Please join us on Wednesday, February 8, 12-1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Mariaelena Huambachano, Presidential Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow, CSREA and the Department of American Studies and Ethnic Studies. Her talk is titled, "The 'Khipu Model': The Development of an Indigenous Research Framework."

RSVP to [email protected]. Snacks and caffeine will be provided.

Please join us on Tuesday, November 29, 12-1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Matthew Reilly, Visiting Assistant Professor, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World and Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice at Brown University. His talk is titled, "'White Slaves'" in the Caribbean?: Whiteness and the Racialized (Re)Construction of History."

Please join us on Tuesday, November 1, 12-1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Rolland Murray, Associate Professor of English at Brown University. His talk is titled, "Not Being and Blackness: Percival Everett and the Incorporation of Black Culture."

Please join us on Tuesday, October 18, 12-1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Emily Owens, Assistant Professor of History at Brown University. Her talk is titled, "Sex, Violence and the Ordinary."

Please join us on Tuesday, October 11, 12-1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Rosann Tung, Director of Research and Policy, Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Her talk is titled, "Partnering with a School District to Address Systemic Opportunity Gaps."

Please join us on Tuesday, April 26 at 12 - 1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Elena Shih, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies, and Faculty Fellow at the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Her talk is titled: "Transnational Racial Formations of Freedom: Civilian Vigilantism, Ethical Consumption, and Global Human Trafficking Rescue"

Please join us on Tuesday, April 12 at 12 - 1pm for a "What I Am Thinking About Now" presentation from Professor Andre Willis, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, titled "Whiteness as God: Towards a Theo-Political Understanding of American Democracy".

“What I Am Thinking About Now” is an on-going informal workshop/seminar series to which faculty and graduate students are invited to present and discuss recently published work and work in progress. All are invited to attend and participate.

"Hummingbirds for epilepsy - and what they tell us about indigenous knowledge"

Iris Montero Sobrevilla, Postdoctoral Fellow, Cogut Center for the Humanities

For over five centuries, the descendants of Mesoamerican civilizations have used hummingbirds to treat epilepsy. This talk explores the persistence of this animal-based remedy as a window onto indigenous notions of the natural world.

Matthew Martinez, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Spatial Structures in the Social Sciences

Using a unique dataset of over 1,600 rap songs spanning 16 years, this project investigates how Hip-Hop has changed over time based on the influence of major record label control as witnessed through changes in lyrical vulgarity. Findings are focused on both the changing structure of commodification avenues in the record industry and subcultural changes in Hip-Hop as experienced through lyrical content modifications.

Colleen Kim Daniher, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Theatre Arts and Performance Studies

This talk considers the politics and aesthetics of performing racial ambiguity in Filipina-American artist Gina Osterloh's photographic portraiture. Through an analysis of pose, posture, and gesture in Osterloh's Shooting Blanks series (2008), Daniher offers some preliminary thoughts on why articulating racial ambiguity as strategic performance matters.