Professors Anne Curzan, Robin Queen, and Heather Thompson's Collegiate Professorship Inaugural Lecture
This event will take place both in person and virtually. Additional details regarding each lecture can be found below.
Professor Anne Curzan, the Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor of English Language and Literature, Linguistics, and Education
Lecture Title: On Listening and Language Peeves
Abstract: Many of us grew up with a strong sense of “right” and “wrong” in language, perhaps drilled into us at school or at home. And these rules of correctness, often naturalized to feel like common sense, make language one of our most powerful gate-keeping tools, from schools to workplaces. What happens when we pull back the curtain and ask where these rules come from? Who resists and why? This talk considers the implications for inclusion and justice when we recognize linguistic diversity as part of cultural diversity and language change as part of every living language.
Professor Robin Queen, the Sarah G. Thomason Collegiate Professor of Linguistics
Lecture Title: On the Performative Power of Taboo Words in Fictional Television and Film
Abstract: Tabooed words present a fascinating source of cross-cultural and cross-linguistic puzzles. For instance, taboo words in fictional television and film have become much more common since the turn of the century even as they remain formally regulated through ratings systems, guidelines from the FCC, and other similar sources. This talk explores the cultural and linguistic factors that have facilitated an increased use of taboo words in fictional television and film along with the ways in which that increase has coincided with reframing regulation away from preventing offense (or breaking the taboo) and toward the ideological protection of children.
Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, the Frank W. Thompson Collegiate Professor of History and African American Studies
Lecture Title: On The Ugly 80s: Rethinking Contemporary Police Violence, White Vigilantism, and their Contested Reckonings
Abstract: In the popular imagination the decade of the 1980s was all about Big Hair, garish neon, consumerism, and corporate greed. It was also, in fact, the crucible of an unprecedented urban crisis. This lecture will revisit the 1980s and its underappreciated legacies in order to shine new light on today’s civic battles over policing as well as its alarming public support for acts of white vigilantism. It draws from new work Thompson is doing on two important moments in that decade—Bernie Goetz’s notorious shooting of Black youth on NYC subway in 1984, and the Philadelphia police’s bombing of MOVE in 1985.
If you are unable to join us in person, please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://umich.zoom.us/j/99848276472
Or One tap mobile :
+13017158592,,99848276472# US (Washington DC)
+13052241968,,99848276472# US
Or Telephone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 305 224 1968 US
+1 309 205 3325 US
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
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+1 646 931 3860 US
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 360 209 5623 US
+1 386 347 5053 US
+1 507 473 4847 US
+1 564 217 2000 US
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 689 278 1000 US
+1 719 359 4580 US
+1 253 205 0468 US
+1 204 272 7920 Canada
+1 438 809 7799 Canada
+1 587 328 1099 Canada
+1 647 374 4685 Canada
+1 647 558 0588 Canada
+1 778 907 2071 Canada
+1 780 666 0144 Canada
Webinar ID: 998 4827 6472
International numbers available: https://umich.zoom.us/u/ad7IRdXaaO
Professor Anne Curzan, the Geneva Smitherman Collegiate Professor of English Language and Literature, Linguistics, and Education
Lecture Title: On Listening and Language Peeves
Abstract: Many of us grew up with a strong sense of “right” and “wrong” in language, perhaps drilled into us at school or at home. And these rules of correctness, often naturalized to feel like common sense, make language one of our most powerful gate-keeping tools, from schools to workplaces. What happens when we pull back the curtain and ask where these rules come from? Who resists and why? This talk considers the implications for inclusion and justice when we recognize linguistic diversity as part of cultural diversity and language change as part of every living language.
Professor Robin Queen, the Sarah G. Thomason Collegiate Professor of Linguistics
Lecture Title: On the Performative Power of Taboo Words in Fictional Television and Film
Abstract: Tabooed words present a fascinating source of cross-cultural and cross-linguistic puzzles. For instance, taboo words in fictional television and film have become much more common since the turn of the century even as they remain formally regulated through ratings systems, guidelines from the FCC, and other similar sources. This talk explores the cultural and linguistic factors that have facilitated an increased use of taboo words in fictional television and film along with the ways in which that increase has coincided with reframing regulation away from preventing offense (or breaking the taboo) and toward the ideological protection of children.
Dr. Heather Ann Thompson, the Frank W. Thompson Collegiate Professor of History and African American Studies
Lecture Title: On The Ugly 80s: Rethinking Contemporary Police Violence, White Vigilantism, and their Contested Reckonings
Abstract: In the popular imagination the decade of the 1980s was all about Big Hair, garish neon, consumerism, and corporate greed. It was also, in fact, the crucible of an unprecedented urban crisis. This lecture will revisit the 1980s and its underappreciated legacies in order to shine new light on today’s civic battles over policing as well as its alarming public support for acts of white vigilantism. It draws from new work Thompson is doing on two important moments in that decade—Bernie Goetz’s notorious shooting of Black youth on NYC subway in 1984, and the Philadelphia police’s bombing of MOVE in 1985.
If you are unable to join us in person, please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://umich.zoom.us/j/99848276472
Or One tap mobile :
+13017158592,,99848276472# US (Washington DC)
+13052241968,,99848276472# US
Or Telephone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 305 224 1968 US
+1 309 205 3325 US
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 876 9923 US (New York)
+1 646 931 3860 US
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 360 209 5623 US
+1 386 347 5053 US
+1 507 473 4847 US
+1 564 217 2000 US
+1 669 444 9171 US
+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
+1 689 278 1000 US
+1 719 359 4580 US
+1 253 205 0468 US
+1 204 272 7920 Canada
+1 438 809 7799 Canada
+1 587 328 1099 Canada
+1 647 374 4685 Canada
+1 647 558 0588 Canada
+1 778 907 2071 Canada
+1 780 666 0144 Canada
Webinar ID: 998 4827 6472
International numbers available: https://umich.zoom.us/u/ad7IRdXaaO
Building: | Palmer Commons |
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Event Type: | Lecture / Discussion |
Tags: | AEM Featured |
Source: | Happening @ Michigan from The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, Department of History, Department of Linguistics, Communication and Media, Department of English Language and Literature, Germanic Languages & Literatures, African American Studies |