Winter 2007 ACGCC Sponsored Events

"Sweet Soul Music" by Ron Paris (MCC, January, 22, 2007, 4PM)

Singer Ron Paris sings soul music and presents the history of rhythm and blues in a special performance. This lecture describes moments in the history of music in America and music's contribution to social justice and human rights. It pays tribute to those R&B pioneers who literally and figuratively made the rope disappear that used to divide white from black audiences. Hear about Charles Brown, Johnnie Ace, Bobby Bland, Ruth Brown, B.B. King, and James Brown, with special focus on the Platters (with whom Ron sang in the early 70s) and Sam Cooke.

"Human Rights and Neoliberalism: Universal Standards, Local Practice and the Role of Culture Conference" (IHC and Campbell Hall, March 2-3, 2007)

Many of the most controversial foreign policy decisions pursued by the
United States government in recent years have been defended as means of
spreading democracy and of realizing basic human rights. In this regard,
the U.S. has been explicit in its attempt to reshape international
governance, and to achieve human rights by conjoining these to neoliberal
economic policies. Taking up these dynamics, the Human Rights and
Neoliberalism Conference will analyze the cultural dimensions of human
rights policies, activism and scholarship, and examine closely the ways in
which these human rights efforts challenge, extend or otherwise engage the
ideals of neoliberalism. Most often associated with free market economies,
minimal governmental regulations regarding production, and the dismantling
of tariffs and related international trade controls, neoliberalism is also
a cultural system, one that claims priority for the individual. Often times
echoing the rhetoric of Social Darwinism, advocates of neoliberal policies
value individual freedoms and the notion of meritocracy, while arguing
against a variety of welfare programs and the recognition of social groups.
Both the international human rights movement and the neoliberal economic
imperative (coming of age with Reagan and Thatcher), carry strong cultural
assumptions interacting in complex ways that call out for further analysis.
Keynote address: Tariq Ali.  For more information, visit:
http://acc.english.ucsb.edu/conference/humanrights/index.asp

"Harmed: Ancient Tragedy and Modern Catastrophes," A Lecture by Wai Chee Dimock, English Department, Yale University (March 13, 2007, SH 2635)

Wai Chee Dimock, the William Lampson Professor of English and American
Studies, focuses her teaching and writing on American literature, law and
literature, and world literature. She is especially concerned with the
relation of literature to law, philosophy and the history of science. She
has authored two books, "Empire for Liberty: Melville and the Poetics of
Individualism" and "Residues of Justice: Literature, Law, Philosophy."
Dimock is also co-editor of "Rethinking Class: Literary Studies and Social
Formations." In her recent work, she has attempted to link American
literature to world literature, and she has two new books in progress:
"Literature for the Planet" and "Deep Time: American Literature and World
History."

"Torture and the Future: Perspectives from the Humanities"
Visit the website that has been established regarding the 2006-2007 Critical Issues in American Programming.
http://www.complit.ucsb.edu/projects/tortureandthefuture/events.html

World Order and Documentary: Davis Guggenheim and Elizabeth Shue Celebrate the work of Charles A. Guggenheim

Tuesday, May 11, 2004
7:30-9:30 p.m., Girvetz 1004

Hollywood writer, producer, and director Davis Guggenheim (of such films as “Gossip” and the new HBO series “Deadwood”) and Academy Award nominee for best actress (“Leaving Las Vegas”) Elizabeth Shue discuss the legacy of world renowned documentary film-maker Charles A. Guggenheim. Nominated for ten Academy Awards and winner of three for such films as “Nine from Little Rock” (1964) and “Robert Kennedy Remembered” (1968), Charles Guggenheim is also remembered as well for such classics as “Klan: A Legacy of Hate in America” (1982), “Monument to the Dream” (1967), “The Johnstown Flood” (1989), “D-Day Remembered” (1994), “A Time for Justice” (1994) and “Berga: Soldiers of Another War” (2003).