How does affect shape the work of artists scholars and activists? How might working environments and labor conditions become healthier? The University of Iowa Obermann Humanities Symposium: Affect and Inquiry will address these questions and more Thursday, March 27 to Saturday, March 29.

The symposium is free and open to members of the public. There is no registration requirement. Lectures, panels, and performances will take place at the Iowa City Public Library and various locations across the UI campus.

More information about featured speakers and a full schedule of events can be found online.

According to symposium co-director Naomi Greyser, “Affect is a word that situates emotions in a social and political context. Researchers in affect studies define emotions not as private, but as shaped through publics, technologies and social conditions—and therefore as profoundly political.”

Organizers anticipate the conference will engage participants in considering the expressive and sensory aspects of scholarly and artistic creativity, teaching and collegiality, and political and public engagement.

Featured speakers will include Kerry Ann Rockquemore, founder and director of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity, Jasbir Puar of Rutgers University, Ann Cvetkovich of the University of Texas at Austin, and Lauren Berlant of the University of Chicago.

The symposium is co-directed by Greyser, Deborah Whaley, and Jeffrey Bennett. It is made possible by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, the Office of the Vice President for Research Arts and Humanities Initiative, the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost Ida Cordelia Beam visiting professorships, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Perry A. and Helen Judy Bond Fund for Interdisciplinary Interaction, the Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry, the Graduate College, and the Chief Diversity Office.

Other sponsors include the UI School of Art and Art History and the UI Departments of Cinematic Arts, Communication Studies, English, Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, History, Rhetoric; Journalism and Mass Communication, Spanish and Portuguese, and Religious Studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact Erin Hackathorn at the UI Obermann Center for Advanced Studies in advance at erin-hackathorn@uiowa.edu or 319-335-4034.