Spring 2016

Stevens objected to the court's ruling in the 2000 election-deciding case of Bush v. Gore. The court overturned the Florida Supreme Court's decision to order a recount of all of the state's ballots. Joined by David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, Stevens wrote that, "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law. I respectfully dissent."

Three WashU experts explore how drone technology is changing our world in a discussion that promises to bring intriguing insights. “Technology, Ethics, and Laws” featuring Humberto Gonzalez, Neil Richards, and Meredith Malone, at 5:30 p.m. March 31 in Steinberg Auditorium. At 5 p.m. please join us for a reception and viewing of the exhibition on which the discussion will be based: “To See Without Being Seen: Contemporary Art and Drone Warfare,” in the Kemper Art Museum.

Christiane Gruber's research interests span medieval Islamic art to contemporary visual culture and predominantly focus on Islamic book arts, paintings of the Prophet Muhammad, and Islamic ascension texts and images. In her talk, "The Praiseworthy One: Devotional Images of the Prophet Muhammad in Islamic Traditions," Gruber will explore the ways in which, within a variety of Islamic expressive cultures, artists and viewers alike used pictorial language to express devotion to the Prophet Muhammad.

In a career spanning four decades, campaign strategist David Axelrod has influenced the outcomes of more than 150 Democratic campaigns, many of which were considered landmark victories. But in 2008 he orchestrated his most historic campaign, helping elect the first African-American as the 44th president of the United States. His address, part of the SU Speaker Series sponsored by the Washington University Political Review, is titled "America’s Future: Insights from a Presidential Adviser."

Eddie Huang's story is at once singular and universal, for many children of immigrants must find their own way within two often conflicting cultures, but he forged his own path to success. Now he tells his own story: The story of a bright, brash and ambitious Taiwanese kid who never allowed anyone to define him.

Pioneering urban ethnographer and cultural theorist Elijah Anderson is the William K. Lanman Jr. Professor of Sociology at Yale University, where he also directs the Urban Ethnography Project. He is one of the nation’s most influential scholars in the field of urban inequality, cultural sociology and race relations, and has authored a number of seminal publications in the field.

As a sophomore at WashU, he served as Speaker of the Congress of the South 40. For the Assembly Series, he will share how his experiences as a student helped prepare him for a career in politics, then invite the audience to engage in a dialogue.

In this talk, noted scholar Juana Maria Rodriguez will explore how documenting the lives of elderly sex workers in Mexico City can affect how others subjectively interpret their life stories, and how combining visual documentation with biographical narratives can alter the interpretative process. Her lecture, "The Women of Casa Xochiquetzal: Corporeal Encounters, Queer Feelings," is presented by Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies in Arts & Sciences.

As Kevin Ray, a legal expert in the field of cultural assets, notes, there’s a popular saying that bad artists imitate, but great artists steal. In the contemporary art world, the act of using some or all of another artist’s (or musician’s or author’s) work in the process of making your own new work is usually described as “appropriation.”