What is the significance and power of community in the 21st century? How has community been conceptualized and created by different cultures throughout history? How are relationships between specific communities and the broader social milieu constructed and maintained? In today’s global society, what provides the impetus for a life of civic engagement, built upon democratic values, goals, and aspirations? Is the “network” the latest form of community, now disconnected from the preconditions of shared physical or social space? These and other questions will be explored in the 2017 convening of the Western Humanities Alliance. All events are free and open to the public.

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November 2, 2017 @ 10:30 am - November 3, 2017 @ 3:30 pm
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CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
All events in the McCune Conference Room HSSB 6020 unless otherwise noted
THURSDAY, NOV 2
10:30 am – 12:00 pm | Welcoming Remarks, Susan Derwin (UCSB) Panel: Education as Community Building “Connecting Communities through Philosophical Inquiry,” Janice E. Moskalik (Seattle University) “The Humanities (Doctoral Student) in the Community: Cultivating New Communities of Practice through Reimagining Doctoral Education,” Annie Dwyer (University of Washington) “Making the Humanities Count: The Cultural Study of Quantification,” Heather Steffen (UCSB) |
12:00 – 1:00 pm | Lunch |
1:00 – 2:30 pm | Panel: Social Memory and Community Building
“Videogame Communities and the Digital Imaginary,” Derek A. Burril (UC Riverside) |
2:30 – 3:00 pm | Coffee Break |
3:00 – 4:15 pm | Panel: Civic Monuments and Community
Swati Chattopadhyay (UCSB) |
4:15 – 4:45 pm | Break |
5:00 – 6:30 pm | Keynote Address: Suzanne Lacy and Pablo Helguera in Conversation (Corwin Pavilion) |
FRIDAY, NOV 3
9:00 – 10:30 am | Panel: Critical Reflections on Citizenship and Belonging “Impermanent Citizens: Precarity and the Reconfiguration of Communities,” Stephen James (UC Riverside) “Queer Communist Community,” Glyn Salton-Cox (UCSB) “Citizenship in the EU: The Erasmus+ Student Community,” Arianne M. Schulz (UC Riverside) |
10:45 am – 12:00 pm | Keynote Address: “The Democratic Frame of Mind,” Christopher Bollas |
12:00 – 1:00 pm | Lunch |
1:00 – 2:30 pm | Panel: Imagining and Narrating Communities “How Advertisements are Made Political and Provoke Emotion,” Matthew Alvarez (UC Merced) “Architecture, History, and Community Building: The Second Life of the Miles C. Bates House (1954-55), Palm Desert, CA,” Volker M. Welter (UCSB) “Nursing the Spark of Social Engagement,” Michele Bury, Vivian Price, and Ellie Zenhari (CSU Dominguez Hills) “Black Migrant Women: Seeking Voice, Finding Community,” Geta LeSeur (University of Arizona) |
2:30 – 3:30 pm | Closing Remarks Wine and Cheese Reception |