Events

Jack Halberstam is Professor of Gender Studies and English at Columbia University. He is the author of several books, including: Trans: A Quick and Quirky Guide to Gender Variability (U of California Press, 2018); Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal (Beacon Press, 2012); The Queer Art of Failure (Duke UP, 2011); In A Queer Time and Place (NYU Press, 2005) Skin Shows: Gothic Horror and the Technology of Monsters (Duke UP, 1995); Female Masculinity (Duke UP, 1998).

Our experiences, in work and life alike, challenge us to grow and evolve. This process allows us to realize the quintessential goal of education: to change ourselves. In this presentation, Dr. Edward Burger (Mathematics) and Victoria Star Varner (Fine Arts) will not only share two such personal journeys – one within the world of art and the other within the world of mathematics – but also challenge the audience to find the bridges that connect these two different stories. 

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) offered chilling evidence that Canada’s history has not been as heroic as we might have wished in this 151 years since Confederation. The 94 Calls to Action proposed in its final report, along with the recently-accepted United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) propose some serious changes to how archaeology and heritage is “done” in Canada. Are we as a society ready for the full implications of what they might mean?

Join Doug Peers, Dean of Arts, University of Waterloo, and a panel of professors with expertise in economics, philosophy, and human-computer interaction for a discussion about what we need to know and do to ensure artificial intelligence serves humanity for the good of everyone.

Dr. Alison Marshall will cover the challenges of getting ethics approval for ethnographic research, as well as methods for choosing research questions, and locating, defining, documenting, organizing and writing up results of religion in the field.

The Office of Research brings together a panel of multidisciplinary researchers to explore the evolution of microbes. Speakers include Alexis Dolphin, Department of Anthropology, and she will speak about human-environment interactions in past populations.

It’s no joke. The Doomsday Clock is a widely recognized indicator of global threats from nuclear weapons, climate change, and disruptive technologies. Join Doug Peers, Dean of Arts, for a discussion with Faculty of Arts scholars in political science, sociology, and English to understand the real threats and possible actions for turning back the clock.

In June 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favour of Jack Phillips, a Colorado baker who refused to create a cake for a same-sex wedding reception. There is a lively debate about what counts as denying "the same cake" to different customers. In this talk. Brian Rudrick Visiting Scholar in Philosophy, John Corvino explores that question against the background of sexual-orientation discrimination in the United States and elsewhere.

The first History Speaker Series event of 2019 is here! Dr. Megan Koreman will be discussing her recent book, The Escape Line: How the Ordinary Heroes of Dutch-Paris Resisted the Nazi Occupation of Western Europe.