Past Events

Alfred Brendel, Author & Pianist

“In Conversation”
Forum on the Humanities & the Public World
| Great Hall, Bancroft Hotel

Alfred Brendel’s accomplishments as an interpreter of the great composers have earned him a place among the world’s most revered musicians. He is the first pianist to have recorded all of Beethoven’s piano compositions and one of the few to have recorded the complete Mozart piano concertos.

| Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall

Panel Discussants: Robert Post, Deniz Göktürk (German), David Hollinger (History) and Saba Mahmood (Anthropology)
Moderator: Anthony J. Cascardi (Townsend Center Director)

Robert Post, Law, Yale University

“Religion and Freedom of Speech: Cartoons and Controversies”
Una's Lecture
| Lipman Room, Barrows Hall

Robert Post is David Boies Professor of Law at Yale University. His subject areas are constitutional law, the First Amendment, legal history, and affirmative action, and his books include Constitutional Domains: Democracy, Community, Management and Prejudicial Appearances: The Logic of American Antidiscrimination Law.

Robert Reich, Professor of the Goldman School of Public Policy

“The Four Narratives of American Public Life”
Forum on the Humanities & the Public World
| Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall

As the nation’s 22nd Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, Robert Reich implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act; led a national fight against sweatshops in the U.S. and illegal child labor around the world; headed the administration’s successful effort to raise the minimum wage; secured worker’s pensions; and launched job-training programs, one-stop career centers, and school-to-work initiatives.

Robert Pinsky, U.S. Poet Laureate, 1997-2000

“Lyric and Public: The Favorite Poem Project”
Forum on the Humanities & the Public World
| Wheeler Auditorium

Throughout his career, Robert Pinsky has been dedicated to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world. As Poet Laureate, Pinsky founded the Favorite Poem Project, in which thousands of Americans shared their favorite poems.

| Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall

Panel Discussants: Walter Mignolo, Pheng Cheah (Rhetoric), Gillian Hart (Geography) and José David Saldívar (Ethnic Studies and English). Moderated by Anthony J. Cascardi (Townsend Center Director)

Walter D. Mignolo, Literature and Romance Studies, Duke University

“Globalization and De-colonial Thinking”
Avenali Lecture
| Lipman Room, Barrows Hall

Walter D. Mignolo is William H. Wannamaker Professor of Literature and Romance Studies, Cultural Anthropology and Spanish at Duke University. Professor Mignolo’s research focuses on global coloniality and the history of capitalism.

| Geballe Room, 220 Stephens Hall

Panel Discussants: Stephen Greenblatt, Wendy Brown (Political Science, Gender and Women’s Studies), Roland Greene, (English, Comparative Literature, Stanford University) and Jeffrey Knapp (English)

Stephen Greenblatt, American Literary Critic

“Shakespeare and the Ethics of Authority”
Avenali Lecture
| Lipman Room, Barrows Hall

Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. His areas of specialization include Shakespeare, 16th- and 17th-century English literature, the literature of travel and exploration, and literary theory.

| Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall

Panel Discussants: Hélène Cixous, Pheng Cheah (Rhetoric), Suzanne Guerlac (French) and Judith Butler (Rhetoric, Comparative Literature)