The Fisher Center brings together faculty, students, and experts in gender-related fields in the arts, humanities, and social and natural sciences to foster mutual understanding and social justice in contemporary society.  For Fall 2010, we welcome new director Cedric Johnson, associate professor of political science at HWS, with a new theme for the Lecture Series: Engendering Crisis.

In his new role as director, Johnson and the center's committees will tackle the tough issue of Engendering Crisis and crisis in general. "Most obviously, we'll be dealing with the economic crisis in this region and more broadly as a national phenomenon - it's certainly a timely subject," Johnson explained. "But we're also looking to explore crisis beyond that of macroeconomics. There are many scholars who are writing in different disciplines about the topic: it applies to gender studies and to the lives of ordinary people."

This semester's lineup of speakers includes:

Sept.17 (Thu) 7:00pm - Sanford Room, HWS Library
The Women of Brukman (film screening: will not be broadcast on WEOS) 
During the 2001 economic collapse in Argentina, the seamstresses at Brukman’s clothing factory took over the operation the owners had abandoned. They reorganized it on a self-management model, without a doubt the most inspiring of the many new economic experiments in that country.  The name Brukman’s went from being a symbol of worker exploitation to being a site of revolutionary labour participation – all workers, no bosses.  Isaac Isitan followed these courageous women over many years, their struggle to get the operation running again, their expulsion from the factory, months of battling to get it back, and tangles with the law.  This is the story of a venture that began as a means of survival and became a genuine school for civics. Besides following the labour politics, the film also gets close to the women as individuals finding a way to put dignity into their working lives.



Sept.23 (Wed) 7:30pm - Geneva Room, HWS Library - download MP3 audio
Broadcast Friday Oct.2 at 7:00pm.
Neoliberal Crisis, Gender and Self-Management in Argentina - Graciela Monteagudo & Marcelo Vieta
Graciela Monteagudo is a community artists, scholar, and intellectual, born and raised in Argentina.  She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and has a strong background in philosophy from her graduate and undergraduate studies at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras.  She is presently a doctoral candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Anthropology Department and holds a Graduate Studies Certificate in Women's Studies.  Graciela has published several articles on her research for which she has received prizes and awards.  She is presently the Cesar Chavez Fellow at Dartmouth College.

Marcelo Vieta teaches in the Division of Social Science and is a PhD candidate (ABD) in the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought, both at York University (Toronto, Canada). He is currently completing his fieldwork with various worker-recuperated enterprises in Argentina and is also a researcher with the University of Toronto's Social Economy Centre on a project titled "The Social Economy and Economies of Solidarity: Emerging Initiatives from Latin America."


Oct.22 (Thu) 7:30pm - Geneva Room, HWS Library - download MP3 audio
John Dewey's Vision of Radical Democracy - Richard Bernstein
Richard Bernstein is currently the Vera List Professor of Philosophy at the Dept. of Philosophy of the New School for Social Research.  His recent book publications include Radical Evil: A Philosophic Interrogation (2002) wherein he crtiques the appeal to evil as a political tool that obscures complex issues, blocks thinking, and stifles public discussion and debate; Freud and the Legacy of Moses (1998); and Hannah Arendt and the Jewish Question (1996).  He received his Ph.D. in philosophy in 1958 from Yale University with a dissertation on “John Dewey’s Metaphysics of Experience.”  In addition to the Graduate Faculty at the New School for Social Research, he has taught at Yale University, Hebrew University, Haverford College, Catholic University of America, University of Pennsylvania, and Frankfurt University.  He was chair of the Dept. of Philosophy at the Graduate Faculty of the New School from 1989 to 2002.


Nov.11 (Wed) 7:30pm - Geneva Room, HWS Library 
Elusive Elysium: Women, Men and Anxiety Over Time - Andrea Tone
The Andrea Tone lecture has been canceled due to illness.
Andrea Tone is the Canada Research Chair in the Social History of Medicine. A professor of history, she holds joint appointments in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine and the Department of History at McGill University. Her scholarship explores women and health, medical technology, sexuality, psychiatry, and industry, particularly the intersection between patient experience, cultural contexts, and technological and economic change in nineteenth and twentieth-century America. She is the author of several books and edited volumes, including Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America, which was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and, most recently, Medicating Modern America: Prescription Drugs in History, with Elizabeth Siegel Watkins.


Dec.8 (Tue) 5:30pm - Albright Auditorium, HWS Campus
Broadcast scheduled for Dec.9 (Wed) 7:00pm on WEOS
Relationships of Trauma, Character, Leadership and Healing - Dr. Jonathan Shay
Dr. Shay's lecture will be based on his works "Achilles in Vietnam" and "Odysseus in America".  The public is encouraged to attend.  A former MacArthur Fellow, Dr. Shay is a nationally recognized expert on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, its treatment and prevention. He was Chair of Ethics, Leadership and Personnel Policy in the Office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel from 2004-5 and in 2009 held the Omar Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership at the US Army War College and Dickinson College. Dr. Shay is the author of "Achilles in Vietnam," a book that explores war trauma and its relationship to character, and "Odysseus in America," which explores the relationship of returning veterans and war trauma.



General Notes about the FCLS:
All Fisher Center Lectures are free and open to the public.  Unless otherwise noted, they are held in the Geneva Room of the Warren Hunthing Smith Library of Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY. (Google Maps)  Parking is available across Pulteney Street from the library, in Medbery Lot.

Previous semesters' FCLS lectures are archived in the WEOS Jukebox.

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President's Forum Series
The President's Forum series is designed to bring a variety of speakers to campus to share their knowledge and ideas with students, faculty, staff of the Colleges, as well as with interested community members.  


Here is the lineup for the Fall 2009 semester of guest speakers:

Dr. Cornell West (Oct.5 @ 7:30pm - The Smith Opera House) - MP3 Audio Archive Hobart and William Smith Colleges are the first stop for Cornel West, one of America's most provocative and eloquently outspoken public intellectuals, on the tour for his new book, "Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir." West is the author of many groundbreaking books, including "Jews and Blacks: Let the Healing Begin" and his recent publications "Democracy Matters," an analysis of the arrested development of democracy in America and the Middle East, and "Restoring Hope," a compilation of interviews with African-American luminaries discussing hope and despair in Black America.  West has also produced three albums, including "Never Forget: A Journey of Revelations," a collection of socially conscience music featuring collaborations with Prince, Outkast, Jill Scott, Talib Kweli and KRS-ONE.  He was an influential force in developing the storyline for the popular "Matrix" movie trilogy and has served as its official spokesperson, as well as playing a recurring role in the final two films.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend "The Kennedy Legacy: Volunteerism & Service" (Nov.12 @ 7:30pm - Vandervort Room, HWS Scandling Student Center) - MP3 Audio Archive Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003, she is the eldest of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel's 11 children.   Prior to her serving as Lt. Govenor, she held numerous government posts in Maryland, including assistant Attorney General. She also served on the State Board of Education, and as a presidential elector in 1992. Following this, she worked for two years in the Clinton administration, as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General.
Paul Begala "American Politics: Too Important to Be Left to the Politicians" (Dec.2 @ 7:30pm - Albright Auditorium, HWS campus) Former advisor to President Bill Clinton, and former co-host of CNN's political debate program, Crossfire. He is a Research Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, and currently is teaching at the University of Georgia School of Law as a Sanders Political Leadership Scholar.

All President's Forum presentations are free and open to the public.  Unless otherwise noted, they are held in the Geneva Room of the Warren Hunthing Smith Library of Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY. (Google Maps)  Parking is available across Pulteney Street from the library, in Medbery Lot.