Current Seminars
We seek serious and sustained conversation among a wide variety of persons in profession, discipline, practice, and office; in gender/ethnicity; and intellectual orientation. We particularly want to reach beyond the campus for members, including colleagues at North Carolina Central University, Duke, and NCSU, area colleges, state and local government, institutes and organizations.
The Seminars are by definition interdisciplinary and cross professional and their method is dialogue. A proposal for a Carolina Seminar may be submitted by any member of the faculty of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and by anyone holding appointment here as Non-Faculty EPA. Please contact our office for more information on the proposal process.
Behavioral Research with Minority Populations
The focus of the seminar’s work is research with families and communities and a study of the range of problems that emerge in research with minority populations and creative solutions to those problems.
Convenors:
Deb Jones, UNC-CH, Psychology
Beth Kurz-Costes, UNC-CH, Psychology
Vonnie McLoyd, UNC-CH, Psychology
J. Steven Reznick, UNC-CH, Psychology
Central Javanese Gamelan
Gamelan Nyai Saraswati is a large collection of bronze and wooden musical instruments, and Nyai Saraswati has been resident at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 2000. Traditionally in Java, where the gamelan plays a significant religious and cultural role in everyday life, Karawitan is taught orally from generation to generation. This seminar seeks opportunities to learn more about Indonesian culture and to explore how gamelan functions socially, historically, and in relation to other art forms.
Convenors:
Syam Gadde, Duke University, Computer Science
David Garcia, UNC-CH, Music
Collective Violence and Conflict Resolution
This seminar has evolved from “Negotiating Boundaries,” to “Bridging the Divide” to “Peace and Human Rights” and now to “Collective Violence and Conflict Resolution” and has moved through discussions of writings and issues pertaining to post internationalism and globalism; political, socio-economic, environmental, and religious issues required for peace in the world.
Convenor:
Niklaus Steiner, UNC-CH, Center for Global Initiatives
Comparative Islamic Studies
This seminar is a forum for sharing research in multiple disciplines focusing on Islamic culture in different regions. By featuring visiting scholars and inviting outside speakers, it greatly enriches our concentration in this field.
Convenors:
Carl W. Ernst, UNC-CH, Religious Studies
Charles Kurzman, UNC-CH, Sociology
Website: http://www.unc.edu/depts/islamsem/
Early American History Seminar
This seminar is a group of early American historians who meet to discuss papers of the seminar members. This process has proven essential to stimulating one another’s work.
Convenors:
Kathleen DuVal, UNC-CH, History
Holly Brewer, North Carolina State University, History
Ecology and Social Process in Africa
Presentations and discussions focus on how research in the social sciences and humanities helps us to understand the relationships between Africans and their physical environment.
Convenors:
Barbara Anderson, UNC-CH African/Afro-American Studies
Julius Nyang’oro, UNC-CH African/Afro-American Studies
Entrepreneurship
This seminar provides an opportunity for faculty from all disciplines to examine the impact and opportunities provided by entrepreneurial scholarship and education in the university environment.
Convenor:
Steven Matson, UNC-CH Biology
Website: http://www.kenaninstitute.unc.edu/centers/cei/
French Cultural Studies and American Intellectuals
This seminar draws on recent work in the fields of French history, literary studies, and art history to explore evolving issues in French-American intellectual exchanges and the evolving role of intellectuals in both American and French societies.
Convenors:
Don Reid, UNC-CH, History
James Winders, Appalachian State University
Intellectual History in Transatlantic Perspectives
This seminar invites guest presentations, studies recent published works in intellectual history, as well as provides an opportunity for the presentation of works in progress.
Convenors:
Malachi Hacohen, Duke University, History
Steven Vincent, North Carolina State University, History
Judaic Studies
Our intention is to create a forum in which scholars working on topics relating to Judaic Studies can meet, become better acquainted with each other's work, debate and exchange ideas.
Convenors:
Yaakov Ariel, UNC-CH, Religious Studies
Malachi Hacohen, Duke University, History
Law and Public Policy
This interdisciplinary seminar is devoted to discussion and analysis of contemporary policy problems and legal problems they raise.
Convenors:
Dan Gitterman, UNC-CH, Public Policy
Eric Muller, UNC-CH, Law School
Legal History
This seminar operates as a workshop for research-in-progress for area scholars in legal history. This collaboration also serves to deepen the links between area History Departments and Law Schools.
Convenors:
Edward Balleisen, Duke University, History
Eric Muller, Duke University, Lawl
Website: http://www.law.duke.edu/legal_history/
Women in Science
This seminar concentrates on research areas in science and technology that have a broad impact on women's lives and how these research areas have been informed by new feminist perspectives.
Convenor:
Sylvia Tomaskova, UNC-CH, Women’s Studies
Working Group in Feminism and History
This seminar includes historians based at Triangle universities who meet to discuss gender-related topics that cut across regional and temporal specializations.
Convenors:
Lisa Lindsay, UNC-CH, History
John Wood Sweet, UNC-CH, History
Adriane Lentz-Smith, Duke University, History
