UO Today

Melissa Graboyes, assistant professor of History in the Clark Honors College, discusses her book The Experiment Must Continue: Medical Research and Ethics in East Africa, 1940-2014. She also talks about the book she is currently coediting, Everyday Life on the African Continent: Fun, Leisure and Expressivity. In addition, Graboyes talks about the focus of the study abroad program for UO students in Zanzibar, Tanzania she organizes each summer. Graboyes will further her research next year as a 2018-19 OHC Faculty Research Fellow.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York. She is also the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. Kimmerer discusses how indigenous wisdom has enlightened her science. She also shares the Anishinaabe creation story of Skywoman and the lessons the story teaches us about our relationship with the Earth.

Filipino-American fiction writer Mia Alvar reads from her short story collection In the Country, and discusses her writing. Alvar gave a reading at the University of Oregon on February 22, 2018 as a guest of the Creative Writing program.

Joseph Lowndes, associate professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon, discusses the history of the New Right and conservative populism. He also talks about the Trump presidency and the fiscal policies that are contributing to the disenfranchisement of white working class voters.

Eugene artist Keith Achepohl and Jill Hartz, Executive Director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, discuss "Vision of Nature | Vessel of Beauty," an exhibition of work by Achepohl. Achepohl created the work with inspiration from his experiences at the Morris Graves Foundation Artist Residency, The Lake, in Loleta, California. Achepohl discusses his residency at The Lake and his intimate relationship with the flora in his work. "Vision of Nature | Vessel of Beauty" is on view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art through April 29th, 2018.

Joy Harjo, an enrolled member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, is a poet, musician, and author. She is the Professor and Chair of Excellence at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Harjo discusses and reads her poetry. Her eight books of poetry include the recent Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, How We Became Human-New and Selected Poems: 1975–2001, and The Woman Who Fell From the Sky. Her memoir Crazy Brave, was published in 2012. On February 2nd, 2018 Harjo gave a poetry reading at the University of Oregon. Her visit to Eugene was in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts' Big Read initiative.

Artist Margaret Coe and McCosh Associate Curator Danielle Knapp discuss "Mark Clarke and Margaret Coe: Our Lives in Paint," a retrospective exhibition in the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Eugene painters Margaret Coe and the late Mark Clarke shared a remarkable partnership in life and art. Coe talks about Clarke's approach to painting the Oregon landscape, as well as how her own work has evolved throughout her career. The exhibition is on view at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art through April 1st, 2018.

Leslie Alexander, associate professor of History at the University of Oregon, and author of African or American?: Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1784-1861. Alexander discusses the challenges of identity and politics emancipated Blacks faced in antebellum New York. She also talks about the thriving Black settlement of Seneca Village. The village was destroyed in 1857, twenty-two years after its establishment, to make way for the development of Central Park. In addition, Alexander talks about her current research about the establishment of Haiti as a free Black republic and its symbolic power for Blacks in 19th-century America.

Shoniqua Roach is an assistant professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Oregon. Roach discusses her research interest in post-civil rights era black popular culture, especially the work of transgressive black female performers—Pam Grier in 1970s Blaxploitation films, and hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj. In addition, Roach talks about the black feminist speaker series she is organizing for the 2018–19 academic year.

Curtis Austin is associate professor of History at the University of Oregon, and author of Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party. He joined the faculty in fall 2017 after six years at Ohio State University. Austin discusses the history of the Black Panther Party.