Forum Online
New work & commentary
Our guest writers — scholars, poets, essayists, novelists, students, educators — engage with the programming at the Forum and contribute to timely topics and conversations.
Listening for Surrealist Ethnography
By Jay Hammond
On November 15, 2017, Jay Hammond and the Forum for Scholars and Publics hosted a reading and performance by Eugene Chadbourne and friends.
Chadbourne kicked off the event by reading passages from his tome Dreamory and was joined on stage by David Menestres and members of his family band, The 13 Society. Hammond reflects on the evening.
The Black Atlantic Festival 2018
By Forum staff
The music of the Black Atlantic is our global soundtrack.
Doctoral students from a range of disciplines in Laurent Dubois’ class on the Black Atlantic have produced a guide to the context of the Black Atlantic music festival.
The Borders Beyond the Border Experience
By Andrew Bartuska
The class began with a question: how can we understand the voices we are exposed to at Duke, as well as the surrounding community in Durham?
More importantly, how can we better understand and respectfully represent the voices of Latinx individuals and groups we interact with?
How Jonathan Demme Walked the Walk in Haiti
By Laura Wagner
Jonathan Demme, who died last week at age 73, was best known to American audiences as the Academy Award-winning director of The Silence of the Lambs and Philadelphia.
But to those who knew him in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, Demme was an ardent and unwavering advocate of human rights and democracy in Haiti.
The Possibility of a Public
By Peter Constantine Pihos
On March 3, 2017, the Forum for Scholars and Publics hosted a conversation between Corey Robin and Jed Purdy about the purpose and promise of public intellectuals in the United States today.
Scholar/activist Peter Pihos reflects on the discussion and its intersection with his own recent experiences.
Generous Listening
By Margaret (Lou) Brown
“You know how you’re not supposed to be thinking while the other person is talking, right? You’re supposed to be listening.” Julia Roxanne Wallace, a participant in our discussion about archiving LGBTQ+ lives, laughed as she acknowledged the challenge of being a good panelist.
By prefacing her remarks with this comment, she shared openly something most of us struggle with internally – how to be attentive listeners AND be prepared to contribute an insightful comment when our turn comes.
A Musical Passage Across Time and Place
By Mary Caton Lingold
In Musical Passage: Voyage to 1688 Jamaica, historian Laurent Dubois, composer David K. Garner, and literary scholar Mary Caton Lingold tell the story of a travel document and provide recordings that interpret the fascinating music unexpectedly found within its pages.
They highlight the role of “Mr. Baptiste,” the unknown musician tasked with the writing of the notation, arguing that he may have been a freed black performer native to the colonies, and a composer.
Forces of Change against Forces of Death: The Jean Rabel Massacre in the Radio Haiti Archives
By Laura Wagner
Laura Wagner draws on documents and recordings from the Radio Haiti Archive to guide us through the tragic story of the Jean Rabel Massacre in northwest Haiti, which began on July 23, 1987.
Wagner, a scholar of Haitian history and culture, demonstrates how the materials in these archives can give us, nearly 30 years later, insights into how events were being experienced and analyzed in real time.
Crossing Borders: Experience, Scholarship, and Art
By Margaret (Lou) Brown
On March 30, 2016, the Forum for Scholars and Publics was privileged to host a discussion about the Dominican Republic and Haiti, featuring Évelyne Trouillot, Edward Paulino, and Samantha Galarza, and moderated by Duke doctoral student Nehanda Loiseau.
The 90-minute discussion covered a broad range of topics including history, language, travel, research, representation, family, identity, politics, literature, and translation.
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