Fall 2003
November 13–15
Formation and Evolution of Stars about the Galactic Center Black Hole
Exploratory Seminar
Josh Grindlay (astronomy) and Alyssa Goodman (astronomy), chairs
This seminar explored how stars form and survive close to the black hole. How did they form from gas clouds in such an extreme environment or how could they have somehow been dynamically kicked into the central-most core of the dense stellar cluster surrounding the black hole? This seminar convened discoverers of these stars on their remarkable orbits together with experts on black holes, star formation, stellar dynamics and processes near black holes to develop new understanding of this astronomical mystery.
December 12–13
Cultural Agency in the Americas
Exploratory Seminar
Doris Sommer (Romance languages and literatures), chair
Cultural Agency has begun to identify 5 interlocking themes, first through the Social Science Research Council, and then invited by the Rockefeller Foundation to convene a meeting in Bellagio. The purpose of the seminar at Radcliffe was to develop, or transform, these themes and link on to the work of key participants who could not attend Bellagio. The seminar also intended to promote collaboration between DRCLAS and the Radcliffe Institute.
Spring 2004
February 2–3
The Biology of Cichlid Fishes: Towards a Cichlid Genome Consortium
Exploratory Seminar
Hans Hofmann (Bauer Center for Genomics Research) and William Gelbart (molecular and cellular biology), chairs
This seminar was a first step towards forming a Cichlid Genome Consortium in order to get the genome of an African cichlid fish sequenced . . . a spectacular group of fishes that have radiated explosively; possess complex . . . social behavior . . . an important food fish . . . superb indicators of biodiversity and conservation. . . . Outsiders who have accomplished significant work in genomics and related fields were invited to give advice on how to formulate research priorities.
February 6
Power, Authority and Governance in Contemporary Africa: The Case of Land
Exploratory Seminar, cosponsored with the Africa Initiative at Harvard
Lucie White (HLS) and Caroline Elkins (History), chairs
This seminar brought together some of the most distinguished Africanists to launch an interdisciplinary exploration of power, authority, and governance in contemporary African through the analytical lens of land. The seminar brought together colonial historians, political theorists, empirical social scientists, and lawyers.
February 28–March 2
Local Theory-Local Practice: Musical Culture in South Asia and Beyond
Advanced Seminar, cosponsored with several other units/departments at Harvard
Richard Wolf (music) and Michael Herzfeld (anthropology), chairs
This seminar’s goal was to broaden the discourse among scholars of South Asian music and forge new connections with allied disciplines and areas.
April 29–May 1
Music as Experience
Exploratory Seminar
Christopher Hasty (music) and Martin Brody (music, Wellesley), chairs
This seminar considered ways in which the gains of recent musicology may be brought to bear on issues of musical analysis, musical values, practice, and experience.
May 7
Religion and Human Rights: The Next Agenda
Exploratory Seminar, cosponsored with Carr Center for Human Rights
Michael Ignatieff (director, Carr Center for Human Rights, KSG), and David Little, Harvard Divinity School, chairs
The goal of this seminar was to examine new directions for research on the intersection between religion and human rights . . . to discuss the relationship between religion and democracy, tensions between religious-cultural practices and human rights principles, and the interaction between religion and human rights during postwar reconstruction.
May 14–15
Revealed and Latent Preferences: Economic and Computational Approaches
Exploratory Seminar
Jerry Green (HBS), David Parkes and Avram Pfeffer (computer science), chairs
The purpose of this seminar was to allow researches who come from several different fields within economics and computer science to discuss research strategies for integrating the disparate and somewhat contradictory approaches to the problem of revealed and latent preferences.
May 17–18
Women and College: The Impact of Higher Education on Women’s Economic and Social Status
Exploratory Seminar
Claudia Goldin (economics), chair
The history of women in the US suggests that advances in higher education impact women’s economic and social status in numerous ways. But the relationship is complex. This seminar asked what the role of college has been in expanding women’s economic and personal frontiers, in altering their age at marriage and number of children, in changing their career and family tradeoffs, and other related questions.
May 21
Representation in the Age of Democratic Deficit
Exploratory Seminar
Nancy Rosenblum (government), chair
This seminar had two broad goals. The first was to map the terrain of formal political institutions and informal, quasi-public spaces in which the question of representation arises as a problem of practice and legitimacy. The second goal was to begin to identify and assess alternative models of representation to democratic election.
June 4–5
After Images: Media, Politics, and the Work of Imagination in Southern Asia
Exploratory Seminar
Mary Steedly (anthropology) and Patricia Spyer (anthropology, Leiden U), chairs
This seminar intended to initiate the first phase of a multi-year collaborative project, “Signs of Crisis in Southern Asia.” . . . it asked how the sense that such a condition of crisis exists is itself produced. We believe that the extraordinary proliferation and rapid circulation of visual images is a key factor in the generation of this pervasive sense of danger, instability, and uncertainty. . . . The seminar brought together scholars from communication technologies, visual anthropology, and the study of postcolonial South and Southeast Asia.
June 4–5
Hormones, Women, and Cancer Risk: Professionals and Activists Facing “Miracle Molecules”
Exploratory Seminar
Nancy Krieger (Dept. of society, human development, and health, HSPH) and Ilana Lowy (INSERM, France and ’04 Radcliffe fellow), chairs
This seminar intended to promote comparative and interdisciplinary discussion about hormones, women, and cancer risk, so as to spur new scholarship and ideas relevant to the history of science, health research, clinical practice, and women’s health advocacy.
June 24–25
Programming Myriads: Investigating Programming Abstractions and Languages for Sensor Networks
Exploratory Seminar
Matt Welsh (computer science, DEAS) and Radhika Nagpal (systems biology), chairs
This seminar convened a group of experts in sensor networks, algorithms, and programming languages to explore the emerging area of developing high-level language and algorithmic abstractions for programming sensor networks. This multidisciplinary effort involves input from systems implementers, theorists, and application developers.
