Duke on Demand

Mark Anthony Neal is joined by H. Samy Alim to talk about his new book co-written by Geneva Smitherman "Articulate While Black". Later, Mark sits down with Alison Crockett to talk about her new album "Mommy What's a Depression?"

Modern Mexican celebrations of Day of the Dead are tied to indigenous rituals dating as far back as 3000 years ago. Today we find US versions of Mexico's celebration co-mingling with Halloween symbols on both sides of the border. Extending from an exhibit entitled, "Day of the Dead: From Mexican Roots to Present Day in the US" panelists will examine traditions of celebration and mourning surrounding visiting with the decreased not only in Mexico, but also in other parts of the world, including Asian, Africa, Europe, and the United States.

Winter Term: Wednesdays 9-10:30 at Judea Reform Center The year (2013) marks the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner's birth. His controversial life and his contribution to the world of art will be presented in videos, PowerPoint presentations,with selections from his operas--all under the rubric of Father M. Owen Lee's little book "Wagner; The Terrible Man and His Truthful Art." Our first class will introduce you to the man and some of the controversy his life engendered. After that we will follow his phenomenally creative journey from Die Feen ("The Fairies") through Parsifal. More information is available at: http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/olli/

Winter Term: Mondays 1:30-3pm at Judea Reform Center
By taking one disease [diabetes mellitus --DM], we will examine the entire spectrum of views to fully appreciate its complexity. Hence we will look at every aspect of DM, from it's genetics, epidemiology, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, molecular biology, psychological impact, overview of generic treatment, causes, treatments, etc. Importantly I will at times indicate what we do NOT know about DM. Case histories will be used to illustrate all pertinent points. Please note, this is not a class in diabetic care. No medical advice will be given. There will be no discussion of a participant's medical treatment. This will be a biology class. More information is available at: http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/olli/

Winter Term: Wednesdays, 10-11:30 at Forest at Duke
Explore how treasures from close by take us far away in time and place. Faculty from nearby universities and museums will show us striking objects from Egypt, Palmyra, Crete, Greece, and Rome to reconstruct history via art. The object will be a jumping off place for larger issues. Each object or set of objects will be placed in its historical context. Faculty will show us what the object means to the people who created, admired or used it. As we hear stories about the object's past we will also learn how the object may connect to the present. After examination in the classroom, we will visit local museums to further discuss and look at these objects. More information is available at: http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/olli/

Winter Term: Mondays, 11-12:30 at Bishop's House
Airports are fascinating organisms. While they provide the bases for the worldwide air transportation systems, they are like cities unto themselves,, a microcosm of the outside world. this course will take us behind the scenes of major airports and cover such topics as how an airport is organized and managed; what services and functions are required and provided; the history of aviation from the Wright brothers to modern supersonic planes. More information is available at: http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/olli/

The FHI, HASTAC, PhD Lab in Digital Knowledge, and Program in the Study of Sexualities at Duke are pleased to sponsor a Presentation and a Workshop by Modernism and Queer Theory Scholar Petra Dierkes-Thrun of Stanford University. Oscar Wilde has meant different things to different people since the late 19th century, but probably nowhere has his legacy been felt more strongly than in the queer and feminist community and associated scholarship since the 1980s. Today, Wilde is considered a prime ancestral node within the genealogy of queer aesthetics and eroticism of Western culture, due in large part to the many 20th-century writers, musicians, filmmakers, artists, and cultural theorists (queer and straight) who have creatively reimagined and critically examined his life and works. But as with all powerful myths of origin, the ongoing story about Wilde as the queer ancestor probably tells us more about our own desires and fears, and our own culture, than about the historical Oscar Wilde and Victorian culture. This talk will deal with queer and feminist afterimages of Wilde since the 1980s (specifically, of Salomé and The Picture of Dorian Gray) that both spiritualize and commodify the signifier Wilde for our own present: their utopian and material impulses, their sale and consumption in queer and mainstream culture alike. Approached from a Foucaultian perspective that regards fantasies of transgression and perversity as constitutive rather than oppositional elements of a larger cultural network, examining these afterimages of Wilde becomes an important way of engaging with an imagined and desired past that continues to speak to us in beautiful and seductive tongues.

Producer and Director: Purnima Shah, Duke University Dance Program

"Dancing with the Goddess" is an ethnographic film focusing on the religious performative traditions of Goddess worship in Gujarat, India with particular attention to the Ras and Garba dances.

Presented as part of the Wednesdays the Center series.

Producer and Director: Purnima Shah, Duke University Dance Program

"Dancing with the Goddess" is an ethnographic film focusing on the religious performative traditions of Goddess worship in Gujarat, India with particular attention to the Ras and Garba dances.

Presented as part of the Wednesdays the Center series.