For the Spring 2012 semester, we have a robust lineup of speakers, including two keynotes for the Midwest Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference (MIGC)— Siobhan Somerville (English, Illinois), Kathryn Stockton (English, Utah)—and a "Pre-Occupy" symposium on the roles that earlier occupations and protests in both Wisconsin and California played in setting the stage for the current occupations across the globe. Featured speakers at the symposium include George Ciccariello-Maher (History and Politics, Drexel), Joshua Clover (English, UC-Davis), and Daniel Wang (Fine Art, Columbia College).

The semester culminates with our conference, The Nonhuman Turn in 21st Century Studies (May 3 - 5, 2012), which takes up the “nonhuman turn” that has been emerging in the arts, humanities, and social sciences over the past few decades. Intensifying in the 21st century, this nonhuman turn can be traced to a variety of different intellectual and theoretical developments from the last decades of the 20th century: actor-network theory, affect theory, animal studies, assemblage theory, brain sciences, new media theory, new materialism, speculative realism, and systems theory. Jane Bennett, Ian Bogost, Wendy Chun, Mark Hansen, Erin Manning, Brian Massumi, Tim Morton, and Steven Shaviro will be participating in the conference.

Spring 2012 Calendar

Each year, C21 constitutes a group of six to eight UWM faculty fellows, and typically one UW System faculty fellow, whose research interests relate to our research theme and contribute to our mission to imagine, define, and create the emergent field of 21st century studies. For the 2012-13 academic year, our theme takes the form of a question through which we invite UWM faculty from the humanities, arts, and sciences to join us in answering: "What Should 21st Century Studies Do?"

This call is directed to UW System faculty in all departments who hold the rank of assistant, associate, or full professor. Detailed information about the fellowship and application procedures can be found in this 2012-13 Call for C21 UW System Fellows. If applying, you'll also need to fill out an Application Cover Sheet. Application deadline is Monday, February 20, 2011 at 5:00 pm.

(l to r) Tim Ehlinger, Manu P. Sobti, Ryan Holifield | Photo Troye Fox

C21 is pleased to announce that Tim Ehlinger (Biological Sciences), Manu P. Sobti (Architecture), and Ryan Holifield (Geography) are the first awardees of our annual Transdisciplinary Challenge grant for their project, "Escaping Flatland: (Re)Writing the Histories, Geographies and Borderland Ecologies of Water." This two-year grant, backed by Chancellor Mike Lovell and the Graduate School, is intended to encourage collaboration among UWM researchers from disciplines that do not have a history of working together. Laura Hunt's feature story on UWM News provides some details about the project. The RFP for the next round of the Transdisciplinary Challenge grant is also now available.