Frederick Wiseman: Una Panel Discussion
Panel Discussants: Frederick Wiseman, Laura Nader (Anthropology), Candace Slater (Spanish & Portuguese) and Loïc Wacquant (Sociology)
Frederick Wiseman, Documentary Filmmaker
Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman uses the “direct cinema” tradition of documentary filmmaking—continued filming of human conversation and the routines of everyday life with no music, interviews, or voice-over narration—to powerfully examine social institutions in America.
Michael Pollan: Avenali Panel Discussion
Panel Discussants: Michael Pollan, Catherine Gallagher (English), Ignacio Chapela (Environmental Science, Policy and Management) and Patricia Unterman (restaurant critic, the San Francisco Examiner)
Michael Pollan, Journalist and Author
Michael Pollan's work examines the intersections between science and culture, focusing most specifically on food. Pollan is the author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, winner of the James Beard Award, The Omnivore's Dilemma, which was named one of the ten best books of the year by both The New York Times and The Washington Post, and The Botany of Desire, among others.
“The Lost Art of the Newspaper”
Baker with David Henkin (History) and Carla Hesse (History).
Nicholson Baker, Writer
Novelist and nonfiction writer Nicholson Baker is the author of The Mezzanine; Room Temperature; Vox; The Fermata; and The Everlasting Story of Nory, among others. Often addressing provocative topics such as voyeurism and planned assassination, Baker’s work is known for its focus on minute details and careful characterizations through the exploration of his characters' and narrators' stream of consciousness.
Panel Discussants: Sebastião Salgado, T.J. Clark (Art History), Orville Schell (Dean, Graduate School of Journalism), Nancy Sheperd-Hughes (Anthropology), Candace Slater (Spanish and Portuguese) and Michael Watts (Geography)
A member of Magnum Photos from 1979-1994, Sebastião Salgado is twice the recipient of the Infinity Award for Photojournalism from the International Center of Photography.
Panel Discussants: N. Katherine Hayles, Shawn Brixey (Art Practice), Anne-Lise Francois (English and Comparative Literature) and Kenneth Goldberg (Industrial Engineering and Operations Research)
N. Katherine Hayles, Literature, Duke University
Postmodern literary critic N. Katherine Hayles is known for her work concerning the relationship between literature, science and technology. Hayles holds advanced degrees in both Chemistry and English, and her early work orchestrates the play of resonances between contemporary scientific paradigms and literature.