The IPRH has organized and hosted 15 conferences in the past decade – most of them coordinated with the annual theme, some in collaboration with the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory and the Center for Advanced Study, two of them as part of a joint venture with our counterpart unit at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The earliest conferences followed a traditional conference format, with papers by invited speakers and participants from this campus and other universities around the region. These conferences were ambitious in their scope and their collaborative nature – often, they were planned to coincide with other campus activities, or to dovetail with existing interdisciplinary conversations that were taking place across the humanities.

In recent years, we have made some significant changes to our annual conference – the current format is designed to showcase the works of the IPRH Fellows and to highlight the exciting nature of the discussions that develop through the yearlong Fellows’ Seminar. Our recent conferences have featured the Fellows in panels organized around topics related to the annual theme, as well as a keynote address by a visiting scholar whose work significantly enhances our understanding and appreciation of that theme.

The schedule of the tenth annual IPRH conference – “Rupture,” March 27 and 28, 2008 – can be found here.


2006-2007

Ninth Annual Conference - “Beauty”
Keynote speaker –
            Buzz Spector, Art, Cornell University – “The Desire to Beautify”
Additional speakers –
            The IPRH Faculty, Graduate Student, and Post-Doctoral Fellows for 2006-2007
Fellows’ panels –
            Beauty, Art, History
            Beauty, Ancient and Modern
            The Politics of the Beautiful


“The Humanities and the Public University: The View from Illinois”
Two conferences organized by the IPRH and its counterpart at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Institute for the Humanities, featuring humanities faculty from both campuses
“Teaching the Humanities at the Public University” (at the U of I)
            Keynote speakers – Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein-Graff (English, UIC), “Demystifying Academia”
            Panels –
            Between Intellectual and Multicultural Diversity
            The Humanities in an Age of Fundamentalism
            Panelists –
            James Anderson, Educational Policy Studies, U of I
            Madhu Dubey, English and African American Studies, UIC
            Walter Benn Michaels, English, UIC
            James Treat, American Indian Studies, U of I
            Antoinette Burton, History, U of I
            Sundiata Cha-Jua, African American Studies, U of I
            Paul Griffiths, Catholic Studies and Classics and Mediterranean Studies, UIC
            Stephen Hartnett, Speech Communication, U of I
            Rachel Havrelock, Jewish Studies and English, UIC
            Moderators –
            Dale Bauer, English, U of I
            O. Vernon Burton, History, U of I

“The Politics and Culture of the Humanities” (at UIC)
            Keynote speaker – Cary Nelson, English, U of I, “The End of Education”
            Panels –
            The Future of Humanistic Labor
            Humanistic Literacy in an Anti-Intellectual Culture
            Panelists –
            Leon Fink, History, UIC
            Barbara Ransby, African American Studies and History, UIC
            Michael Rothberg, English and Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, U of I
            Dara Goldman, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, U of I
            Lennard Davis, English and Disability Studies, UIC
            William J. Maxwell, English, U of I
            Charles Mills, Philosophy, UIC
            Catherine Prendergast, English, U of I
            Moderators –
            John D’Emilio, History and Gender and Women’s Studies, UIC
            Astrida Tantillo, Germanic Studies, UIC


2005-2006

Seventh Annual Conference - “Difference”
Keynote speaker –
            Suvir Kaul, English, University of Pennsylvania – “Indifference”
Additional speakers –
            The IPRH Faculty, Graduate Student, and Post-Doctoral Fellows for 2004-2005
Fellows’ panels –
            Nations and their Differences
            Different Arts
            Difference through Better Living


“Rethinking Secularism in an Age of Belief”
A one-day conference co-organized by the IPRH and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory
Keynote speakers –
            Dwight McBride, African American Studies, Northwestern, “Race, Faith, and Sexuality: A Nexus of Our Time”
            Saba Mahmood, Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley), “Secularism, Hermeneutics, and Empire: Politics of            Islamic Reformation”
            Gauri Viswanathan, English, Columbia University, “Conversion in the Indian Constitution: The Secular Dilemma”
           Michael Warner, English, Rutgers, “Evangelicalism and the Public Sphere”

2003-2004

Sixth Annual Conference - “Violence”
Keynote speaker –
            Dominick La Capra, Bryce and Edith M. Bowman Professor of Humanistic Studies and Department of History, Cornell University – “Disciplinarity, Cross-Disciplinarity,            and the Problem of Violence”
Additional speakers –
            The IPRH Faculty, Graduate Student, and Post-Doctoral Fellows for 2003-2004
Fellows’ panels –
            Violence as Public Spectacle
            Violence and the Other
            Violence and Its Sublimation

“Understanding the 21st Century”
A one-day conference co-sponsored by the IPRH, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, and the Working Group on Globalization and Empire
Keynote speakers –
Tony Judt, History, New York University
Mark Lilla, Social Thought, University of Chicago
Ania Loomba, English, University of Pennsylvania
Moderators –
Zohreh Sullivan, English, U of I
Maria Todorova, History, U of I
Lawrence R. Schehr. Liberal Arts and Sciences/French, U of I
Peter Fritzsche, History, U of I

2002-2003

Fifth Annual Conference - “The South”
Keynote speakers –
            James L. Peacock, Anthropology, University of North Carolina, “Exploring Identity in the Global South”
            Saskia Sassen, Sociology, University of Chicago, “The Participation of States and Citizens in Global Governance”
Additional speakers –
            The IPRH Faculty, Graduate Student, and Post-Doctoral Fellows for 2002-2003
            Rex Honey, Geography, University of Iowa
            Dennis Preston, Linguistics, University of Michigan
            David S. Shields, English, The Citadel
            Ian Binnington, History, U of I
            Jack P. Greene, History, Johns Hopkins University
            Mary Coffey, Museum Studies, New York University

2001-2002

Fourth Annual Conference - “The Means of Reproduction”
Keynote speakers –
           Roger Chartier, Director d’Etudes des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, “The Work of Literature in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
           Martin Pernick, History, University of Michigan, “The Black Stork: Eugenics, Euthanasia, and Mass Culture in Early 20th Century America” and screening of the 1917            film The Black Stork
           Dorothy Roberts, Law and Sociology, Northwestern University, “Race and Reproductive Technologies: Scientific Progress and Social Justice”
           Robert Rosen, Dean, School of Theater, Film, and Television, UCLA, “The Challenges of Film Preservation”
Additional speakers –
            The IPRH Faculty and Graduate Student Fellows for 2001-2002
            Siobhan Somerville, English/Women’s Studies, Purdue University
            Elizabeth Suter, Speech Communication, U of I
            CL Cole, Kinesiology/Women’s Studies/Sociology, U of I
            Lauren M.E. Goodlad, English, U of I
            Faranak Miraftab, Urban and Regional Planning, U of I
            Ken Salo, Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, U of I

2000-2001

Third Annual Conference - “Producing Cities/Consuming Cities”
Keynote speakers –
            Edward Soja, Urban Planning, UCLA, “Putting Cities First: Urban Extensions of the Spatial Turn”
            Christine Stansell, History, Princeton University, “On the Town: Sexual Play in Modern Cities”
            Samuel Delaney, English, SUNY at Buffalo, a reading of his works
            Dell Upton, Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, “The Public Realm in the American      
               City”
            Elizabeth Wilson, Social Studies, University of North London, “Bohemia: An Urban Utopia in the   
               Dystopian City”
            Sharon Marcus, English, University of California, Berkeley, “Have a Nice Day: The City as Joke”
            Daryl Lee, French and Italian, Brigham Young University, “Commune Paris in Ruins: Ideological     
               Ambivalence and Indexical Aesthetics”
Additional speakers –
            The IPRH Faculty and Graduate Student Fellows for 2000-2001
Related event –
            Krannert Art Museum exhibition, “City Images: Selected Prints and Photographs of Twentieth Century American Urban Life” – artists included Edward Hopper, Martin            Lewis, Stow Wengenroth, Garry Winogrand; commentary provided by Christine Catanzarite and Michael Bérubé

1999-2000

Second Annual Conference - “Institutions of the Visual”
Co-sponsored in part by the Madden Initiative in Technology, Arts, and Culture
Keynote speakers –
            Douglas Crimp, Art History, University of Rochester, “Mario Montez, For Shame”
           Sean Cubitt, Video and Media Studies, Liverpool John Moores University, “Taking a Pixel for a : Animation and the Critique of Play”
          James Elkins, Art History, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, “The Unrepresentable: The Concept of the Sublime in Contemporary Painting, Physics, Genetics, and Astronomy”
            Eduardo Kac, Art and Technology, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, “Biotelematic and Transgenic Art”
           Lawrence Rinder, Exhibitions and Public Programs, California Colllege of Arts and Crafts, “Virtual Institutions for a Virtual World?: The Challenge of Net Art”
            Kaja Silverman, Cultural Studies, University of California, Berkeley, “The Language of Things”
            Fred Wilson, independent artist and curator, “The Silent Message of the Museum”
Additional speakers -
            The IPRH Faculty and Graduate Student Fellows for 1999-2000
            Corinne Anderson, Comparative Literature
            Tracy Clark, English, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
            Margaret Dolinsky, Fine Arts, Indiana University
            Janis L. Edwards, Communication, Western Illinois University
            Carma Gorman, Art History, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
            Andrea Goulet, French, U of I
            Jungsoo Kim, Comparative Literature, Indiana University
            Diana Mincyte, Sociology, U of I
            Erin V. Obermueller, English, Saint Louis University
            David Prochaska, History, U of I
            Christopher Reed, Art History, Lake Forest College
            Mark Rykoff, Photo Editor, Time Magazine
            Maria Isabel Silva, Institute of Communications Research, U of I
            Jonathan Zilberg, Anthropology, U of I
Related events –
            Merce Cunningham Dance Company performance of BIPED at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and brown bag discussion on the integration of dance and            advanced technologies with members of the production team


Exploring the Domain of Images
A one-day symposium co-organized with the Center for Advanced Study
Keynote speakers –
            James Elkins, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, “Four Case Studies in the Limits of the Art- Science Dialogue: Sokal’s Hoax, C.P. Snow’s Rude Question, Eduardo Kac’s Transgenic Art, and Recent Developments in Scanning Probe Microscopy”
            W.J.T. Mitchell, University of Chicago, “The Surplus Value of Images”
Additional speakers –
            Donna Cox, Art and Design and NCSA, U of I
            Pradeep Dhillon, Educational Policy Studies, U of I
            Cara Finnegan, Speech Communication, U of I
            Amit Prasad, Sociology, U of I

1998-1999

First Annual Conference - “Culture, Place, and the Cultures of Displacement”
Keynote speakers –
          Ien Ang, Cultural Studies, University of Western Sydney, “Indonesia on my Mind: Subjects in History and Contradictions of Diaspora”
          Coco Fusco, independent artist, lecture and screening of her film The Couple in the Cage: A Guatinaui Odyssey
          Grant Farred, English, Williams College, “Theatre of Dreams: What Township Football Owes the Metropolis”
          Amitava Kumar, English, University of Florida, lecture and screening of his film Pure Chutney
          Jon Stratton, Communication and Cultural Studies, Curtin University of Technology, Perth, “More than Average Fear: Ghetto Thinking and Everyday Life”
Additional speakers –
            The IPRH Faculty and Graduate Student Fellows for 1998-1999
            Carolyn Lei-lanilau, independent poet
           

“Identity and the Arts in Diaspora Communities”
Co-organized with the Ford Foundation
Keynote speakers –
            Julie Dash, independent filmmaker, lecture and screening of her film Daughters of the Dust
           Veit Erlmann, Musicology, University of Texas at Austin, “Communities of Style: Musical Figures of Black Diasporic Identity”
           Alvin Goldfarb, Theatre, Illinois State University, “The Perpetual Diaspora: Holocaust Survivors in American Dramatic Literature”
           Khachig Tölölyan, English, Wesleyan University, “Are diasporas good to think with?”
Additional speakers –
            Patrick Rivers, Political Science, Bates College
            Norman E. Whitten, Jr., Anthropology,  U of I
            Rachel Corr, Anthropology, U of I
            Mary Coffey, Art History, U of I
            Gregory Diethrich, Musicology, U of I
            Bharat Mehra, Religious Studies, U of I
            Diana Mincyte, Sociology, U of I
            Rini Bhattacharya, Comparative Literature, U of I
            Cameron McCarthy, Institute of Communications Research, U of I
            Greg Dimitriadis, Speech Communication, U of I
            Jonathan Zilberg, Anthropology, U of I
            David O’Brien, Art History, U of I
            Zohreh Sullivan, English, U of I