听(2009);听Constitutions in Authoritarian Regimes听(2014); and听Law and Development in Middle-Income Countries听(2014).
Tokujin Matsudaira听is an听Associate Professor of Law at Kanagawa University. Professor Matsudaira received his BA in Law from the University of Tokyo, and an LL.M. in Asian and Comparative Law from the University of Washington School of Law. He also completed the PhD program from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Law and Politics.
Professor Matsudaira is a member of the International Society of Public Law, the Japan Public Law Association, and the Japan Association for Studies of Constitutional Law.听 He also serves as the coordinator of the Comparative Constitutional Law Forum for Young Scholars.
Franziska Seraphim听is an associate professor of history at Boston College. A historian of modern and contemporary Japan, her work has focused on the contested place of Japan鈥檚 empire and war in Asia in postwar politics, society, and culture.
Professor Seraphim holds a B.A.in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley and an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Japanese History from Columbia University. Since joining the Boston College faculty, she has offered several courses on Japan, Asia, and World War II, including surveys of modern Japan and topical courses on the Asia-Pacific War and Japanese society since 1945. Her seminars have focused on the Allied Occupations of Japan and Germany, the place of memory in history, and comparative and transnational history writing.
Professor Seraphim鈥檚 publications include听War Memory and Social Politics in Japan, 1945-2005; 鈥淩elocating War Memory at Century鈥檚 End: Japan鈥檚 Postwar Responsibility and Global Public Culture,鈥 in听Ruptured Histories: War and Memory in Post-Cold War Asia; and 鈥淛apan,鈥 in听Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity. Currently, she is researching questions of rehabilitation and citizenship in the politics of social integration and exclusion after World War II in Japan and Germany.
International Legitimation听with Sebastiano Maffettone
Monday, November 10, 2014
12:00 p.m.
Hovey House Library, Room 107
The Political Life of Poetry
Thursday, November 13, 2014
6:00 p.m.
Devlin Hall, Room 101
It is sometimes said that American poets speak narcissistically or solipsistically, with little sense of history or political engagement of the sort that characterizes Eastern European or Latin American poetic traditions. Others have argued that all poetry is a political act, and in this sense American poets are enacting democratic freedoms by not overtly engaging with political issues. How might American poetry potentially give meaning to events, locating them in a larger context and story, shuttling back and forth in time, and including all the riches of its institutional memory?
听is an American poet and critic. He was born in Chicago in 1950 and was educated at Grinnell College and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a Ph.D. in Folklore. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Pablo Neruda Presidential Medal of Honor, the Prix de Rome, and an Academy of Arts and Letters Award. In 2008, he was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Edward Hirsch鈥檚 first collection of poems,听For the Sleepwalkers听(1981), received the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Award from New York University and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets. His second collection,听Wild Gratitude听(1986), won the National Book Critics Award. Since then, he has published six additional books of poems:听The Night Parade听(1989),听Earthly Measures听(1994),听On Love听(1998),听Lay Back the Darkness听(2003),听Special Orders听(2008), and听The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems听(2010), which brings together thirty-five years of poems. Hirsch is also the author of five prose books, including听A Poet鈥檚 Glossary听(2014),听Poet鈥檚 Choice听(2006),听How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry听(1999), and is the editor of听Theodore Roethke鈥檚 Selected Poems听(2005) and co-editor of听The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology听(2008).
Edward Hirsch is the recipient of an Academy of Arts and Letters Award, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a Lila Wallace-Reader鈥檚 Digest Writers鈥 Award, and the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, and was awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Hirsch taught for six years in the English department at Wayne State University and seventeen years in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston. He is now president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
听is an Irish poet, author of ten volumes of poetry. Born in Dublin, Ireland, she spent her childhood in London and New York, returning to Ireland to attend secondary school in Killiney and university at Trinity College Dublin. Her poetry has been influenced by her experiences as a young wife and mother and her growing awareness of the troubled role of women in Irish history and culture. Over the course of her long career, Boland emerged as one of the foremost female voices in Irish literature. Boland has taught at Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, Bowdoin College, and was a member of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.
Boland鈥檚 books of poetry include听Domestic Violence听(2007),听Against Love Poetry听(2001),听The Lost Land听(1998),听An Origin Like Water: Collected Poems 1967鈥1987听(1996),听In a Time of Violence听(1994),听Outside History: Selected Poems 1980鈥1990听(1990),听The Journey and Other Poems听(1986),听Night Feed听(1982), and听In Her Own Image听(1980). In addition to her books of poetry, Boland is also the author of听Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman听and the Poet in Our 罢颈尘别听(1995), a volume of prose, and is the co-editor of听The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms听(2000). Her most recent prose book is听A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet听(2011). A new volume of poetry,听A Woman Without a Country, is due to be published by W. W. Norton in November 2014.
Boland has received the Lannan Award for Poetry and an American Ireland Fund Literary Award. She was poet-in-residence at the National Maternity Hospital during its 1994 Centenary and has also been the Hurst Professor at Washington University and Regent鈥檚 Lecturer at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is a tenured Professor of English at Stanford University where she is the Director of the Creative Writing Program.
听is an American poet, essayist and editor. He is a graduate of Harvard University, where he obtained an A.B. in English and American Literature, and Brown University, where he obtained his MFA. Young鈥檚 poetry and essays have appeared in听The New Yorker,听The Paris Review,听The Kenyon Review,听Callaloo, and many other journals and anthologies. He is also a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, a NEA Literature Fellow in Poetry, a United States Artists James Baldwin Fellow, and was a Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University.
Young is the author of eight books of poetry and editor of seven other collections, including听Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels听(2011), winner of an American Book Award, and听Jelly Roll听(2003), a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize. He most recently edited听The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010听and听The Hungry Ear: Poems of Food and Drink. His non-fiction book,听The Grey Album: Music, Shadows, Lies听(2012) won the Graywolf Nonfiction Prize. Young鈥檚 other poetry collections include听Books of Hours听(2014),听Dear Darkness听(2008), and听For The Confederate Dead听(2007).
In addition to the Paterson Poetry Prize, Young has been the recipient of the PEN Open Award and the 2012 American Book Award. Young is currently the Atticus Haygood Professor of Creative Writing and English and curator of Literary Collections and the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University in Atlanta.
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Why Government Fails So Often and What Legal Education Can Do to Address the Problem
Thursday, December 4, 2014
12:00 p.m.
Barat House, Boston College Law School
Peter H. Schuck is the Simeon E. Baldwin Professor Emeritus of Law at Yale Law School, where he has held the chair since 1984. He has also served as Deputy Dean. His major fields of teaching and research are tort law; immigration, citizenship, and refugee law; groups, diversity, and law; and administrative law.听
His most recent books include听Targeting in Social Programs: Avoiding Bad Bets, Removing Bad Apples; Meditations of a Militant Moderate: Cool Views on Hot Topics; Immigration Stories; Foundations of Administrative Law; Diversity in America: Keeping Government at a Safe Distance; and听The Limits of Law: Essays on Democratic Governance.听He is also听co-editor, with James Q. Wilson, of听Understanding America.听He is a member of the American Law Institute's advisory committee for the Restatement of Torts (Third), Basic Principles, and a contributing editor to听The American Lawyer.
Prior to joining Yale, he was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Professor Schuck holds a B.A. from Cornell, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, an LL.M. in International Law from N.Y.U., and an M.A. in Government from Harvard.