Humanities (Audio)

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. This CARTA symposium highlights where the future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Pascal Gagneux offers a zoological view of the human cultural animal. Robert Kluender talks about the evolution of language structure and the future of linguistics. Anne Stone discusses ancient DNA research and the surprising insights into human evolutionary history. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38633]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. This CARTA symposium highlights where the future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Yohannes Haile-Selassie discusses the importance of fossil based human origin research. Carol Marchetto talks about the use of stem cells to study human origins. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38632]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. This CARTA symposium highlights where the future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Terry Sejnowski discusses how large-scale neural network models have inspired major advances in artificial intelligence. Sarah Tishkoff talks on how Africa is thought to be the ancestral homeland of all modern human populations. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 38631]

Moderator Ben Olguín joined filmmaker Ellie Walton and poet Sami Miranda for a post-screening discussion of the documentary La Manplesa: An Uprising Remembered. Together, they discussed the importance of artistic collaboration and community, the relationship between art and activism, and current events that echo the story of injustice in DC’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Walton reflected on the experiences that compelled her to create this documentary, and Miranda shared his personal discovery of his grandfather’s old photographs, which helped him better understand his own artistic practice. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 38621]

Disability rights activist Judy Heumann has been fighting for inclusion for over six decades, in ways that transformed legal and societal understandings of equality. Her life-long experience has included co-founding the organization Disabled in Action, working on Capitol Hill to shape landmark disability rights laws, co-organizing the extraordinary protest and advocacy efforts that spurred the implementation of Section 504, and advising presidential administrations and the World Bank on disability issues. In this conversational program, Heumann focuses on those aspects of her journey that are most salient to the perils and possibilities of the present. Heumann sees in this moment a fragile and imperfect democracy, but one that is nonetheless worth investing in. She also sees deep structures of exclusion, vigorously defended but also vulnerable to political pressure and moral suasion. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Show ID: 37730]

Moderator Bhaskar Sakar joined Professor Moinak Biswas, Professor Emerita Supriya Chaudhuri, and graphic illustrator-designer Pinaki De for a post-screening discussion of two films by Satyajit Ray, The Adventures of Goopy and Bagha (Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne) and The Kingdom of Diamonds (Hirak Rajar Deshe). Together, they addressed the personal background of Satyajit Ray, his contributions to Indian cinema, the historical and political contexts of the films, and their artistic significance. Pinaki De elaborated on the significant detail and craftsmanship of Ray’s set design, while Supriya Chaudhuri and Moinak Biswas weighed in on the political and literary influences of the films. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Humanities] [Show ID: 38564]

Marion Nestle, Ph.D., MPH, reflects on her late-in-life career as a world-renowned food politics expert, public health advocate, and a founder of the field of food studies after facing decades of low expectations. She discusses her new memoir, "Slow Cooked," that tells her personal story, including her rise from bench scientist to the pinnacles of academia, while overcoming the barriers and biases facing women of her generation and finding her life's purpose after age 50. Series: "Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies" [Health and Medicine] [Humanities] [Science] [Business] [Show ID: 38620]

Anthropogeny, has provided many new discoveries over the past decade, ranging from new fossil finds to ancient DNA data, including from extinct hominins. New methods and multi-disciplinary collaborations are providing exciting new insights into the complicated evolutionary journey that gave rise to our species. However, we remain far from understanding some of the most striking human-specific characteristics: the reasons for our bipedality, the factors selecting for our dexterity at creating and using tools, and the true age of fire use in our distant ancestors. This CARTA symposium features advisory committee members who highlight where they hope future efforts should be focused and what type of novel collaborations are most promising for improving our understanding of the human phenomenon. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38296]

Current knowledge of our deep past is primarily derived from ancient fossils of our ancestors that paleoanthropologists search for and discover in some of the most remote areas of the world. In the last two decades, significant fossil discoveries have been made and these discoveries have re-written some parts of our deep past. However, the fossil record is still far from complete, primarily due to the absence of fossils from some critical geological times and the lack of robust samples for the species already identified. The best way to fill temporal gaps in the fossil record and meaningfully increase the sample size is by conducting surveys and exploration to locate new areas of paleoanthropological significance. If we want to fully understand our evolutionary history, especially how we became who we are today and where we are going, continued paleoanthropological fieldwork is of paramount importance. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38499]

For the past 30 years, the frontiers of language science have been in the areas of neurolinguistics and genetics, both of which arose in conjunction with new technologies emerging in the 1990s. It is probably safe to say that these trends will continue apace as technology in these areas continues to advance, allowing for increasingly sophisticated and fine-grained analysis. From its inception, the study of language has been inextricably linked with cultural anthropology and the arts. It was only in the 20th century that linguistics was able to break free of its sister disciplines and establish itself as an autonomous field all its own. In this talk, I first look backwards in time, in a review of the provenance and history of linguistics as a field. The idea is to take stock of where we have come from in order to get a sense for where we might be headed. Much of what we do today in linguistics has its roots in what the Sanskrit grammarians did several millennia ago. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38300]