FranklinHumanities RSS
Political Significance of Literary Journals
Members of the editorial collective of the New York-based journal n+1, Carla Blumenkranz, Mark Greif, and Marco Roth, and writers and members of the Kenya-based Kwani Trust, Billy Kahora and Keguro Macharia, participate in a set of panels engaging the enduring and changing social and political significance of literary journals, the role of writers as public intellectuals, and the importance of literary writing in cultural shaping and social critique.Published 2 weeks ago
Poetry of Nikky Finney
Poet Nikky Finney, winner of the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry, reads from her latest book, "Head Off & Split". Following the reading, Finney has a conversation with Thavolia Glymph, Duke Professor of African and African American Studies and History and Michael Taussig, Columbia University Professor of Anthropology.Published 2 months ago
Past, Present and Future of Franco-African Relations
Three experts in French and African affairs discuss the implications of recent political scandals in understanding the past, present, and future of Franco-African relations.Published 3 months ago
How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics
Kathryn Sikkink, recipient of the 2011 Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)-Duke University Human Rights Book Award, reads from and discusses her award-winning book, The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics.Sikkink is a Regents Professor and the McKnight Presidential Chair in Political Science at the University of Minnesota. She has a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University.
Published 3 months ago
A Centering of Memory; Verne Harris: Nelson Mandela Foundation
Verne Harris has been Nelson Mandela's archivist since 2004. He is head of the Memory Programme at the Nelson Mandela Foundation's Centre of Memory and Dialogue, an honorary research associate with the University of Cape Town, and former Deputy Director of South Africa's National Archives. His visit to Duke in October 2011 was co-sponsored by the Franklin Humanities Institute and the John Hope Franklin Research Center at Duke Library. http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/franklin/Published 3 months ago
Reflections on 9/11: Karen Walwyn, Piano
Reflections on 9/11 is a piano work in seven movements. Karen Walwyn is a concert pianist and Associate Professor of Music at Howard University. For the 2011-12 academic year, she is a Mellon HBCU Fellow at the FHI. A classical concert pianist, Prof. Walwyn, successfully made her New York recital debut at Merkin Hall, in New York City which was quickly followed by her debut performance on National Public Radio, (NPR). Her most noted performances included works from her compact discs entitled Dark Fires: 20th Century Music for Piano, Vol. I and Dark Fires: Walwyn and Friends, Vol. II (Albany Records).Published 7 months ago
Justice Edwin Cameron, Constitutionalism and Diversity: Sexual Orientation in South Africa (clip)
South African Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron speaks about his country's post-apartheid efforts to guarantee rights for gay, lesbian, trans-gendered and queer citizens, referring to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow Nation: Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Activism in South Africa," a 2008 article by Ryan Richard Thoreson published in the Journal of South African Studies. Cameron has served on the Constitutional Court, South Africa's highest on constitutional matters, since January 1, 2009. He was also a Supreme Court of Appeal judge, a leading human rights lawyer, a prominent critic of former President Thabo Mbeki's AIDS-denialist policies, and author of Witness to AIDS. In 2002, the Bar of England and Wales gave Cameron a special award for his 'contribution to international jurisprudence and the protection of human rights.'Published 8 months ago
Author Talk: Cathy Davidson (clip)
Using cutting-edge research on the brain, Cathy Davidson's new book, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn (Viking, 2011), shows how "attention blindness" has produced one of our society's greatest challenges. While we all acknowledge the great changes of the information age, most of us still toil in schools and workplaces designed for the last century. Our institutions haven't kept pace.Weaving together elements of neuroscience, psychology, learning theory, management science, and more, Davidson introduces us to visionaries whose groundbreaking ideas (from schools with curriculums built around video games to companies that train workers using virtual environments) will open the doors to new ways of working and learning. Now You See It offers a refreshingly optimistic argument for a bold embrace of our connected, collaborative future.
Published 8 months ago
Haiti: History Embedded in Amber
Haiti: History Embedded in Amber was a collaborative project produced in the Haiti Laboratory of the Franklin Humanities Institute during the 2010-2011 year. Led by renowned artist Edouard Duval-Carrié, it brought together faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and visitors in the process. It is now on permanent view in the "Garage" at the Franklin Humanities Institute, at Bay 4 of the Smith Warehouse.Published 8 months ago
Haiti: History Embedded in Amber, An Invitation
Please join us in celebrating the installation of Haiti: History Embedded in Amber, with artist Edouard Duval-Carrié. He will speak briefly about the piece, and we will have music by renowned Haitian singer Erol Josué, along with Caribbean food and drink. You can learn more about the piece, produced during the past year in the Haiti Laboratory by students, faculty and visitors, at http://fhi.duke.edu/haitiamber/.Date: Friday, September 9, 2011 - 5:00pm - 6:30pm
Location: FHI Garage - C105, 1st Floor, Bay 4, Smith Warehouse
Published 8 months ago
Haiti Humanities Lab - Cholera Mapping Project
This is a collaborative project exploring both qualitative and quantitative data sources to deepen our understanding of cholera outbreaks in the Caribbean, especially as it allows us to understand the current Haitian epidemic.Published 8 months ago
Haiti Humanities Lab
Co-directed by Laurent Dubois and Deborah Jenson, the "Haiti Lab" is the first humanities laboratory at the Franklin Humanities Institute. The lab merges research, education, and practical applications of innovative thinking for Haiti's disaster recovery and for the expansion of Haitian studies in the U.S. and Haiti.Published 8 months ago
Haiti Humanities Lab - Creole Language Classes
Creole / Kreyòl Studies I (Pierre)FRN 190.01
TTh 11:40am-12:55pm
An introduction to the essential elements of Haitian Creole or Kreyòl language and aspects of Haitian culture. The first of the two-semester sequence of elementary Haitian Creole or Kreyòl. the course provides practice in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing the language, culturally contextualized through units on health care, Haitian women's rights issues, and unpaid child servants (restavèk). Students will acquire enough vocabulary and idioms to be able to interact with Haitians. Each participant will pick a theme to work on and write a two-page final project. The textbooks "Kreyòl Ayisyen pou Swen Sante (KAPSS)" and "Ann Pale Kreyòl (APK)" will be supplemented by texts retrieved from Haitian websites and Haitian newspapers. Copies of these texts will be handed out three weeks before working on them in class. Additional cultural and grammatical notions will be explored in relation to each lesson from KAPSS and APK dialogues introduced in class. Throughout the course participants will be exposed to different aspects of Haitian culture through documentaries, music, films, card games, and proverbs. No prerequisite. The course is taught in Haitian Creole.
Creole/Kreyòl Studies II (Pierre)
FRN 193.01
TTh 2:50-4:05pm
This second course in the two-semester sequence on elementary Haitian Creole provides essential elements of Creole language and aspects of Haitian culture. This course is designed to help students develop their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in Haitian Creole. Students will be engaged in different communicative tasks to assimilate the materials covered every day. The textbooks Ann Pale kreyòl (APK), Ti Koze Sou Istwa Peyi Dayiti (TKSIPA), and English Haitian Creole: The oxford Picture Dictionary (OPD) will be supplemented by simple articles retrieved from Haitian websites and newspapers to expose students to new words and basic structures which are not in the textbooks. Copies of these articles will be given to students three days before working on them in class. Additional cultural and grammatical notions will be explored in relation to each lesson and text introduced in class. Throughout the course students will be exposed to different aspects of Haitian culture through films, storytelling, games, music, and proverbs. Pre-requisite: Creole I or Haitian Creole for the Recovery in Haiti or a comparable level of previous Creole language experience, such as Duke Engage experience in Haiti or a familial background in Creole. The course is taught in Haitian Creole.
Creole III/Creole 63 (Pierre)
Check back for course number, meeting times, and other info
This course is the first semester of intermediate Haitian Creole or Kreyòl, intended for students who have taken Creole I and Creole II, or Creole for the Recovery in Haiti and Creole II. This course will help students move beyond "survival skills" in Creole to more complex social interactions and expressions of analysis and opinion. Intermediate skills in understanding, speaking, writing, reading Creole will be contextualized within a broad range of issues such as rural life in Haiti, religion, frenchified Creole vs popular Creole, through texts, poems, and excerpts taken from novels written by Haitian authors in Haitian Creole. Students will learn to carefully follow contemporary events and debates in Haitian culture using internet resources in Creole. For each text related to the above issues; idioms, proverbs, songs, paintings, and stories will be studied and analyzed so that students can get deep insights into Haitian culture, society, and religion. In addition, movies and documentaries will be watched to support learning. Furthermore, students will be asked to transcribe texts into Haitian Creole as well as translate simple texts from English into Haitian Creole and vice-versa.
Published 8 months ago
Haiti Humanities Lab - Students in Haiti
DukeEngage HaitiThis two month summer program "Building and Sustaining Healthy Families" will provide 8 students with the opportunity to live, learn, and engage with people of Leogane, Haiti by working with Family Health Ministries (FHM). FHM is a Durham-based, non-profit organization dedicated to developing long-term relationships with underserved individuals, families and communities to support their efforts to build and sustain healthy families. Currently most of FHM's activities encompass the areas of maternal and child health (cervical cancer prevention, nutrition, health education, etc.) in Haiti. In collaboration with local Haitian partners, FHM has been asked to build a health center that will address unmet needs of families. Students will be integrated into existing FHM program needs and will have the opportunity to provide service to the community by working in the cancer prevention program, developing educational materials, providing educational outreach to women, learning data collection and management skills, working on surveys in the community, and working with women's groups.
For more information, contact FHM Director and Haiti Lab affiliated faculty Kathy Walmer.
Published 8 months ago
GreaterThanGames Humanities Lab
GreaterThanGames aims to build a game platform that brings together virtual and real world components, is adaptable over a range of networked and programmable devices including desktop computers, iPhones, iPads, etc., and develops rich narrative content that emerges interactively with player collaborations and choices. The goal is to use the combined allure of game play, virtual architecture and design, and digital storytelling to intervene constructively in real world problems.Published 8 months ago
