Judith Herb College of Arts, Social Sciences and Education

The Roger Ray Institute for the Humanities hosts a handful of events each year. 

Spring 2024 Institue events

Film screening/discussion

Krzysztof Wodiczko: the Art of Un-War
April 12, 2024

The University of Toledo Department of Art and the UToledo Roger Ray Institute for the Humanities hosted a screening the film, Krzysztof Wodiczko: The Art of Un-War. The event included a dialogue with the filmmaker, Maria Niro, and Wodiczko, the artist featured in the film. The screening and discussion are supported by an Ohio Humanities Spark Grant awarded to the department and the institute. 

Lecture

The War in Ukraine: Reflections on Two Years of Conflict
Dr. Joel Voss, Associate Professor of Political Science, UToledo
Dr. Barry Jackisch, Associate Professor of History
Feb. 28, 2024

As we approach the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, two University of Toledo professors discuss the current state of the war, the impact of the war on both people and the international community, and potential outcomes of the war and its implications.

Spring 2023 Institute events

Humanities in Public - Speaker Series

In Search of the Silk Road: Dr. Amjad Hussain's 2017 Expedition to Retrace a Great Historical Highway
March 29, 2023
Dr. S. Amjad Hussain, Professor Emeritus, College of Medicine
In the summer of 2017, Dr. S. Amjad Hussain, professor emeritus in the UToledo College of Medicine, was part of a seven-member expedition to explore the ancient Silk Road in China. The Silk Road was 4000-mile long caravan road that starting in 200 BCE connected China with Europe for 1700 years. On that ancient highway and its many branches religions, cultures, art, and music mingled, and flourished. In addition it was a conduit for the spread of diseases.

THE WORLD'S GAME? Global Politics, Culture, and the World Cup
Feb. 15, 2023
Shingi Mavima, Assistant Professor of History

Every four years, the international community gathers around the cauldron of sporting excellence, nationalism, and globalization that is the FIFA Men's World Cup. Dr. Mavima will discuss several of the most significant geopolitical implications in the tournament's 92-year history that give substance to the phrase "more than just a game." 

FALL 2022 Institute events

Humanities in Public-Speaker Series

"We, too, Write Rock and Roll: African American Writers and Rock Music, 1970-1983"
Kimberly Mack, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies Affiliated Faculty
October 19, 2022

This presentation focuses on two prominent Black American rock writers--Cynthia Dagnal-Myron and Vernon Gibbs--who wrote during the 1970s and 80s for many publications, including Detroit's legendary CREEM magazine. Prof. Mack's talk will show how their bold writing style disrupted that era's race and gender expectations for what a rock writer (and rock star!) should look like.

 
"the Trial of F.D.R." 

Watch Video of this Lecture

"The Trial of F.D.R." is a stage play dramatizing the 1939 voyage of the S.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying 937 Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. The ship was first turned away by Cuba and then by the United States despite multiple asylum requests. Ultimately the ship was forced to return to Europe where over 200 of its passengers were murdered in the Holocaust. This performance, which includes an audience participation component, puts President Roosevelt on "trial" for refusing to grant U.S. entry to these asylum-seeking passengers.  

Spring 2022 Institute Events

hUMANITIES Lunch

Forum on ENGAGING DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN THE HUMANITIES. We will consider current challenges and opportunities and discuss ways to generate further interest in the humanities on campus and in the local community.

Humanities in Public - Speaker Series

Dorothea Dix: A 19th Century Female Activist and Her Complex Legacies 
March 23, 2022
Kim Nielsen, Distinguised University Professor

Dorothea Dix, an asylum and prison reformer, and later Civil War Superintendent of Union Army Nurses, profoundly shaped U.S. psychiatric healthcare. Her work prompted officials to fund a vast expansion of medicalized, racially-differentiated insane asylums between 1830 and 1875. Join us for this exploration of Dix’s activism and its consequences.

The 'Korean Wave' in the U.S.: Understanding the Rise of Korean Pop Culture
May 1, 2022 
Asst. Professor Joey Kim

Dr. Kim will discuss the recent rise of Korean pop culture as a global phenomenon. From films like Parasite to the record-breaking series Squid Game, she looks at a host of Korean cultural exports including films, music, and food, tracing South Korea’s development into a major driver of global and U.S. cultures.

Fall 2021 Institute Events

Turning Point 1941: Rethinking World War II 80 Years On
Dec. 8, 2021

Explore key events of World War II during 1941, a pivotal year in the conflict. University of Toledo history professors Rob Padilla, Ph.D. and Barry Jackisch, Ph.D. will discuss how historians have interpreted the larger significance of these events and how certain assumptions about the war continue to survive in public memory 80 years after the fact.

The Death of Life of Malice Green
Featuring Dr. Michael Stauch, Department of History
Oct. 27, 2021 

Malice Green was an unemployed factory worker when he was killed in Detroit during a street enforcement incident by Detroit police officers Walter Budzyn and Larry Nevers. In contrast to events in Los Angeles following the death of Rodney King and the acquittal of officers involved in King's brutal beating, Detroit did not experience similar upheaval following Green's death in November 1992. In examining why this was the case, this talk situates Green's death in the context of Detroit during the War on Crime and the grassroots response to crime among residents of Detroit that shaped Green's experience of the city in which he died and lived.