Every first Friday of the month, UK College of Agriculture Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Working Group hosts a networking forum for faculty, students, staff, and members of the community, including sustainability advocates, growers, business owners, market managers, chefs, etc. (see http://www2.ca.uky.edu/safs/ for more information). It is our hope that through our speakers, we’ll be able to start some lively discussions and maybe get some project ideas flying. Download the flier.

For this month’s First Friday on November 4, we have invited a panel of 3 A&S faculty members to talk about: “Does Culture Matter in Sustainable Agriculture?” 

First Friday: November 4

7:30 am - 9:30am

E.S. Good Barn

A Panel Discussion: Does Culture Matter in Sustainable Agriculture?

Jeff Rice, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, UK Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Media

Ann Kingsolver, Ph.D.

Director, UK Appalachian Center

Doug Slaymaker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Japanese, UK Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

In recent years, "cultural sustainability" has been increasingly emphasized in the literature of sustainable agriculture as the fourth leg of sustainability (three legs are economic, ecological, and social sustainability). Books and documentary films which emphasize the need for localizing food economy and making agriculture more sustainable have become very popular. One can argue the idea of "sustainability " has become part of the lexicon that reflects and shapes our lifeworld and everyday practices. Through a lively debate on the question of “culture”, we hope to inquire the notion of "cultural sustainability" and explore opportunities for collaboration among faculty in Ag and A&S colleges.

A breakfast of locally-produced foods will be served starting at 7:30 a.m. There is no charge for the breakfast, but donations will be accepted gladly to help offset the costs a bit. The program will begin at 8:15 and last until 9:30 a.m. If you need to leave before 9:30, please come anyway.

Please join us for a screening and discussion of "Raising Victor Vargas" (Dir. Peter Sollett, USA 2002, 88 min) in the Young Auditorium on Tuesday, October 25th at 6:00pm.



"Raising Victor Vargas" is a comedy about the trials (and errors) of being a testosterone-laden teenager in New York. The film tells the story of a young immigrant struggling to find a place among his peers. Caught up in amorous encounters with the likes of "Fat Donna" and "Juicy Judy," Victor navigates contesting ideals of Latino masculinities in hopes of finding the secret of what it means to actually be Victor Vargas.



Commentary by Betsy Dahms, PhD Candidate, Hispanic Studies

Fall 2011 Working Papers

All the working paper will be in the Commonwealth House, Gaines Center, upstairs seminar room. 

1. Arnold Farr (Philosophy): In Search of Radical Subjectivity: Re-reading Marcuse After Honneth

Thursdsay, October 6th, 6:30-8:00 or 8:30 pm

Click here to see paper

2. Akiko Takenaka (History): Postmemorial Conservatism: Mobilizing the Memories of the War 

Dead in Contemporary Japan.      

Thursday, Oct. 27th, 6:30-8:00 or 8:30 pm  

3. Jacqueline Couti (French-MCL): Colonial Democracy and Fin de Siècle: The Third Republic andWhite Creoles' Dissent in Martinique.

Thursday, Nov. 17th, 6:30-8:00 or 8:30 pm  

A discussion by two respondents: Jeremy Popkin (History) and Joe O'Neil (German) and a general discussion with all present will take place.

These discussions are always stimulating and we welcome your participation, so try to make it. Wine and light snacks.

THE AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

PRESENTS

NED STUCKEY-FRENCH

"BALDWIN, DIDION, DIGITIZATION, AND THE FUTURE"

Thursday, October 6, 2011

4 pm

Niles Gallery

Lucille Little Fine Arts Library

Co-Sponsored by Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Media Program

Ned Stuckey-French teaches at Florida State University and is book review editor of Fourth Genre. He is the author of The American Essay in the American Century (University of Missouri Press, 2011), co-editor (with Carl Klaus) of Essayists on the Essay: Four Centuries of Commentary (University of Iowa Press, forthcoming 2012), and coauthor (with Janet Burroway and Elizabeth Stuckey-French) of Writing Fic-tion: A Guide to Narrative Craft (Longman, 8th edition). His articles and essays have appeared in journals and magazines such as In These Times, The Missouri Review, The Iowa Review, Walking Magazine, culturefront, Pinch, Guernica, middlebrow, and American Literature, and have been listed three times among the notable essays of the year in Best American Essays.

GWS Faculty Meeting

Join the UK Sociology Graduate Student Organization (and friends) in this informal gathering to hear from Jamie Pond (PhD Candidate, UK Sociology) on her unfolding research into gender and religious beliefs (or lack thereof):  "Religiosity, Fundamentalism, and Feminism: Why Religiosity is Associated with Conservative Attitudes Towards Women."

Lecture by Dr. Jacqueline Couti, Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies

Jacqueline Couti, an assistant professor of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Kentucky, will discuss how the development of "doudou," a Creole term in the French Caribbean, was adopted by 19th century European scholars to rewrite national identity in the  then French colony of Martinique. Martinique is now a department, which is an administrative district of France.