Society of Fellows Calendar of Events

Spring Quarter 2025

Winter Quarter 2025
 

Friday, January 17th
Society of Fellows Workshop
Stephen Buono, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Academic Publishing and Book Contracts—a personal perspective
Gates-Blake 324

Monday and Tuesday, January 20-21st
Sharvari Sastry, Collegiate Fellow in TAPS
Maati Katha / Earth Stories at the Chicago International Puppet Festival  on Jan 20th and 21st!

Tram Arts Trust: Maati Katha - Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival Since 1978, Links Hall has been a cornerstone of Chicago’s experimental arts scene, promoting bold, interdisciplinary work that challenges artistic boundaries. Known for supporting both emerging and established artists, Links Hall provides a collaborative space where artists and audiences can experience the full range of creative expression. chicagopuppetfest.org

Friday, January 24th
Society of Fellows Workshop
Tongi Philip Qian, Collegiate Fellow in the Visual Arts
Exhibition tour with the Artist, Hyde Park Art Center
4pm
Gallery tour followed by drinks, location TBD

Thursday, February 6th
Society of Fellows 25^th Anniversary Celebration
6:00pm
Quadrangle Club

Friday,February 14th
Society of Fellows Workshop
Magnus Ferguson, Collegiate Fellow in the Humanities
Arendt's Localism and the Theatre for Ideas
GB 324

Friday,February 28th

Society of Fellows Workshop
Ben Jeffery, Collegiate Fellow in the Humanities
"The Will of Nature: The Imagination of the City in Measure for Measure."
GB 324

Autumn Quarter 2024

Wednesday, September 18th
Society of Fellows - Nuts and Bolts Orientation
GB-324
9:00 - 12:00

Monday, September 23rd
Society of Fellows Orientation
Harper Memorial Library 284-86
9:00-12:00
Lunch 12:00-1:00

Thursday October 10th
 Welcome Dinner
Antique Taco
Bridgeport
6:30 - 9:00

Friday October 11th
Society of Fellows Workshop
Gus Law, Collegiate Fellow in the Humanities
Fasting of the Heart, Cure for the State
GB 324
12:30-2:00

Seminary Co-op Book Event
Connor Strobel, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
The Politics of Perverts: The Political Attitudes and Actions of Non-Traditional Sexual Minorities
Seminary Co-op Bookstore
6:00-7:00 pm
 

Friday October 25th
Society of Fellows Symposium
Frank Institute for the Humanities
JRL
 10:00am -5:00 pm

Friday, November 8th
Society of Fellows Workshop
Marissa Fenley, Collegiate Fellow in the Arts
Introduction:  Dramaturgies of Puppet Personhood
GB 324
12:30-2:00

Friday, November 21st
Society of Fellows Workshop
Pamela Nogales, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
The International Workingman's Association in the United States
GB 324
12:30-2:00pm

Friday, December 6th
Society of Fellows Workshop
Will Levine, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Idea for 'Universal History' and the Politics of Kant's First Critique
GB 324
12:30-2:00 pm

Spring Quarter 2024

Monday - Wednesday March 18-20th
What's Left of Kant
conference organized by Will Levine, Collegiate Fellow in the Society Sciences
Franke Institute for the Humanities
For the program see: https://tinyurl.com/mwvnjta5

Friday, March 22nd
12:30-2:00
Society of Fellows Workshop
Duygu Uygun-Tunc, Collegiate Fellows in the Social Sciences
Values in Science and the Problem of Underdeterimination
Gates-Blake 324

Thursday, March 28th
5:00-6:30 pm
Closing Party for 1/20 of a millenium (and then some) 
exhibition organized by Tongji Philip Qian, Collegiate Fellow in the Arts
Cochrane-Woods Art Center

Friday, April 5th
12:30-2:00
Society of Fellows Workshop
You Wang, Collegiate Fellow  in the Social Sciences
Beyond Spinning and Weaving: Earning Power, Technological Innovations, 
and Gender Division of Labor of the Cotton Textile Industry in Jiangnan, 1750-1850
Gates-Blake 324

Friday, April 19th
12:30-2:00
Society of Fellows Workshop
Stephen Buono, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Governing the Moon:  A History
Gates-Blake 324

Friday , May 3rd
12:30-2:00
Society of Fellows Workshop
Gabriel Ellis, Collegiate Fellow in the Humanities
Coldness in Contemporary Popular Music
Gates-Blake 324

Friday, May 10th
Weissbourd Conference
Tyranny, Slavery, Freedom
Franke Institute for the Humanities

Friday, May 17th
12:30-2:00
Society of Fellows Workshop
Magnus Ferguson, Collegiate Fellow in the Humanities
On Singing Others into the World: Speechlessness, Word-Sharing nd Linguistic Hospitality
Gates-Blake 324

Thursday, May 23rd
5:00-6:00pm
Society of Fellows Alumnus Event
Michael Gallope, SoF Alum (2011-2013)
Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Studies
The Musician as Philosopher
 https://www.semcoop.com/event/michael-gallope-musician-philosopher-travis-jackson
Discussion with Travis Jackson, Professor of Music, UChicago
Seminary Co-op Bookstore

Tuesday, May 28th
7:00-8:00pm
Society of Fellows Alumnus Event-First book
Chloe Ahmann, SoF Alum (2018-2020)
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
Futures After Progress: Hope and Doubt in Late Industrial Baltimore
https://www.semcoop.com/event/chloe-ahmann-futures-after-progress-hope-and-doubt-late-industrial-baltimore
Seminary Co-op Bookstore
 

Winter Quarter 2024

Friday, January 5th
6:00 -9:00pm
Welcome to Winter Open-Mic night
Steve Rings' residence
North Campus Residence

Friday, January 19th
12:30-2:00pm
Society of Fellows Workshop
Salih Noor, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
The Legacies of Liberation in Post-Settler Colonial Southern Africa
HM 284

Friday, February 2nd
12:30-2:00pm
Society of Fellows Workshop
Hannah Borenstein, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Vital Gossip
GB 324

Monday, February 12th
6:00pm
DOVA Open Practice Committee
Tongji Philip Qian, Collegiate Fellow in the Arts, DOVA
The Diary of An Encounter Which Seemed to Have Never Happened
Logan Center for the Performing Arts, Penthouse 901
https://dova.uchicago.edu/events/tongji-philip-qian-diary-encounter-which-seemed-have-never-happened

Friday, February 16th
12:30-2:00pm
Molly Cunningham, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
The Real Tsunami: Surviving the [Credit Story] in Post-Bankruptcy Detroit
GB 324

Friday, March 1st
12:30-2:00 pm
Joe Stadonlk, Collegiate Fellow in  the Humanities
TBA
HM 284

Autumn Quarter 2023

Monday, September 18th
9:00 - 5:00
Orientation for Incoming Fellows
Harper Memorial Library (HM) 284

Monday, September 18th
9:00 - 5:00
Orientation for Incoming Fellows
Harper Memorial Library (HM) 284

Thursday, September 21st
1:30-2:00
Using Canvas
Gates-Blake 324

2:00-2:30
Meeting with Elizabeth Towell
Union Representative
Gates-Blake 324

Thursday, September 28th
6:00-8:30
Society of Fellows Welcome Dinner
Antique Taco
Bridgeport

Friday, September 13th
12:30-2:00pm HM 284
Society of Fellows Workshop
Gus Law, Collegiate Fellow - Humanities
What Makes Causes Causes in Aristotle

6:00- 7:00pm - Seminary Coop Bookstore
Ben Fong (SoF 2013-16)
discusses Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge with Cedric Johnson (UIC)

Friday, September 20th
9:00-6:00pm
Society of Fellows Fall Symposium
Franke Institute for the Humanities

Friday,November 10th
12:30-2:00pm HM 284
Society of Fellows Workshop
Will Levine, Collegiate Fellow - Social Sciences
Walter Benjamin's Critique of Hermann Cohen

Friday, December 1
12:30-2:00 pm  Gates-Blake 324 (Society of Fellows Conference Room)
Society of Fellows Professionalization Workshop:  Publishing
Elizabeth Branch Dyson,  Assistant Editorial Director, Executive Editor, University of Chicago Press
Gisela Fosado, Editorial Director, Duke University Press
Steve Rings, Series Editor, Oxford Studies in Music Theory

Past events

 

Spring Quarter 2023

Friday, March 24
12:30-2:00
Gus Law, Collegiate Fellow in the Humanities
THE INTELLECTUAL CONNECTION BETWEEN INTENTIONAL ACTION AND ITS AGENT
GB324--Society of Fellows Conference Room

Friday, April 7
12:30-2:00

Brinton Ahlin, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science
Metabolizing State Paperwork at a Central Asian Shrine 
HM284

2:15 - 3:30 pm
Nima Bassiri, SoF (2014-2018)
“Rational Autonomy” moderated by Nicole Whalen (Chicago)
Nima Bassiri (Duke University) and Adam Leeds (Columbia University)
Science and Liberalism Conference
The Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, Community Room

Friday, April 14th
12:30-2:00pm
Nicole Whalen, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science
Rethinking the Meaning of Property in Contemporary Theories of Property-Owning Democracy
Location: Society of Fellows Conference Room, GB 324

Friday, April 21st 
12:30-2:00pm
Philip Henry, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science
Beyond the Classical Paradigm: Trauma and the Therapeutic Reconstruction of the Ego in Postwar Psychoanalysis, 1919-1925
HM284

Monday, April 24
12:00-1:30
Classics 110
“Staging the Political”
A Roundtable on Theater, Feminism, and Politics
With:  Valentina Moro (University of Verona, Visiting Scholar in Philosophy at De Paul), Sharvari Sastry (Harper Schmidt Fellow, TAPS, Chicago), Denise Yvette Serna (Loyola University Chicago), and Agatha A. Slupek (Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Chicago)        
This roundtable will explore the relationship between theater, feminism, and politics. 
The city of Chicago is known for its theater scene as well as for its political activism. What, if any, is the relationship between theater and politics? Feminist and queer theorists have long recognized theatricality and performance as sites through which gendered and sexual identities can be made–and unmade–as well as sites in which political collectivities come into being. If erotic sex performances were central to Lauren Berlant and Michael Warner’s foundational account of queer public formation (1998), and disidentificatory performance was theorized by José Esteban Muñoz as imbued with worldmaking power (1999), theater itself has fallen out of view as a political institution in which such performances may be staged. Yet in Ancient Greek society, the theater stood on par with the assembly and the agora as an institution in which the work of politics–of collective self-definition–took place. This roundtable takes the intimate and longstanding relationship between theatricality and politics as a point of departure from which to consider how minoritarian worlds are made. We will discuss how gendered and sexual identities are performatively constructed and staged, becoming a crucial element in a politics of performance. Our panelists will discuss the relationship between feminism, theater, and politics, drawing upon examples from their own research as well as their practical experiences with theater in Chicago, France, and India.
Registration is not required. This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Friday, April 28th
12:30-2:00pm
You Wang, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science
TBD
HM 284

Friday, May 5th
9:30-6:00
Weissbourd Symposium:  Ethics and Nature in a Time of Crisis
Swift Hall Lecture Room, 3rd Floor 

Saturday May 6th
4:30-7:30 pm
Marissa Fenley, Collegiate Fellow in the Arts: TAPS
Screening of Beverly Hill and multimedia symposium
Logan 201
reception to follow

Friday, May 12th
12:30-2:00pm
Mara Caden, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science
The Rule God (a manifesto), with Michael Doyle
HM 284

Friday, May 19th
9:00-5:00
John Harpham, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science
Book Manuscript Workshop
The Intellectual Origins of American Slavery
HM 284

 

Winter Quarter 2023

Friday, January 13th
4:30-6:30
Welcome Winter Celebration
Library
Quadrangle Club

Friday, January 20th
12:30-2:00
Jonny Bunning, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science
TBA
HM 284

6:00-8:00 -- Opening Reception
Pawing the Ground in Place

January 20th - March 5, 2023
Exhibition organized by Heather Smith (Collegiate Fellow, Visual Arts)
and Ali Feser (Collegiate Fellow, Social Sciences)
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts - Gallery

Friday, January 27th
12:30-2:00pm
Oliver Cussen, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
TBA
HM 284
 

Friday, February 10th
12:00-2:00pm
Geoff Traugh, Collegiate Fellow in Social Science

6:00-8:00 pm
Pawing the Ground in Place
exhibition organized by Heather Smith and Ali Feser
Performance by Whitney Johnson/Matchess
Reva and David Logan Center for the Performing Arts - Gallery

Friday, February 24th

12:30-2:00pm
Ali Feser, Collegiate Fellow, Social Sciences
TBA
HM 284

6:00-8:00pm
Pawing the Ground in Place
exhibition organized by Heather Smith and Ali Feser
Performance by C. Tai Tai
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts

Friday, March 10th
12:30 -2:00
Lisa Landoe Hedrick, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
The Challenge of Affirmative Critique in the Study of Religion: Lessons from Anthropology's Ontological Turn

Persons with disabilities who need an accommodation in order to participate in events at the Society of Fellows in Liberal Arts should contact Deborah Neibel dneibel@uchicago.edu

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Fall Quarter 2022

Monday, October 3rd
12:00-1:20 PM 
Political Theory Workshop
John Harpham, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
“The Intellectual Origins of American Slavery”
(Practice Job Talk)
Pick 506

Friday October 7th
6:30-9:30
Society of Fellows Fall Welcome Dinner
Antique Taco - Bridgeport
1100 West 35th Street
Transportation to/from antique Taco from Hyde Park can be arranged.
Contact Deb Neibel for assistance dneibel@uchicago.edu
RSVP  dneibel@uchicago.edu

Friday, October 21
12:30-2:00pm
Society of Fellows Workshop
Lisa Hedrick, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences 
The Challenge of Affirmative Critique in the Study of Religion:  Lessons from Anthropology's Ontological Turn
HM 284

Friday October 28th
12:00- 6:00pm
Weissbourd Fall Conference
New Fellows will present their work
Franke Institute of the Humanities
JRL

Friday, November 4th
12:30-2:00pm
Society of Fellows Workshop
Jordan Jochim, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Like a Master: Aristotle on the Logic of Despotism
Location TBA

Friday, November 18th
12:30-2:00 pm
Society of Fellows Workshop
Natasha Piano, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Title TBA
HM 284

Friday, December 2nd
12:30-2:00pm
Society of Fellows Workshop
John Harpham, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Two Concepts of Slavery in the Early Modern English Atlantic World
HM 284

Persons with disabilities who need an accommodation in order to participate in events at the Society of Fellows in Liberal Arts should contact Deborah Neibel dneibel@uchicago.edu

******************

Fall Quarter 2021

Friday, Oct 1
5:00-7:00pm
Welcome Reception
Join us for beer and wine on the Gates-Blake Quad to celebrate the new quarter

Friday, Oct 15
Society of Fellows Fall Celebration
6:00 - 8:00 pm

Friday October 29
Weissbourd Fall Symposium
11:00 - 3:00
Stevanovich Institute for the Formation of Knowledge
rm 104
Come hear about the new fellows' research

Friday, November 5th
Society of Fellows Practice Job Talk
John Clegg, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
From Slavery to Mass Incarceration

Friday, November 19th
Society of Fellows Workshop
Jonny Bunning, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Title: TBA
Harper Memorial Library
Room 284

Friday, December 3rd
Society of Fellows Workshop
John Harpham, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Title: From Freedom to Slavery
Harper Memorial Library
Room 284

Winter Quarter 2022

Friday, January 14th
4:00-5:30pm
Society of Fellows Practice Job Talk
Natasha Piano
Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences, Political Science
"Democratic Elitism: The Secret History of American Political Science."

Friday, January 21st
3:15 -4:15
Society of Fellows Professionalization:  Advice for the Campus Visit
A Discussion of what to expect and how to prepare for your campus visit, including the virtual version.
Participants include:  Sophia Azeb, Assistant Professor, Department of English; Elisabeth Clemens, William Rainey Harper Professor, Department of Sociology; Jennifer Pitts, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science; Steve Rings, Associate Professor, Department of Music; Emma Saunders-Hastings, Department of Political Science, Ohio State University
via zoom

4:30-6:00pm
Society of Fellows Practice Job Talk
Nicole Whelan
Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences, Political Philosophy
"Republicanism Against the Free Market: Richard Price and the Agrarian Tradition"
via zoom

Friday, January 28th
Society of Fellows Professionalization:  Mock Job Talk
Gus Law, Collegiate Fellow in the Humanities, Philosophy
 "Walking without Touching the Ground -- Detached Engagement in the Zhuangzi"
Via Zoom
12:30-2:00

CANCELLED Friday, February 11th 
Society of Fellows Workshop
Blake Smith, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Title: Durkheim as reader of Hobbes
Harper Memorial Library
Room 284-86
12:30-2:00pm

Friday, February 18
Weissbourd Series:  Poetics in Practice
Lyric Technologies and the Body
A Conversation on Poetry, Sound, and Contemporary Medical Practice with Laura Kolbe, MD and Ailsa Lipscombe, moderated by Jennifer Iverson, Associate Professor Department of Music 
Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge
1:00-2:00pm

New date!!!
March 4
Dario Donetti, Collegiate Fellow in Art History
"Planning Obsolescence: Bramante at St. Peter’s"
Niall Atkinson, Associate Professor, Department of Art History, respondent
Harper Memorial Library
Room 284-86
12:30-2:00pm

SPRING QUARTER 2022

Thursday, April 17
12:30 -2:00pm
Franke Institute
Weissbourd Series:  Poetics in Practice
Paper Bells and Collaborative Translation
Phan Nhien Hao and Hai-Dang Phan in Conversation

Friday, April 29th
12:30-2:00pm
Society of Fellows Workshop
Lisa Hedrick, Collegiate Fellow in the Social Sciences
Title TBA
Respondent:  Alireza Doostdar

Date tba
Society of Fellows Professionalization Workshop
Publishing Workshop with Alumni Fellows

Friday, May 20
time tba
Weissbourd Series: Poetics in Practice
Remembering Etel Adnan: Brandon Shimoda, Dot Devota, and Quinn Latimer
virtual event (on Zoom)

10:00-4:30pm
Virtual
Book Manuscript Workshop
Natasha Piano, Democratic Elitism:  The Secret History of American Political Science
Full Schedule available email dneibel@uchicago.edu

Friday, June 3rd
12:30-2:00
Society of Fellows Workshop
Ali Feser, Current Fellow in the Social Sciences
Title: TBA
Respondent: TBA