Culture and Creativity Workshop



Culture and Creativity Workshop
The Culture and Creativity Workshop is designed for the advance of scholarly research on research broadly related to the topics of culture or creativity. We also aim to encourage intellectual interchange with specialists outside one’s home discipline or subfield.

Workshop meetings showcase work-in-progress by Vanderbilt graduate students and faculty in a range of disciplines. This can include -- but is not necessarily limited to -- article drafts, book or dissertation chapters, proposal narratives, and MA theses. We encourage work in various stages of completion, but generally prior to the publication. The draft for each meeting will circulate at least one week in advance with the expectation that participants read it prior to meeting. Meetings are devoted to rigorous collegial engagement with the work aimed at helping the presenter develop the best possible project.

During the 2009-2010 season, we will rely on a designated graduate student respondent to open discussion, highlight important findings and to orient the discussion.

The seminar will meet from 3:15 to 4:30 at the Curb Center, located at 1207 18th Avenue South.  
 
 

Spring 2010

 
March 18: Gregg Horowitz (Philosophy): “Absolute Bodies: The Video Puppets of Tony Oursler.”
 
 

Fall 2009:

 
September 9:
Terry McDonnell (Sociology): “Scare Tactics: Cultural Power and Images of Death, Illness, and Health in Ghanaian AIDS Campaigns.”
Discussant: Elizabeth Covington (English)

October 7:
Paul Young (English, Film Studies): “The Red Badge of Futility: Naturalist Landscapes and Early Story Films”
Discussant: Katherine Fusco (Assistant Director, Writing Center)

November 11:
Laura Carpenter (Sociology): "News Media and the Construction of Male Circumcision and Female Genital Cutting as Health-Related Public Problems."
Discussant: Jamie Zuehl (Anthropology)

December 9:
Jonathan Neufeld (Philosophy): “Authoritative performance in law and music.”
Discussant: TBA
 
 

Past workshops:

 
2008-2009
  • Damian Williams, Sociology, "Stories from Daniel's Den: Collective Sense-Making in a Homeless Self-Help Group"
  • Richard Lloyd, Sociology, “On the Barstools of Giants: Place, Aura & Cultural Production”
  • Steven J. Tepper, Sociology, “Sticks, Stones & Words: Structure of Cultural Conflict”
  • Claire Sisco King, Communications, “The Man Inside: Trauma, Gender & the Nation in The Brave One”
  • Jennifer Lena, Sociology, “The Professional Tastes of Music Critics”
  • Dan Cornfield, Sociology, "Artistic workers and Their American Dreams: A Typology From the Case of Nashville Music Professionals"
  • Elizabeth Long Lingo, Curb Center, “Nexus Work: Brokerage of Creative Projects”
  • Bill Ivey, Director of the Curb Center, “President Obama’s Transition Team for cultural agencies: National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute for Museum and Library Services”
  • Anastasia Curwood, African Diaspora Studies, “Stormy Weather: African-American Marriages Between the Two World Wars”
  • Heather Hensman Kettrey, Sociology, "Guilty Pleasures: The Role of the Confession in the Missing Discourse of Female Sexual Desire"


2007-2008
  • Brooke Ackerly, Political Science, "Justifying Universal Human Rights"
  • Jonathan Neufeld, Philosophy, "The Liberal Limits of Legitimate Listening"
  • Erin Rehel, Sociology, "The Theming of Fitness Facilities in the United States"
  • John Sloop, Communication Studies, "Making the Cellular Subject"
  • Bruce Barry, Owen School, "Speechless: The Erosion of Free Speech in the American Workplace"