The Eisenberg Institute's fall 2020 programs will center on a new theme, "Chaos and Clamor," an exploration of the disorganization that propels history and our approach towards it.
Programs will begin on Friday, September 11 (rescheduled to October 20), with symposium exploring the new theme. Professor John Carson (University of Michigan) will deliver the first lecture on Tuesday, September 15 (rescheduled to October 23).
All events will take place remotely via Zoom. When possible, recordings will be available after the event. Follow links below for additional details and registration information.
Fall 2020 Events
- September 24, 4-5 pm: The World Refugees Made: A Conversation with Pamela Ballinger (University of Michigan) and Kira Thurman (University of Michigan)
- September 25, 12-1 pm: Symposium: Practices of Decolonization
- October 6, 4-5 pm: Undermining Racial Justice: How One University Embraced Inclusion and Inequality—Book Discussion with Matthew Johnson (Texas Tech University) Moderated by Angela Dillard (University of Michigan)
- October 20, 4-5 pm: Medical Science and Legal Personhood: Remaking “Unsoundness” in English Civil Law, 1745-1830—Lecture by John Carson (University of Michigan)
- October 23, 12-1 pm: Symposium: Chaos and Clamor: An Introduction
- October 29, 4-5 pm: A "Common Spectacle" of the Race: The Visual Politics of Founding in the Age of Garvey—Adom Getachew (University of Chicago); response from Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof (University of Michigan)
- October 30, 12-1 pm: Graduate Student Workshop: Categorical Imperatives: The Stakes of Scholarly Units of Analysis
- November 12, 4-5 pm: Translating the Chaos: The Ancient History of Hate Symbols—Lecture by Sarah Bond (University of Iowa) Moderated by Rachel Rafael Neis (University of Michigan)
- November 13, 12-1 pm: Graduate Student Workshop: Memorializing History: Monuments, Myths, and Symbols
- December 3, 4-5 pm: German Angst—A Conversation with Frank Biess (University of California-San Diego) and Geoff Eley (University of Michigan)
- December 4, 12-1 pm: Graduate Student Workshop: Affect and the Archive: Writing the History or Emotions In Emotional Times
Fall 2020 Theme: Chaos and Clamor
Chaos and clamor resist our analytical grasp. They invoke a liminality that can be disruptive of, and also a provocation to, stability and order. Yet their outcomes are seldom predictable. It is precisely as threshold moments that they acquire their historical charge. Chaos and clamor, a public outcry or protestation, brings into focus the challenge of historical change: the often unexpected manner in which seemingly stable political and social orders can be suddenly made, unmade, and re-made. This theme invites us to offer new inflections on long-standing debates about the nature of history itself, the relative weight of individual and collective actions, of discrete events and moments, and of longer-term historical trends. This semester we explore the disorganization that propels history and our approach towards it.
