UO Today

Ramón Resendiz is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Oregon. He discusses his work as a Visual Anthropologist and documentary filmmaker focusing on borderlands and Indigenous voices. Research Notes: Amy Swanson is an assistant professor of Dance Studies, Theory, and History in the School of Music and Dance at the University of Oregon. She discusses her book "Dancing Opacity: Contemporary Dance, Transnationalism, and Queer Possibility in Senegal' published by University of Michigan Press in 2025. https://press.umich.edu/Books/D/Dancing-Opacity2 https://www.dancestudiesassociation.org

Xan Holt is an assistant professor of German and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oregon. He talks about his work on German literature, film, and television; and his project focused on environmental humanities. He also talks about his teaching and the importance of language study for students. Nina Amstutz is an associate professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Oregon. She discusses her ACLS-funded project "A Multispecies Framework for Art: The Bowerbird Across Disciplines, Cultures, and Time." "The Avian Sense for Beauty: A Posthumanist Perspective on the Bowerbird" Art History, 2021 "Rethinking the Animal in Art History: Charles Darwin, Karl Woermann, and the Bowerbird" Leuven University Press, 2025 "A multispecies framework for art: the bowerbird across disciplines" in "Methods for ecocritical art history" Edited by Olga Smith and Andrew Patrizio, Manchester University Press, 2026

Fernando Gorab Leme is an assistant professor of Classics at the University of Oregon. He talks about his research on the significance and wedding songs in Greco-Roman antiquity and talks about the classes he teaches. Research Notes: Jessica Vasquez-Tokos, professor of Sociology and Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the UO, talks about her new book "Burdens of Belonging: Race in an Unequal Nation" (NYU Press, 2025). The book is based on interviews with people in Oregon from various racial groups, and brings multiple racial groups’ opinions together to weigh in on the ways in which race contours national belonging and affects sense of self, everyday life and wellness, and aspirations for the future. This book highlights the value of inquiring how people from various racial backgrounds perceive their fit in the nation and reveals how race matters to belonging in multifaceted ways.

A Books-in-Print talk with author Joyce Suechun Cheng. In this talk, Cheng focuses on chapter 4 "The Surrealists as Ethnographers: Possession, Aesthetics, Subjectivity" which explores the idea of possession as a form of performative mask, utilizing Michel Leiris's ethnographic study of Ethiopian Zars in the 1930s. Joyce Suechun Cheng is an associate professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Oregon. She is joined in conversation by Edgar Garcia an associate professor of English at the University of Chicago.

Patricia Caicedo is a soprano, musicologist, and physician. Her work redefines the canon of classical vocal music by centering Latin American and Iberian art song. She has authored sixteen books, including the landmark "The Latin American Art Song: Sounds of the Imagined Nations" and "We Are What We Listen To: The Impact of Music on Individual and Social Health." As a performer, Caicedo has established herself as one of the leading interpreters of Iberian and Latin American art song. She talks about her background and the repertoire she aims to elevate in the world of music. Caicedo was artist-in-residence at the UO's School of Music and Dance January 20-22, 2026. She shared her expertise in Latin American and Iberian vocal music with lectures, performances, and a masterclass.

Colin Williamson is an Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Oregon. He is a historian of animation, special effects, and nontheatrical film. He specializes in early cinema’s place in international histories of art, science, and technology. Colin is the author of "Hidden in Plain Sight: An Archaeology of Magic and the Cinema" (Rutgers University Press, 2015) and "Drawn to Nature: American Animation in the Age of Science" (University of Minnesota Press, 2025). He is Associate Editor at Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. He talks about his research and the classes he teaches at the UO. Research Notes: Whitney Phillips is an Associate Professor of Information Politics and Media Ethics and the John L. Hulteng Endowed Chair in Media Ethics and Responsibility in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. She talk about her new book "The Shadow Gospel: How Anti-liberal Demonology Possessed U.S. Religion, Media, and Politics" co-authored with Mark Brockway.

Jazz musician Christopher Brown talks about his approach to music and education. He and his band will give a presentation/performance "Beyond the Buzz: Finding the Signal in a Noisy World" on January 29, 2026. https://blogs.uoregon.edu/oregonhumanitiescenter/multimedia/news/christopher-brown-grabs-our-attention-with-jazz/

Isabel García Valdivia, assistant professor of Sociology, speaks about her interest in older immigrants and their families. She also talks about the importance of mentorship. Research Notes: Katya Hokanson, professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, talk about her recent book "A Woman’s Empire: Russian Women and Imperial Expansion in Asia" published by the University of Toronto Press in 2022. Show notes: "Russia's Empires" (2016) Valerie A. Kivelson and Ronald Grigor Suny "Russian Colonial Society in Tashkent, 1865-1923" (2010) Jeff Sahedo "Muslim Women of the Fergana Valley" (2016) Marianne Kamp, ed. "Diary of a Russian Lady: Reminiscences of Barbara Doukhovsky" (1917) Undergraduate Perspectives: John Knutson, B.A. English, UO 2025; and 2025 Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellow

The “Attention” series explores the dynamics of how, why, and what we focus on shapes our reality and creates our purpose. Also known as concentration, alertness, focus, notice, awareness, heed, regard, and consideration—Attention is the fundamental cognitive ability to sustain one’s energy on a specific pursuit or thought. The OHC’s 2025–26 Robert D. Clark Lectureship features three UO faculty members discussing, from their own perspectives, how attention connects us to others and allows us to experience the world around us. Santiago Jaramillo is an associate professor in the Department of Biology and the Institute of Neuroscience. His lab studies auditory cognition—how the brain helps us hear the world (recognize sounds, pay attention to sounds, remember sounds, etc). Their research is performed on mice so advanced techniques can be utilized to measure individual neurons of different classes and change their activity with high precision. While their work focuses on the healthy brain, rather than any specific disorder, their studies can help others understand and address disorders related to hearing (tinnitus, auditory processing disorders, age-related hearing loss, etc) and inspire better artificial hearing systems. Kate Mondloch is a professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory. Her research interests focus on late 20th- and early 21st-century art, theory, and criticism, particularly as these areas of inquiry intersect with the cultural, social, and aesthetic possibilities of new technologies. Her research fields include media art and theory, installation art, feminism, new media, science and technology studies, digital humanities, human flourishing, and mindfulness in higher education. She is especially interested in theories of spectatorship and subjectivity, and in research methods that bridge the sciences and the humanities. Forest Pyle is a professor of English and Cartoon and Comics Studies. His interests include 19th-century British Literary Studies, Literary and Critical Theory, Poetry and Poetics, Postmodern and Contemporary Literary Studies, and Visual Culture. His current research project explores the persistence and extensions of Romanticism in some of the more adventurous forms of contemporary music, art, film, and literature.

Work-in-Progress talk with Alejandro Marin, PhD candidate, Romance languages, and 2025–26 Oregon Humanities Center Dissertation Fellow. Migration today is often framed as crisis, but literature reveals it as a site of creativity and resistance. Contemporary novels from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Equatorial Guinea portray movement across borders as an opportunity to forge new communities and reimagine belonging. My research examines how these texts challenge dominant narratives of displacement, offering fresh insights into diaspora, kinship, and the politics of memory. I focus on three authors, Karla Suárez (Cuba), Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel (Equatorial Guinea), and Loida Maritza Pérez (Dominican Republic), who write from migrant, exilic, or diasporic postions, foregrounding solidarity with contemporary migrants and reconfiguring our understanding of migration through their work. The New Errancy illuminates the aesthetic, political, and cultural elements incorporated into these narratives, providing a more dynamic view of migration. These authors portray non-biological family formations, evolving family dynamics across generations, gendered dimensions of mobility, transnational and diasporic identities, and circular migration that frames return as feasible and meaningful. I primarily draw on Édouard Glissant’s concepts of relation identity, circular nomadism, and errancy as rhizomatic practices; Stuart Hall’s theories on cultural identity and diaspora; Luisa Campuzano’s perspectives on uprooting and settlement; Michael Ugarte’s critique of rigid categories like emigrant, immigrant, and exile; Remei Sipi Mayo’s analysis of gender and migration; and Juan Flores’s reflections on diaspora to trace transnational cultural practices linking origin and destination communities.

Diane Mizrachi is the Jewish and Israeli Studies Librarian at UCLA. She discusses her work on the Academic Reading Format International Study and the discovery of Nazi-looted books in the UCLA Library. SHOW NOTES: Shoham, Snunith, and Diane Mizrachi. "Library anxiety among undergraduates: A study of Israeli B. Ed students." The journal of academic librarianship 27, no. 4 (2001): 305-311. Mizrachi, Diane, Alicia M. Salaz, Serap Kurbanoglu, Joumana Boustany, and ARFIS Research Group. "Academic reading format preferences and behaviors among university students worldwide: A comparative survey analysis." PloS one 13, no. 5 (2018): e0197444. Mizrachi, Diane, and Alicia M. Salaz. "Reading format attitudes in the time of COVID." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 48, no. 4 (2022): 102552. Mizrachi, Diane, and Michal Bušek. "Discovery and recovery: Uncovering Nazi looted books in the UCLA library and repatriation efforts." College & Research Libraries 84, no. 6 (2023): 920. Mizrachi, Diane. "Digitized Collections and Provenance Issues: Who Owns What?." In Digital Libraries Across Continents, pp. 209-230. Routledge. (chapter in book edited by Alicia & Le Yang) Research Notes: Michael Stern is an associate professor of German and Scandinavian at the University of Oregon. He talks about his new book "Thinking Nietzsche with Africana Thought: Towards an Alluvial Poetic of Worlding." SHOW NOTES: Ifi Amadiume: "Male Daughters Female Husbands" ‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’: "Reinventing Africa: Matriarchy, Religion, and Culture" Oyeronke Oyewumi: "The Invention of Women" Fabienne Eboussi Boulaga: "Muntu in Crisis: African Authenticity and Philosophy" Friedrich Nietzsche: “On Truth and Lies in an Extra Moral Sense” Oregon Humanities Center: https://ohc.uoregon.edu Undergraduate Perspectives: Emma Kersgaard talks about her experience as a Humanities Undergraduate Archival Fellow.

Sam Lasman is an assistant professor of English and Medieval Studies at the University of Oregon. He talks about his research on medieval literature and what he calls “modern medievalism,” with a focus on how narrative texts use the supernatural, monstrous, and parahuman to explore identity and communal origins. Research Notes: Martha Bayless, professor of English, Folklore, and Medieval Studies at the University of Oregon, talks about her recent book "Entertainment, Pleasure, and Meaning in Early England" published by Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/history/british-history-1066/entertainment-pleasure-and-meaning-early-england?format=HB&isbn=9781009517119

Work-in-Progress talk with Anita Chari, professor of Political Science, and 2025-26 OHC Faculty Research Fellow. This project explores the political implications of the trauma-informed turn and examines the contemporary resonance of trauma in the public sphere as well as the current critical consensus that trauma discourse is part of the problem rather than the solution to our contemporary political woes. It explores how trauma-informed practices could be mobilized towards the creation of public cultures of care and repair, serving as the foundation of a politics that is less polarized, more capable of navigating human vulnerability, and ultimately generative of a public sphere that is able to navigate the conflict, agonism, and discomfort that are integral to the practice of democracy.

Olivia Miller is the new Executive Director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. She discusses her role and talks about the recovery of a stolen de Kooning painting when she worked at the University of Arizona's Museum of Art. • https://jsma.uoregon.edu • https://artmuseum.arizona.edu/about/woman-ochres-journey Research Notes: Stacy Alaimo is the Barbara and Carlisle Moore Professor in English and a core faculty member in environmental studies at the University of Oregon. She talks about her new book "The Abyss Stares Back: Encounters with Deep-Sea Life" published by University of Minnesota Press in 2025. • https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517918736/the-abyss-stares-back/ Undergraduate Perspectives: Payton Rosello was an English and Psychology major who graduated in June 2025. She gives her take on being a 2025 Humanities Undergraduate Archival Fellow.

Emily Moore is the Instruction and Outreach Archivist, and Mahala Ruddell is the Lead Processing Archivist in Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Oregon. They discuss their work and the value of UO's collections. They also talk about some of the curious things they have come across in the archives. • uoregon.edu/special-collections • uoregon.aviaryplatform.com • oregondigital.org Research Notes: Abigail Fine, assistant professor of Musicology in the UO's School of Music and Dance, talks about her new book "The Composer Embalmed: Relic Culture from Piety to Kitsch" which was published by the University of Chicago Press in June 2025. She also offers other titles to explore relic culture. • "The Author's Effects: On Writer's House Museums" by Nicola J. Watson • "Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture" by Deborah Lutz • "Cranioklepty" by Colin Dickey • "The Hummingbird Cabinet: A Rare and Curious History of Romantic Collectors" by Judith Pascoe

Leah Middlebrook, assistant professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, and director of the Oregon Humanities Center talks about her new book "Amphion: Lyre, Poetry, and Politics in Modernity." Research Notes: Lowell Bowditch, professor and department head of Classics, discusses her recent book "Roman Love Elegy and the Eros of Empire."

Courtney M. Cox, assistant professor of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies, talks about her newly-published book "Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball." In the book, Cox follows athletes, coaches, journalists, and advocates of women’s basketball as they pursue careers within the sport. Despite all attempts to contain them or prevent forward momentum, they circumvent expectations and open new possibilities within and outside of the game. Throughout the book, Cox explores the intersection of race and gender against the backdrop of the WNBA, NCAA, and other leagues within the United States and around the world. Blending interviews and participant observation with content analysis, she charts how athletes and advocates of women’s basketball illuminate new forms of navigating the global sports-media complex.

Poet Henri Cole is author of eleven collections of poetry and a memoir. His latest collection, The Other Love, is forthcoming in summer 2025. He and Leah discuss his sonnets and his approach the form. He reads two poems from the collection Gravity and Center: Selected Sonnets 1994–2022. On April 17th, 2025, Cole gave a reading as a guest of the UO’s Creative Writing Program.

In an era of increased isolation where civic deserts, disinformation, and technological dependence separate us from one another, how can we reimagine our capacity for deeper connection and sustainable collaboration in our current reality? Deepa Iyer, a social justice advocate, leads an exploration of the pathways that strengthen ecosystems for social change in this talk. Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, strategist, and lawyer. Her work is rooted in Asian American, South Asian, Muslim, and Arab communities where she spent fifteen years in policy advocacy and coalition building in the wake of the September 11th attacks and ensuing backlash. Currently, Deepa leads projects on solidarity and social movements at the Building Movement Project, a national nonprofit organization that catalyzes social change through research, strategic partnerships, and resources for movements and nonprofits.

Ryan Tucker Jones, History, and 2024–25 OHC Faculty Research Fellow. This interdisciplinary global history integrates the newest, exciting advances in whale science to reinterpret the last 500 years of human-cetacean relations. In the past decades, satellite tagging, drone footage, DNA analysis, and long-term behavioral studies have revealed whale lives in unprecedented detail. The newest cetacean science not only reveals ways that whales experienced this history, but also casts new light on the crucial global stories of colonization, industrialization, and the creation of a modern, interconnected world.