Humanities Center International Visitor Thitinan Pongsudhirak appeared on Forum with Michael Krasny on March 16, 2010, to discuss the recent political turbulence in Thailand, where the Red-shirted supporters of deposed Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra took to the streets, clashing with riot police. Krasny and Pongsudirak examine what the current political tensions say about Thailand today, and what they mean for the country tomorrow.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak is professor of international political economy in the Faculty of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.
To listen to the conversation, click here.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Former Fellow Hans Thomalla Wins the Ernst von Siemens Composer’s Prize
Former Geballe fellow and composer Hans Thomalla is to receive one of the three prestigious prizes for young composers awarded by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The prize is valued at 40,000 euros and is awarded together with a composition commission.
The award will be presented to Thomalla at a musical ceremony in Munich at the Cuvilliés Theatre on 24 May 2011. The saxophone quartet XASAX will perform his new work for the first time. The board of trustees of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, which includes the composers Wolfgang Rihm and Helmut Lachenmann, sees Thomalla as being one of the most important up-and-coming young composers.
Hans Thomalla was born in Bonn, Germany in 1975, and studied composition at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule. In 1999 he was appointed first assistant dramaturge, later dramaturge and artistic advisor to the director at the Stuttgart Opera, where he worked on the new productions of Lachenmann’s Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern as well as Schreker’s Gezeichnete among others.
From 2002-2007 he pursued a Doctor of Musical Arts at Stanford University. He was a fellow of the DAAD, the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, and the Stanford Humanities Center during his studies. Hans Thomalla won the Christoph-Delz-Prize in 2006 and the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis in 2004, and he has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, and the SWR-Experimentalstudio.
His music has been performed at major Festivals, such as Tanglewood, Donaueschingen, Wien Modern, Witten, Ultraschall Berlin, ECLAT-Festival, Takefu, and Steirischer Herbst. In 2005 the Festival d’Automne à Paris presented a portrait of his music in two concerts with the ensemble recherche. The City of Zurich, Switzerland, featured his music in four concerts at the 2008 Contemporary Music Days. In 2008 a Portrait-CD with Hans Thomalla’s chamber music played by the ensemble recherche and Lucas Fels was released on the Wergo Label. Future projects include an Opera Fremd for the main stage of the Stuttgart Opera, a new piece for the Donaueschingen Festival and a string quartet for the Arditti Quartet.
Hans Thomalla is on the advisory board for the new director of the Darmstadt Summer Courses, and he was on the courses composition faculty in 2010. Since 2007 he has been assistant professor of composition at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Visit the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation for more information about Hans Thomalla.
The award will be presented to Thomalla at a musical ceremony in Munich at the Cuvilliés Theatre on 24 May 2011. The saxophone quartet XASAX will perform his new work for the first time. The board of trustees of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, which includes the composers Wolfgang Rihm and Helmut Lachenmann, sees Thomalla as being one of the most important up-and-coming young composers.
Hans Thomalla was born in Bonn, Germany in 1975, and studied composition at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule. In 1999 he was appointed first assistant dramaturge, later dramaturge and artistic advisor to the director at the Stuttgart Opera, where he worked on the new productions of Lachenmann’s Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern as well as Schreker’s Gezeichnete among others.
From 2002-2007 he pursued a Doctor of Musical Arts at Stanford University. He was a fellow of the DAAD, the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, and the Stanford Humanities Center during his studies. Hans Thomalla won the Christoph-Delz-Prize in 2006 and the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis in 2004, and he has been a fellow at the MacDowell Colony, and the SWR-Experimentalstudio.
His music has been performed at major Festivals, such as Tanglewood, Donaueschingen, Wien Modern, Witten, Ultraschall Berlin, ECLAT-Festival, Takefu, and Steirischer Herbst. In 2005 the Festival d’Automne à Paris presented a portrait of his music in two concerts with the ensemble recherche. The City of Zurich, Switzerland, featured his music in four concerts at the 2008 Contemporary Music Days. In 2008 a Portrait-CD with Hans Thomalla’s chamber music played by the ensemble recherche and Lucas Fels was released on the Wergo Label. Future projects include an Opera Fremd for the main stage of the Stuttgart Opera, a new piece for the Donaueschingen Festival and a string quartet for the Arditti Quartet.
Hans Thomalla is on the advisory board for the new director of the Darmstadt Summer Courses, and he was on the courses composition faculty in 2010. Since 2007 he has been assistant professor of composition at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Visit the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation for more information about Hans Thomalla.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Former Fellow Arnold Rampersad Awarded the National Humanities Medal
Former fellow and Professor Emeritus of English at Stanford Arnold Rampersad has received the 2010 National Humanities Medal. President Obama bestowed the award to Rampersad and 9 other honorees at a White House ceremony on March 2, 2011. After the ceremony, the medalists and their families and friends joined the President and First Lady Michelle Obama for a reception in their honor.
Rampersad was honored for his work as a biographer and literary critic. His award-winning books have profiled W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Jackie Robinson, and Ralph Ellison. He has also edited critical editions of the works of Richard Wright and Langston Hughes (full profile).
The National Humanities Medal is the highest government honor given in recognition of outstanding achievements in history, literature, education, and cultural policy. It honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the country’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.
Since 1996, when the first National Humanities Medal was given, 125 individuals have been honored, inclusive of this year’s awardees. Nine organizations also received medals. Previous medalists include Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, novelist John Updike, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, sociologist Robert Coles, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
For more information, see the White House press release. A video and full transcript of the ceremony are also available on the White House website.
Rampersad was honored for his work as a biographer and literary critic. His award-winning books have profiled W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Jackie Robinson, and Ralph Ellison. He has also edited critical editions of the works of Richard Wright and Langston Hughes (full profile).
The National Humanities Medal is the highest government honor given in recognition of outstanding achievements in history, literature, education, and cultural policy. It honors individuals or groups whose work has deepened the country’s understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens’ engagement with the humanities, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to important resources in the humanities.
Since 1996, when the first National Humanities Medal was given, 125 individuals have been honored, inclusive of this year’s awardees. Nine organizations also received medals. Previous medalists include Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison, novelist John Updike, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, sociologist Robert Coles, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg.
For more information, see the White House press release. A video and full transcript of the ceremony are also available on the White House website.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Authors Tim O’Brien and Tobias Wolff Discuss Writing About Vietnam
On January 24, 2011, award-winning author Tim O’Brien was invited by the Stanford Humanities Center to address the relationship between writing and war at the annual Raymond Fred West Memorial Lecture. O’Brien sat down with fellow veteran and author Tobias Wolff to tackle such perennial questions as, How do you portray the horrors of war? What are the responsibilities of the writer?
Coverage of the event has been extensive. For some different perspectives on the conversation, see the Stanford Report’s article by Cynthia Haven, Caroline Chen’s article and interview with Tim O’Brien in the Stanford Daily, and a piece by Christina Farr on the CISAC news site.
The event was part of a yearlong series on Ethics and War at Stanford University, and was co-sponsored by Creative Writing and the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society.
A full video of the conversation between Tim O’Brien and Tobias Wolff on “Writing and War” is now available online.
Coverage of the event has been extensive. For some different perspectives on the conversation, see the Stanford Report’s article by Cynthia Haven, Caroline Chen’s article and interview with Tim O’Brien in the Stanford Daily, and a piece by Christina Farr on the CISAC news site.
The event was part of a yearlong series on Ethics and War at Stanford University, and was co-sponsored by Creative Writing and the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society.
A full video of the conversation between Tim O’Brien and Tobias Wolff on “Writing and War” is now available online.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
International Visitor Reflects on Thailand’s Misrule by Law
In an article for the Wall Street Journal, former FSI-Stanford Humanities Center International Visitor Thitinan Pongsudhirak questions Thailand’s return to the rule of law and argues that the judicial and military establishment are skewing the playing field in favor of the ruling party. Read the full article»
Thitinan Pongsudhirak is professor of international political economy and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak is professor of international political economy and director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Stanford Literature Lab “Quantifies” the Humanities
Interest in the digital humanities continues to grow and Stanford scholars are leading the way. Two weeks ago, The New York Times featured a major Stanford collaboration in an article about the use of technology in liberal arts research. This week, the Stanford Report’s Cynthia Haven details the work being done by the Stanford Literature Lab.
Directed by former fellow Matthew Jockers (2006-07) and English and Comparative Literature professor Franco Moretti, the Literature Lab makes use of the vast digital archives now available to conduct quantitative analyses of literary texts. By analyzing the data rather than the text, scholars are able to see broader patterns in literary production. As Jockers puts it, they are conducting a form of “distant reading.”
Read the Report’s article “Non-consumptive research? Text mining? Welcome to the hotspot of humanities research at Stanford” for more about the research being conducted at the Literature Lab. Then read earlier coverage of Jockers’ and Moretti’s work in Marc Parry’s article, “The Humanities Go Google” (Chronicle of Higher Education), as well as in Amanda Zhang and Corrie Goldman’s piece, “Stanford Students Use Digital Tools to Analyze Classic Texts.”
Further information about the Lab and Jockers’ work in humanities computing and academic technology is available on Jockers’ blog.
Directed by former fellow Matthew Jockers (2006-07) and English and Comparative Literature professor Franco Moretti, the Literature Lab makes use of the vast digital archives now available to conduct quantitative analyses of literary texts. By analyzing the data rather than the text, scholars are able to see broader patterns in literary production. As Jockers puts it, they are conducting a form of “distant reading.”
Read the Report’s article “Non-consumptive research? Text mining? Welcome to the hotspot of humanities research at Stanford” for more about the research being conducted at the Literature Lab. Then read earlier coverage of Jockers’ and Moretti’s work in Marc Parry’s article, “The Humanities Go Google” (Chronicle of Higher Education), as well as in Amanda Zhang and Corrie Goldman’s piece, “Stanford Students Use Digital Tools to Analyze Classic Texts.”
Further information about the Lab and Jockers’ work in humanities computing and academic technology is available on Jockers’ blog.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
“Mapping the Republic of Letters” Featured in NY Times
“Mapping the Republic of Letters,” a major collaboration between Stanford scholars and researchers at institutions around the world, was featured in the recent New York Time’s article “Digital Keys for Unlocking the Humanities.” The article looks at the new trend in humanities scholarship towards using technology to enhance liberal arts research and quotes at length project co-leader and former fellow Dan Edelstein. A graphic in the left sidebar highlights the project’s visualizations and summarizes some of its key findings.
In addition to the article, the Times devoted an Arts Beat blog entry to “Mapping” that features a video about the project and explains how to use the publicly available visualization.
“Mapping the Republic of Letters” is led by former Humanities Center fellows Paula Findlen (1998-99) and Dan Edelstein (2008-09) and the Center’s academic technology specialist, Nicole Coleman. Other former fellows on the team include Caroline Winterer (2008-09), Giovanna Ceserani (2007-08), and Keith Baker (2005-06). Groups of researchers are combining data from curated correspondence collections and other archives with tools for visual analysis to better understand the circulation of people, letters, and objects during the 17th and 18th centuries.
“Mapping the Republic of Letters” receives support from the Stanford Humanities Center and is funded by Stanford’s Presidential Fund for Innovation in the Humanities as well as a National Endowment for the Humanities “Digging into Data” grant.
RELATED INFORMATION
Digital Keys for Unlocking the Humanities (New York Times)
Digitally Mapping the Republic of Letters (New York Times Arts Beat entry)
Multimedia Feature on Mapping the Republic of Letters (New York Times)
Chicago Press Blog (features a response to the NY TImes article by Dan Edelstein)
“Mapping the Republic of Letters” Website
In addition to the article, the Times devoted an Arts Beat blog entry to “Mapping” that features a video about the project and explains how to use the publicly available visualization.
“Mapping the Republic of Letters” is led by former Humanities Center fellows Paula Findlen (1998-99) and Dan Edelstein (2008-09) and the Center’s academic technology specialist, Nicole Coleman. Other former fellows on the team include Caroline Winterer (2008-09), Giovanna Ceserani (2007-08), and Keith Baker (2005-06). Groups of researchers are combining data from curated correspondence collections and other archives with tools for visual analysis to better understand the circulation of people, letters, and objects during the 17th and 18th centuries.
“Mapping the Republic of Letters” receives support from the Stanford Humanities Center and is funded by Stanford’s Presidential Fund for Innovation in the Humanities as well as a National Endowment for the Humanities “Digging into Data” grant.
RELATED INFORMATION
Digital Keys for Unlocking the Humanities (New York Times)
Digitally Mapping the Republic of Letters (New York Times Arts Beat entry)
Multimedia Feature on Mapping the Republic of Letters (New York Times)
Chicago Press Blog (features a response to the NY TImes article by Dan Edelstein)
“Mapping the Republic of Letters” Website
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