Celebrating Faculty Scholarly Creative Work April 2019

April 23, 2019
Talena Presenting

On April 23, 2019, the School of Arts and Humanities held their 6th Annual celebration of Faculty Scholarly Creative Work.  Several of our fabulous faculty shared their projects that had come to fruition, or are nearing completion during the last academic year.  Christina Baker from American Multicultural Studies published her first book, Contemporary Black Women Filmmakers and the Art of Resistance, an “analysis of Black femaleness in feature films of Black women filmmakers.”  Clea Felien, new faculty member in Studio Art, shared some of her recent paintings that were featured at University of Minnesota Art Gallery in the fall ’18 and talked about what inspires her work.  Janet Hess in Hutchins, gave a glimpse into her project Mapping Indigenous American Cultures and Living Histories where she created a digital map of indigenous tribal regions that houses data and cultural histories of the California Modoc, Pomo/Miwok, and the plains nation of the Osage.  Kim D. Hester Williams presented “’Beta Days and Gamma People’: New WorldMaking and Womanist Speech Sounds in Octavia Butler’s Afro-Eco-Poetic, Post-Apocalyptic Imagination” from her book she co-edited, Racial Ecologies. Daniel Malpica and Malinalli Lopez showed a promotional piece from their documentary collaboration Islands of Loneliness, which highlights the struggles of undocumented citizens of Sonoma County.  Our visiting faculty in Jewish Studies, Ziv Rubinovitz, talked about his new book Menachem Begin and the Israel-Egypt Process, which gives a fresh take on the peace negotiations of Israel and Egypt in the 1970s.  Last but certainly not least, Talena Sanders from Communications and Media Studies shared with us the work on a documentary filmed in Huauchinango, Mexico.  Voladoras is a portrayal of the amazing women that participate in daring ritual of the Danza de los Voladores.  It was an impressive sample of just some of the incredible work occurring throughout the school.  The annual event provides an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to celebrate academic achievements, share ideas and inspire one another.