Contact: Chelsea Haddaway 410-455-6380 chaddaway@umbc.edu UMBC and the Dresher Center for the Humanities are proud to announce the Spring 2011 Humanities Forum, a series of lectures featuring UMBC faculty as well as visiting scholars and artists. The forum will kick off on February 21, when artist Joseph Nechvatal will discuss “The Viractal.” Viractual is Nechvatal's word for something that lies between the virtual and the actual, which he arrives at through the computer hybridization of components of the male and female anatomy. His abstractions are neither singular nor plural, neither masculine nor feminine, and their effect is simultaneously classical and futuristic—part anatomical rendering, part forensic voyeurism. Sponsored by the Department of Visual Arts and the Dresher Center for the Humanities. 4:30 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery The forum will continue on March 2 with a panel discussion featuring UMBC assistant professor of American studies Kimberly Moffitt, who is a co-editor of the new book The Obama Effect. Moffitt will be joined by her co editors, Heather Harris of Stevenson University and Catherine Squires of the University of Minnesota as they discuss Obama’s presidential candidacy and place it within the context of the American experience with race and the media. Sponsored by the Department of American Studies and the Dresher Center for the Humanities. 4:00 p.m. on the 7th floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library On March 9, American cartoonist, animator and activist Nina Paley will present the UMBC community with “The Ramayana and Free Culture,” a discussion of artistic liberty in an era of copyright wars, censorship and religious extremism. Paley’s recent film Sita Sings the Blues screened in over 150 film festivals and won more than 35 international awards, and she will focus her talk around the film's production, licensing struggles and eventual "copyleft" release. Sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities. 4:00 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery Join representatives of Maryland's only statewide program to sustain living traditions at the Maryland Traditions Panel on March 30 to discuss Maryland’s folk life. Panelists will include Cliff Murphy, co-director of Maryland Traditions and an expert on mountain music in Cecil County; Elaine Eff, co-director of Maryland Traditions, folklorist-in-residence at UMBC and the author of The Rising Tide of Culture on Smith Island; Kara Rogers Thomas, folklorist and assistant professor of sociology at Frostburg State University, who can discuss the contribution of Amish and Mennonite communities to regional culture; Cindy Byrd, curator of the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, who specializes in hunters and trappers on the lower Eastern Shore; and Mark Puryear of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Sponsored by the Dresher Center for the Humanities and the Orser Center for the Study of Place, Community and Culture. 4:00 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery On April 13, author, lecturer and historian Richard Long, the Atticus Haygood professor emeritus of interdisciplinary studies at Emory University, will give the annual Daphne Harrison lecture on “Haiti and African Americans: A Historical View.” This presentation will provide an account of the Haitian contacts and connections of several distinguished Harlem Renaissance figures. 4:00 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery UMBC’s 2010-2011 Lipitz Professor of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences James Grubb will present the annual Lipitz lecture on April 20. In his discussion, “The Historian: Citizen of the World, and an Archive Mouse” he will remind us that although historians strive to be citizens of the world, the task of reconstructing the ordinary can only take place in the archives by painstakingly assembling the scattered shards of forgotten lives. Sponsored by the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the Dresher Center for the Humanities. 4:00 p.m. in the Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery The forum will wrap up on April 27 with a reading by Joelle Biele, author of White Summer and a guest teacher for UMBC’s Spring 2011 Humanities Scholars Seminar. White Summer won the Crab Orchard Review first book award and Biele’s latest book, Elizabeth Bishop and the New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence, is a rare glimpse at the artistic development of one of the twentieth-century's most celebrated poets. Sponsored by the Department of English and the Dresher Center for the Humanities. 4:00 p.m. on the 7th Floor of the Albin O. Kuhn Library Directions to the Albin O. Kuhn Library: -- From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Library. -- From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the roundabout intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Library. -- From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Library. -- Visitor parking is available in the Walker Avenue Garage. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days. Hilltop Circle and all campus roadways require a parking permit unless otherwise marked. Online campus map: http://www.umbc.edu/aboutumbc/campusmap/