Category Archives: Posthumanism

A recentsurveyfound that two-thirds of workers believe that by 2035 workers will have an edge in the labor market if theyre willing to have performance-enhancing microchips implanted in their bodies. Technologically enhanced humans have a rich history in science fiction, but there are many questions about what real-life cyborgs would look likeandwhether they already exist.

In 2017, Kevin Warwick, a robotics researcher and posthumanism enthusiast,examined technologies for human enhancement. He defines posthumanism as the permanent or semi-permanent implantation of machine components into a human body to enhance its abilities beyond the human norm.

Warwick himself was the first person to get a radio frequency identification device (RFID) implanted, back in 1998. The devicea collection of microchips and an antenna that powers the device and emits signalsallowed him to control lights and open doors. Since then, nightclubs have used similar implants to grant access to guests, and the Mexican government has also used them for security purposes. Theyve been used for a long time in pets and for animal research, too.

Warwick envisions a future where people could use chips as keys, credit cards, or passports. While he does not specifically address microchips in the workplace, he notes that people dont want to feel anyone is forcing this kind of technology on them. He suggests that people might accept it voluntarily if it seems like a convenience.

Such might be the case if, for example, the implant enables the user to bypass queues at passport control because extra information could be directed to the authorities as the individual merely marches through, he writes.

Beyond microchips, Warwick looks at technologies intended to extend humans perception, such as magnets implanted under the skin to allow people to feel information gathered by external sensors. The most promising, and potentially most disturbing, type of technology he looks at is an array of microelectrodes attached to users brains. Here again, Warwick has tried out the technology himself, successfully receiving information from ultrasonic sensors and controlling external objects using neural signals. For example, while in England, he was able to control a robotic hand in New York and receive feedback from the robotic fingertips sent as neural stimulation. Elon Musks Neuralink companyrecently demonstrateda technology that can supposedly do something similar, but conveying more data using less-invasive hardware.

Ultimately, both Warwick and Musk envision a vast transformation in human capabilities through seamless connections between high-powered computers and human brains. That seems to be a long way from reality. But whether were talking about a leap forward for the species or just chips that unlock doors, one big question we may face is how much employers can ask workers to transform themselves for their jobs. That question is inescapably connected with power relationships. In the same survey for which workers assessed the advantages of microchipped employees, 57 percent said theyd be willing to get chipped themselves, as long as they felt it was safe. Only 31 percent of business leaders said the same.

This article appeared on JSTOR Daily, where news meets its scholarly match.

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Are the posthumans here yet? - Big Think

The 5th edition of the nomadic conference Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence in Art & Science is taking place this year at the Malta Society of Arts in Valletta. Conference founder and director DALILA HONORATO sits with Lara Zammit to discuss its themes and trajectories along with curator MARGERITA PUL,

The international conference Taboo-Transgression-Transcendence in Art & Science, taking place in Valletta this month, aims to provide an uncensored space for creative transformation in the merging of science and art.

Now in its fifth edition, the three-day conference founded by Dalila Honorato from the Ionian University will include theoretical and art practice presentations while focusing on questions about the nature of the forbidden and the aesthetics of liminality as expressed in art that uses or is inspired by technology and science.

The conference will be hosted by the Malta Society of Arts between September 27 and 29 and opens on September 26 with a concurrent art show and series of performances titled RawCookedRotten curated by Margerita Pul.

The art show is taking place in the MSA courtyard and basement vaults, which are rarely open to the public.

The conference is a place where artists, scientists, academics and people interested in the space where art and science meet can come together, says Honorato, speaking to Times of Malta.

It was created to host the meeting between these kinds of people, and I think we have been successful since the conference has created a space that actually brings in a lot of art practitioners, and not only academics. Also, it tends to treat rather curious topics.

Indeed, among the suggested topics for participants to tackle are those of biotechnology, body modification, evolution and even witchcraft, all nestled within the broader interface connecting science and art.

The conference is an opportunity to tackle out-of-the-box ideas, or some of those difficult issues that either seem not so serious to other conferences or are seen as just too weird, says Honorato.

This years edition will feature around 120 participants giving talks across two parallel sessions over three days.

Asked if there may be a transhumanistic motif underlying the conference, Honorato specified they are more concerned with the conceptual sphere of posthumanism than that of transhumanism.

While transhumanism favours the enhancement of the human through technology, posthumanism challenges the notion that humans are and always will be the only agents of the moral world, instead expanding this agency to include nonhuman subjects and objects.

Were more interested on focusing on the diversity and possibilities of the human and nonhuman [posthumanism], and not focus specifically on the improvement, or what is called functional improvement, of the human being [transhumanism], says Honorato.

We consider the danger of the idea of productivity when we talk about editing the human genome, for example. What is the danger of just becoming a homogenic thing that is called human? Who decides what is better?

There is an interest about what is different, what is weird- Dalila Honorato

Each of the topics tackled during the conference touches on taboo, transgression and transcendence, which Honorato envisions as co-existing in a cyclical fashion.

If we dont have a taboo, there is nothing to transgress, so its almost as if having a taboo is a teaser for transgression. Transcendence is almost like an adaptation of transgression: if transgression becomes mainstream or acceptable when the taboo loses its dynamic and the transgression becomes normalised then you probably have a way of transcending what was forbidden. That marks the start of a new taboo, so a new cycle begins, she explains.

Raw, cooked, rotten

Borrowing the concept of the culinary triangle introduced by Claude Lvi-Strauss, the art show RawCookedRotten highlights the interplay between

nature and culture, the transformative power of cooking and the importance of food safety and preservation.

With a programme taking place alongside the conference, visitors to the MSA basement vaults will be invited to explore the dimensions of food and reflect on the complex meanings and relationships between eating and being eaten. It also considers the microbiome that composes us, or of which we are composed.

Alongside the exhibition are also a series of performances featuring international participants, including from Greece, Japan and the United States.

Theres one work in the exhibition that is actually quite disgusting to look at, says Pul, highlighting how the forces of attraction and repulsion might be mutually at play across the exhibits.

It is a rather visceral collection of works, she ponders.

Disgust and attraction are closer than we actually suppose sometimes, says Honorato, and theres always a curiosity surrounding it.

There is an interest about what is different, what is weird, despite the fact that people might many times refuse it. With this exhibition, we are considering the fact that there is always something we can learn from pushing our own personal boundaries.

TTT2023 Malta is taking place between September 26-29 at the Malta Society of Arts, Valletta. See the full programme at artsmalta.org/event/taboo-transgression-transcendence-in-art-science-conference. The public (over 18 years of age) is welcome to attend. Entrance is free. To take part in the conference, register by sending an e-mail to TTT2023@eventbrite.com. Participation is free.

TTT2023 Malta involves the contributions of the Rewilding Cultures Consortium, the Hub of Art Laboratories and KONTEJNER bureau of contemporary art practice. Co-funded for the first time by the Ionian University and the European Union, TTT2023 Malta is being organised within the framework of the project Rewilding Cultures by the Feral Labs Network under Creative Europe, with further support by the Interactive Arts Laboratory of the Ionian University, Technoetic Arts: a Journal of Speculative Research published by Intellect and the hosting institution Malta Society of Arts.

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Conference addresses transgression and taboo - Times of Malta

Its being called the bomb pulse, the sharp spike of carbon-14 in the Earths atmosphere arising out of fallout from nuclear bomb testing in the 1950s and 60s.

This fallout has changed the Earth so much that the international geologic community is poised to formally declare a new epoch in Earths history, the Anthropocene.

Through their work, Brock University Professor of Philosophy Christine Daigle and her team are taking scientific evidence found in Brock-led geologic research to the next level.

What does the Anthropocene teach us about ourselves and the various entangled temporalities of past, present and future humans and non-humans? says Daigle, Director of Brocks Posthumanism Research Institute.

Daigle is among seven Brock researchers awarded Insight Grants from the federal governments Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), announced Tuesday, Aug. 29 by Canadas Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Randy Boissonnault, on behalf of Franois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and Mark Holland, Minister of Health.

Brock received $965,636 in Insight Grant funding, which supports research excellence and sees projects judged worthy of funding by fellow researchers and/or other experts. The research can be conducted individually or by teams.

Also included in the Aug. 29 announcement was other federal government funding for Brock, including:

The wide range of research funded through these competitive awards shares something important, says Brock Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon. It reflects expert engagement with the critical issues of our community, country and world.

Daigles project, Bomb Pulse: Cultural and Philosophical Readings of Time Signatures in the Anthropocene, focuses on interpreting layers of sediment in Haltons Crawford Lake collected by Brock Professor of Earth Sciences Francine McCarthy and her team.

The sediment layers contain evidence of a wide range of recent human activity, including nuclear fallout, fertilizers, fly ash, plastics and greenhouse gases. Further back in time are traces of pollen, an early sign of cultivation, which led to archaeological digs unearthing the remains of a 15th-century Indigenous village close to the lake.

Daigles team, which includes McCarthy and Professor of English Adam Dickinson, is exploring how philosophical thinking, creative writing and artistic explorations can help society reflect on how human activities have impacted the Earth and provoke discussions on environmental sustainability, extinction and the collective future.

The teams partners include Conservation Halton, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Canadian Museum of Nature and an Indigenous Elder and knowledge-keeper, among others.

Our transdisciplinary research into cores of sedimented layers and their meanings will help us establish the understanding that beings organic and non-organic are entangled and their agencies inflect each other, says Daigle. This has profound ethical and social implications for our future.

Brock Universitys 2023 SSHRC Insight Grant recipients are:

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Anthropocene research among Brock projects to receive $965000 in ... - Brock University

Dystopian futuristic landscapes, cybernetic implants, and posthumanism or dehumanization are all hallmarks of the best cyberpunk movies.

Furthermore, the majority of good cyberpunk films strongly rely on philosophical or psychological allegories.

A poor metropolis where an evil company governs and oppresses the regular inhabitant is a common scenario in the cyberpunk genre.

Despite the physical and spiritual deterioration, the atmosphere is brightened by a vibrant color palette of pinks, blues, and reds.

Typically, the plot of these movies revolves around a protagonist who is motivated to act by the loss of a loved one.

They rise against their corporate rulers, only to be swept up into a complicated plot that ponders humanitys fundamental nature.

This is one of the best cyberpunk movies. In the cyberpunk genre, an economic imbalance is a key issue.

Those with the power to help others are not always generous in giving resources, as is the case in real life. Elysium, a 2013 science fiction action movie directed by Neill Blomkamp, examined the extremes to which disadvantaged people must go to stay safe. Earth has become an overpopulated wasteland in the twenty-first century.

The rich elite lives in Elysium, a space station with superior medical technology and technological achievements. In their dirty homeworld, the underprivileged are allowed to decay and suffer.

A toxic chemical poisons construction worker Max Da Costa (Matt Damon) on Earth. Elysium is the only place where you can get the cure.

Tron is one of the best cyberpunk movies because of its early usage of computer animation and video game-inspired graphics.

It tells the story of a video game developer who becomes stuck in a digital world while trying to prove his previous employers software plagiarism. He needs to play life like a computer game to find his way out and halt the systems renegade AI.

Tron is a PG-rated version of The Matrix in many respects, posing similar themes about virtual reality while staying thrilling and action-packed till the conclusion. Tron: Legacy, a sequel, was released in 2010, and a third movie is in the works.

The Judge Dredd comic book character was created as one of the earliest cyberpunk heroes in the comic strip 2000 AD. The sophisticated anti-hero who served as judge, jury, and executioner in the future was complex.

Unfortunately, Sylvester Stallones 1995 picture Judge Dredd failed to capture the tone of the original source material.

The Stallone movie was campy and didnt reflect the Dredd characters more subtle moral concerns. Thankfully, the 2012 movie Dredd did a good job of adapting the comic.

Karl Urban played the title role, who is one of many judges on the streets of the dystopian planet of Cursed Earth.

This is one of the best cyberpunk movies. Steven Spielbergs A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a thought-provoking science fiction movie.

It follows a robot teenager who is trained to love unconditionally, a feature that renders him unfit for any environment.

The film is dedicated to Stanley Kubrick, who spent many years developing the story before handing it to Steven Spielberg.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence, starring Haley Joel Osment in a career-best performance, is a special drama that combines the best qualities of two of historys greatest filmmakers.

In cyberpunk movies, romantic relationships are frequently doomed. Code 46, directed by Michael Winterbottom and released in 2006, envisaged a cyberpunk world in which government-approved DNA couplings predetermine relationships.

The totalitarian state creates perfect relationships through genetic modification. This implies that falling in love spontaneously is suddenly impossible and unlawful.

These laws are laid forth in a set of codes, the most famous of which is Code 46, which prohibits genetically related persons from having incestuous relationships.

William Geld (Tim Robbins) is an insurance fraud investigator who works behind the scenes to help businesses figure out which of their workers are posing as someone else. This is one of the best cyberpunk movies.

Ghost in the Shell is one of the best cyberpunk movies as well as one of the finest cyberpunk anime movies.

Apart from being cyberpunk, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest animated movies ever created. Period. This seminal Japanese animated movie is based on Masamune Shirows manga of the same name.

The movies influence has inspired a massive franchise of television shows and movies, including a 2017 remake.

Ghost in the Shell is set in Japan in 2029, in a futuristic future where bodily parts may be exchanged for cybernetic ones.

Furthermore, the movie shows a future in which ordinary people are neutrally connected to the internet, with cyborgs assimilated into society.

True friendships are uncommon in the uncertain future of a cyberpunk movie. Upgrade, a 2018 vengeance thriller, is about an odd friendship that develops after a catastrophe.

Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green), a mechanic, has a strong aversion to technology. He wants to construct things with his own two hands, even though robotic innovations have taken over much of the globe.

Grey is proud of a car he created, but it crashes as he and his wife Asha are driving it (Melanie Vallejo). The pair is trapped on the perilous streets, where Asha is murdered, and A vicious criminal group breaks greys back.

Grey, now a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, is compelled to combine his paralyzed body with the artificial intelligence software STEM (Simon Maiden).

During the twenty-first century, Steven Spielbergs filmography darkened. Minority Report, his cyberpunk picture from 2002, is a bleak, strangely prescient neo-noir that poses a tough question: how much of the future is fixed in stone?

In the year 2054, the police departments Precrime division employs psychic precogs to catch criminals before they commit a crime.

While this appears to put a stop to crime for good, some critics doubt whether a persons innocence or guilt can be judged based on future occurrences.

According to the Precogs, Precrime commanding commander John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is expected to murder a guy called Leo Crow (Mike Binder) in 36 hours.

Its hardly surprising that cyberpunk and noir fiction regularly collide. The classic noir films of the 1940s and 1950s featured lone private eyes solving crimes in cold, desolate cities.

As these detectives or anti-heroes decipher clues, they uncover truths that expose humanitys darkest qualities.

They still feel alone, even amid a big and expanding metropolis. The visionary science-fiction masterpiece Blade Runner by Ridley Scott propelled the noir genre into the not-too-distant future.

Blade Runner is based on legendary sci-fi novelist Phillip K. Dicks short tale and explores the role of technology and the potential of humanity in creating sentient artificial intelligence.

Although Blade Runner is far from the first sci-fi film to include android characters, the replicants in the movie start to doubt their mortality. Rick Deckard is the titular Blade Runner (Harrison Ford).

Multiple subgenres can be combined in cyberpunk movies to create distinct experiences. Just because a picture is set in a bleak future doesnt mean it cant simultaneously be humorous, interesting, and controversial. Many of the best cyberpunk movies are entertaining as well as pose deeper philosophical themes.

Few directors are as adept at combining commercial pleasure with profound social insight as to Paul Verhoeven.

Verhoeven includes societal satire in his movie, which requires many viewings to understand properly. Robocop, directed by Paul Verhoeven in 1987, is the best example of this.

The unknown is terrifying, and cyberpunk movies fear of the future is a significant motif. In his terrifying 1983 cyberpunk thriller Videodrome, David Cronenberg encapsulated these fears.

The movie is a sociological satire on the medias desensitization to violence and depicts gruesome body horror.

Max Renn, the conceited president of Toronto television station CIVIC-TV, is played by James Woods. Harlan (Peter Dvorsky), the stations operator, shows Max an unusual broadcast signal that is infiltrating their network broadcast.

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11 Best Cyberpunk Movies You Should Watch Right Now - The Quirer

Writers, artists and scholars from around the world will convene at UC Santa Barbara to explore diverse literary perspectives on the harmful environmental threats impacting the planets arguably most-precious resource children.

Rising generations will be impacted the hardest by climate change, said Sara Pankenier Weld, a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at UCSB. But in those same generations is where things can happen and the agents of change will exist.

The multi-day research conference Ecologies of Childhood will explore the overlap of ecology and childhood in language, literature and education. Hosted by UC Santa Barbaras Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies in collaboration with the Center for East Asian Studies at Stanford University, this years theme examines environment, ecology, culture and literature in the context of pressing environmental issues.

Taking place for the first time in the United States, the event (Aug. 1217) marks the 26th biennial congress of the International Research Society for Childrens Literature. In-person speakers and attendees represent 32 countries on six continents, and an additional 10 countries are represented via the conferences green stream digital access, according to current registration numbers.

While unpacking the connections between children and nature is nothing new, the conference broadens the scope to include childrens literature and culture in relation to ecocriticism, ecofeminism, decolonial environmentalism, posthumanism, environmental justice, activism and education and the increasingly overarching existential threat of climate change.

But with the harsh realizations that often arise with environmental problems also comes an optimism toward revelatory solutions.One of the conferences main goals is to provide a gathering place where participants can meet, exchange ideas and initiate collaborations. Its also an opportunity for UCSB to help spearhead a new wave of scholarship in childrens literature, Weld said.

Registered participants will have access to a full program of speakers, panel sessions, roundtables, book events, research collections and artist-author plenaries.

Artist-author plenary speakers include: Gene Luen Yang, comic book and graphic novel writer, reading diversity advocate and 2016 MacArthur Foundation Fellow; prize-winning poet and picture book author Jorge Argueta, a Pipil Nahua Indian from El Salvador; Maya Gonzalez, an award-winning childrens book artist, author, activist and progressive educator; and Eugene Yelchin, a Newbery award-winning writer and illustrator of books for children and young adults.

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International literary conference explores the 'ecologies of childhood' - The UCSB Current

The Department of Music will host a guest lecture by music studies scholar Gavin Lee Tuesday, May 2, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. via Zoom.

Lee, whose studies are at the intersection of global musical modernisms, queer and decolonial theory, affect, posthumanism, and musical Asias, will present Global History Helps Us to Understand How Colonization Shaped Music.

Lees work has been published by the Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Current Musicology, Music Theory Spectrum, Music Analysis and Routledge. An assistant professor at Soochow University, China, Lee is the founding co-chair of the AMS Global East Asian Music Research study group and the SMT Global Interculturalism and Musical Peripheries group, and serves in the leadership of LGBTQ+ committees across the music societies.

Addressing the complexity of global history and cultural expressions, Lees work challenges the boundaries of contemporary musicological discourse and works to re-imagine and transcend boundaries, occasioning more critical and inclusive conversations and praxis.

Register to attend this virtual lecture.

college of arts and sciencesDepartment of Music

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Global History Helps Us to Understand How Colonization Shaped ... - The Daily | Case Western Reserve University

The Knights of the Zodiac, by Tomasz Bagisk, is the most recent classic anime adaptation in. live action. The film summarizes the popular television series of the 1980s and falls into a common plot error. That of simplifying a complex story that stretches across dimensions, experiences and dozens of different characters.. The result is a feature film halfway between an epic adventure with adolescent overtones and a nonsensical drama.

Of course, this is not the first time that Japanese animations have proved attractive to Hollywood. Over the past two decades, several of the genres most famous stories made it to the silver screen with mixed results.

In some cases, as a sweetened and superficial version of deeper plots. In many others, without the characteristic elements of Japanese series and films. Whether due to the change of scenery, context or language, the result is so little like the original that it is disappointing.. Thus, more often than not, adaptations of classic anime are either failed experiments or simply polemical homages to a larger work.

All in all, we leave you with five classic anime adaptations that generated great curiosity at the time of their release. A few failed to emulate the narrative strength of the original, others achieved interesting results, but without transcendence. In the end, each is an example that Hollywood does not always have the ideal formula for storytelling on the big screen.

In 2017, Netflix sought to explore the complicated universe of anime Death Noteby Tsugumi ba, adapted by Tetsur Araki. The plot tells the story of Lighta teenager of privileged intelligence and psychopathic tendencies who gains access to the curious power of killing at will. By chance, the character obtains a notebook that causes the death of anyone whose name is written on its pages.

In the mythology of the story, the so-called Death Note belong to the shinigamiJapanese spirits of death. Therefore Lightnot only comes into possession of a fearsome magical artifact. At the same time, he enters into a tense relationship with a mysterious entity that has no choice but to obey him as long as he is the owner of the enigmatic object.

The plot of this classic anime seemed ideal for adaptation as a psychological thriller with supernatural overtones. Netflix promised to do it faithfully and bring to the platforms catalog the best-known arc of the extensive narrative. As director, the renowned Adam Wingard was chosen. A team of screenwriters, headed by Vlas and Charley Parlapanides, would be in charge of reinventing the story. The intention was to develop a production that could engage both fans and audiences unfamiliar with the story.

But the result was an almost ludicrous combination of black comedy and fantasy adventure. In its attempt to make the original manga and anime more commercial, the script evaded its moral debates and the cold personality of its protagonist. Nat Wolffs performance as Light seemed even parodic. Willem Dafoe himself, who played the shinigami Ryukleft aside his intense performances for a superficial image of a fearsome creature. The adaptation ended up being a failure both critically and among fans of the classic anime from which it came.

Mamoru Oshiis animated film is a foundational classic of contemporary science fiction. A great work known for its brilliant blend of existentialism, philosophy and debates about the human mind in a dystopian setting. So the possibility of an adaptation in live action worried genre and history buffs.

The project, moreover, was controversial even before it was shot. The decision to have the iconic Cyborg Motoko Kusanagi was played by Scarlett Johansson was surprising. Also that the context of particular relevance to the story was moved to a neutral future, set in a lackluster version of Japan. But the real problem came when screenwriter William Wheeler explained that the story would be abridged. Which made it clear that, in all likelihood, the adaptation of the classic anime would ignore the deeper, harsher ingredients of the narrative. From the concept of posthumanism, to collective dehumanization through technology.

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That was precisely what happened. The feature film, directed by Rupert Sanders, avoided the geopolitical context of the anime and replaced it with a futuristic aesthetic without depth. It also avoided touching on any of the harsh topics about segregation, rootlessness and modern loneliness. Instead, the adaptation of the classic anime became a sophisticated production with great digital effects devoid of meaning. A disappointment for fans of the original story and science fiction in general.

Yukito Kishiros cyberpunk manga has the honor of being one of the few works in the genre to achieve a classic manga adaptation up to expectations. It is a good example of how to transfer a complex story from one medium to another and carefully narrate the emotional and intellectual growth of its character.

Director Robert Rodriguez and screenwriter Bill Pope spent time and effort delving deep into the original work. They also found the right balance between digital and practical effects to achieve the look and feel of the film. astonishingly realistic appearance of its protagonist. But the adaptation is more than an homage, it is an intelligent and accomplished revision of the original manga classic, which ties in a transcendental idea of hope, life and the desire to strive for good.

The Cyborg Alita (Rosa Salazar) wakes up on the medical table of Ido (Christoph Waltz) with no memory of his past. He is not even aware of his mechanical nature. Gradually, however, he will begin to remember, until he discovers that his origin is far more mysterious and frightening than it seemed. The film adaptation celebrates the best of the classic manga and adds considerable personality to it. One of the strongest points of this live action of high quality. You can watch it on Disney+:

Date from Disney Plus discharge now and save with annual subscriptionwith which you can enjoy its entire catalog of series and movies. Access to the latest releasesto the catalog of Star and to the best National Geographic documentaries.

Nobuhiro Watsukis manga, adapted to anime by Kazuhiro Furuhashi, is one of the classics of the genre. It is also one of those that has received the best treatment on the big screen. The plot, which follows the life of renegade samurai Himura Kenshinis a combination of epic and drama. Based on the figure of Kawakami Gensai, it is an exploration into the culture of Japanese warriors from a sensitive point of view and a journey of redemption that reaches its best moments. by delving into the enigmatic personality of its protagonist.

The plot was adapted to the live action for the first time in 2010. The film, titled Samurai X and directed by Keishi Ohtomo, was praised for its attachment to the work from which it comes. It is an adaptation of the classic manga into anime, of the main arc of the character and his spiritual and moral evolution. In the same way as the story from which it comes, it analyzes how its enigmatic protagonist evolves from a ruthless killer to a redeemed man.

In 2014, its sequel was released. Samurai X 2: Kyoto in Flames. and also the closing of the trilogy, Samurai X 3: The Legend. The films narrate the long arc of Kenshins redemption and his turbulent past. Later, two complementary adaptations to the already classic anime would follow. Samurai X: The End debuted in 2021, along with Samurai X: The Origin. Both add data to the central story and expand the manga universe. Each of the feature films is considered a stand-alone storyline that does not imitate the original, but explores its most emblematic elements.

Akira Toriyamas story of battles and fights is one of the most popular and beloved the world of classic anime. And it has an extensive mythology that extends through multiple characters and scenarios, all of them interesting. So it is inexplicable that its 2009 adaptation, directed by James Wong, is unanimously regarded as one of the worst live action in the history of cinema.

Not only does it detract from the central plot of the anime from which it comes, but it also turns it into. an almost parodic version of an ingenious and well-constructed universe.. And if that were not enough, the plot has none of the elements that identify it in animation. The sum of such errors created an enormous nonsense, in which no aspect is salvageable.

A cheap and lousy mise-en-scene, a flat direction and characters played without much depth. This adaptation of the classic anime is an example of all the mistakes that can turn a production of this nature into a failure. As, in fact, the forgettable and controversial film is reminiscent of.

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5 anime adaptations to celebrate the release of 'Knights of the Zodiac - New England Center for Investigative Reporting

Untitled by Michelle Han, 2017, via ArtStation, with Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich, 1817, via Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg

The impossible has long ago become possible. We can fly. We can communicate across great distances. We can cure many illnesses and have long ago started dabbling with the creation of life itself. The digital revolution is changing how we live, experience our identity, and understand reality. As technology is transforming our lives, we seem to have caught a serious case of vertigo. Are we turning into gods or are we in the process of making ourselves redundant? Posthumanism is a philosophical framework that asks the deeper question of what we mean when we say we. Could posthumanism be the philosophy for the 21st century?

Is posthumanism a philosophical theory, a method of analysis or merely a way of describing the condition of our current (and future) world? Posthumanism is difficult to define.

Broadly speaking, posthumanism is a philosophical framework that questions the primacy of the human and the necessity of the human as a category. While humanism appeals to our shared humanity as a basis for creating community, posthumanism criticizes this way of thinking as being limited and full of implicit biases. Some posthuman philosophers even claim that humanism is not only false, but downright destructive.

This may seem counterintuitive at first: the terms humanism and shared humanity remind us of things like progress, equality and human rights. Why should we let go of this way of thinking? Lets look at some of the arguments. Posthuman philosophy criticises the idea of the human on multiple counts. Here are the most important arguments.

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Posthuman thinkers believe that the concept of the human is in fact intertwined with things like colonialism, sexism, and racism. While an appeal to our shared humanity may be beautiful in theory, a brief look at history shows a different story. The idea of the human has historically been used to oppress whoever (and whatever) was considered nonhuman. The philosopher Rosi Braidotti makes the point that our understanding of the human is based on the concept of Da Vincis Vitruvian Man, 1490. She argues that slaves, native populations, and women were historically excluded from the category of what she calls fully human. Consequently, they were barred from enjoying equal rights with the white male. Humanism is therefore far from innocent: It comes with the baggage of Western supremacy, patriarchy, and oppression.

Da Vincis Vitruvian Man is a well-known symbol of humanism. Postcolonial and feminist philosophers have criticised this view and artists like Harmonia Rosales are subverting this in their artwork. Check out our articles on Women in Performance Art and Unknown Female Artists to find out more about women in the art world.

While it is a commonly accepted fact that humans are essentially animals, we continue to place ourselves in opposition to animals and other life-forms. Posthumanism suggests that we should stop thinking of ourselves as superior to the rest of the planet and accept that we are part of nature. After all, science has long ago proven that we share over 90% percent of DNA with apes. Recent discoveries have shown that we have a lot more in common with plants and mushrooms than we may think.

Sounds crazy? In fact, this idea isnt new at all

Long before Darwin, in 1748 the materialist thinker Julien Offray de La Mettrie published the highly entertaining essay Machine Man. While the essay (in which he likens humans to animals, machines, and plants) was highly controversial at the time, later scientific discoveries have proven many of his claims to be right.

But the idea that we are nothing more than a walking plant (De La Mettrie) goes back even further: The brotherhood of humans, animals, plants (and everything else) is deeply rooted in the cosmologies of many aboriginal tribes and natural religions:

Posthumanism asks us to remember our true place in the world: we are an integral part of nature.

It can be argued that humanism is the ideological basis for the exploitation of our planet: if we see ourselves as separate from (and superior to) the natural world, we dont have to feel so bad about exploiting and mistreating other lifeforms. But the natural world isnt the only victim of this mindset a worldview that separates us from the rest of the world also causes damage to our own psychological well-being. Seeing ourselves as outside nature contributes to the feeling of fragmentation and alienation that pervades the postmodern condition.

Embracing posthumanism could heal the perceived gap between the human and non-human. It could therefore help us connect more deeply to ourselves, each other, and the world around us.

But there is a price to pay: if we want to heal our relationship with the natural world, we have to let go of the idea that we are different or special. The posthuman decentralisation of the human requires us to release our sense of self-importance and embrace the interconnectivity and interdependence of everything. This shift in perspective may inspire us to finally take serious action in slowing down the extinction of animals and the destruction of ecosystems. A more inclusive posthuman perspective could therefore help us in facing complex global problems like the climate crisis.

New times require new ways of thinking. While humanism may have been an appropriate philosophy for the Renaissance, the challenges of the 21st century confront us with new questions and dilemmas. Can a posthuman philosophy help us navigate this brave new world?

We live in an age of AI, algorithms, robotics, and genetic manipulation. Wars are no longer fought by human agents alone. Technologies such as bomb disposal robots and drones help to save and destroy human lives. But what are the ethical implications of taking the human soldier out of the war zone? Will replacing human soldiers with robot soldiers decrease or increase the havoc of war?

While an army of robots sounds like a science-fiction nightmare, some theorists argue that killer-robots may in fact behave more humanely than human soldiers. A robot army is unlikely to pillage and rape unless they are programmed to do so. On the other hand, they are also less likely to show human compassion. Or could we program machines to be more compassionate than humans? The ethics of programming is only one of the many challenges we have to face in the 21st century

The past century has shown the vastness of the damage technologies can inflict: the scale of destruction and amount of suffering of the two world wars is still part of our collective trauma. More recently, the Syrian war has shown us the cruelty of humans and the devastation caused by remotely controlled drone strikes.

Taking a posthuman perspective, we may start by asking a deeper question: why do we continue to associate the word humane with lack of cruelty? After all, no animal is as cruel and destructive as the human animal. We need to take a good look in the mirror and ask ourselves whether the human should really be used as an ethical standard.

Likewise, we must face the even more difficult ethical question of whether the preservation of the human should always be put above all else. Does the saving of human lives justify the destruction of our planet and the killing of other animals?

While war is a big driver of technological innovation, it isnt the only area that is being revolutionized by new technology. The advances of the past century have also enabled us to improve, prolong and save the lives of millions of people.

Whether we like where our world is going or not, it is impossible to halt the clock of technological progress. We have already surpassed the question of whether technology is good or bad. Instead, we urgently need ethical frameworks that help us deal with the more complex question of how.

How should technology be programmed, who should do the programming, how can it be regulated and what happens if there is a bug in the system?

A posthuman ethics could give us vantage points for dealing with such questions.

And this is only the beginning of it. How do we deal with the ethics surrounding human enhancement, cloning and DNA manipulation?

Advanced technologies and virtual realities are an integral part of our lives. Digital devices have already merged with our bodies in multiple ways: phones and computers are increasingly replacing (and upgrading) the functions of our eyes, ears, mouths and brains. They allow us to outsource our memories, communicate with others and see into faraway places and times. Technology allows us to transcend our human limitations. Smartphones have long ago become part of our extended self. We are finding ourselves increasingly dependent on the technologies we own.

To the philosopher Donna Haraway this is hardly surprising:

The separation between humans and machines has disintegrated. Old definitions of human no longer apply. Humanism, so the posthuman argument goes, is an outdated concept that is useless for making sense of our posthuman condition.

And it looks that the boundary between the human and machine will only continue to dissolve.

The posthuman thinker Yuval Noah Harari predicts that we will upgrade [ourselves] step by step, merging with robots and computers in the process, (2015, Homo Deus). According to Harari, we have long ago replaced the belief in God with a belief in human progress and the sanctity of human life.

Does that sound like science fiction? In 2013, Google publicly announced that they aim to solve death. In Hararis view, our quest for immortality is simply a logical consequence of our ever-growing powers. If we combine this with the belief that man is the measure of all things (a sentence attributed to the Greek philosopher Protagoras), we have given ourselves the go ahead for an upgrade into divinity.

While we have not achieved immortality yet, and the COVID-19 crisis has reminded us of our all too human vulnerability, our growing power confronts us with new ethical dilemmas: 2018 saw the birth of the first gene-edited babies. The responsible scientist was given a prison sentence for his Frankensteinian transgression, but the babies remain part of our posthuman reality. The knowledge enabling us to play God is already out there. Whether we like it or not, we cannot stop these advances. It is impossible to put the genie back in the box. The boundary between the human and the non-human has already disappeared and it looks like it will only continue to dissolve.

Human enhancement brings up difficult ethical and philosophical questions. Will these changes turn us into Gods, or will they turn us into monsters? If we manage to solve the last secrets of life and death, will our immortality amount to our own annihilation?

The critique of humanism suggests that we already live in a posthuman reality. But why is it so difficult to truly integrate this way of thinking into our worldview?

Our human identity is a key part of our sense of self, and humanism the ideological ground of a capitalist Western-dominated world. Letting humanism go requires us to let go of our ego. It requires us to let go of our sense of self-importance. It would also force us to face some uncomfortable truths about the way we have treated each other and the planet.

The posthuman condition is a paradoxical one. We have created the conditions of our own undoing. As we acquire greater powers through scientific discovery and technology we also fall into ever-greater danger of making ourselves disappear. The reality we are creating also creates us. There is no us and the outside world, no subject-object dichotomy. We are the creators and the creatures of the posthuman condition. We are Frankenstein and the monster.

Embracing posthumanism means to step off our self-made pedestal. But letting go of the human also requires us to step up: great power comes with great responsibility. While a posthuman perspective requires humility, it also urges us to step up to the challenges we have created for ourselves. It is a stepping up and a stepping down.

Does accepting our status as animals and eradicating our pretensions of being outside nature empower or disempower us? If we were to upgrade ourselves into immortal beings, would these beings still be considered human? Or would genetic enhancement make us lose our humanity? All this boils down to the following question: What are we really trying to hold on to when we hold on to the human in us?

More:

Posthumanism: A Philosophy for the 21st Century? - TheCollector

Editors note: The information for this story includes excerpts from citations provided by the Office of University Development.

Thirty-four University of Michigan faculty members are receiving awards this fall in recognition of their notable contributions in the areas of teaching, mentoring, service and scholarship. A dinner and ceremony honoring the recipients will take place Oct. 3.

Heres a look at this years awards and their recipients:

The University Press Book Award is presented to members of the university teaching and research staff, including emeritus members, whose books have added the greatest distinction to the Press List. Selections are made from books published within a span of two calendar years. The recipient is Pablo Alvarez.

Curator, Special Collections Research Center, University Library

Alvarez is known for his work promoting the use of manuscripts and early printed books at U-M and beyond, and for recently co-authoring A Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Volume 1.Since Alvarez joined U-M in 2010, he has collaborated with Nadezhda Kavrus-Hoffmann to describe the extensive collection of Greek manuscripts at the U-M Library. The collection includes 110 codices and fragments ranging from the fourth to the 19th centuries CE, many acquired by former U-M professor Francis William Kelsey, for whom the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology is named. Their book, which includes a digital version, is a powerful tool for students and scholars interested in various aspects of early Greek culture, including art, textual transmission and biblical studies.

The University Diversity and Social Transformation Professorships were launched in 2019 to honor senior faculty members whose work has promoted the universitys goals around diversity, equity and inclusion. Recipients will hold their initial appointments for five years. They also will receive special faculty fellow status at the National Center for Institutional Diversity and spend at least one semester as a faculty fellow-in-residence. The recipients are Germine Awad, Roy Clarke, Kevin Cokley, Elizabeth R. Cole, Erica E. Marsh, Barbra A. Meek, Rogrio M. Pinto and Sara Pozzi.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of psychology, LSA

Awad is a nationally recognized scholar in the psychology of Arab Americans and the causes and effects of racism toward the Middle Eastern, North African American and African American communities. Awads co-edited book The Handbook of Arab American Psychologyhas been hailed as groundbreaking and won the 2016 Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Book Award by the Arab American National Museum. She is also active in public engagement and has authored numerous op-eds related to racism, given talks to community organizations and worked with the U.S. Census on its racial categorization of MENA Americans. Awad joined the U-M faculty in August and has made exceptional contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion through her scholarship, teaching and service. Awards for her work include the Louise Spence Griffeth Fellowship for Excellence and the Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Faculty Fellowship. At the national level, in the American Psychological Association, Awad leads an effort to create a new voting position representing the Arab/MENA slate and co-chairs the APAs Eradication of Racism, Discrimination, and Hate Task Force. She also is co-founder and president of the American Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Psychological Association.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; Marcellus L. Wiedenbeck Collegiate Professor of Physics, professor of physics, LSA

Clarkes career-long commitment to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion is evidenced by an outstanding record of scholarship, leadership, service and mentoring. Clarkes visionary initiatives demonstrate exceptional leadership in promoting students interest in the physical sciences and finding innovative ways to diversify access to research careers in the field. He was a pioneer in recognizing the need for a more flexible and individualized approach to graduate training when he founded U-Ms Applied Physics Program in 1987. The program became a transformative model for other graduate programs committed to broadening access to the physical sciences. A member of the U-M faculty since 1979, Clarke has a remarkable record of mentoring students, many of whom are now employed in influential positions in academia and national laboratories. He has supervised 37 Ph.D. students in physics and applied physics, including 20 from underrepresented groups and 10 women. Clarke received the first Imes-Moore Award, was named an Outstanding Mentor by the Sloan Foundation and won the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. He also served on the board of directors of the National Physical Science Consortium, which awards graduate fellowships to women and minorities in physics, chemistry, math and computer science.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of psychology, LSA

Cokley is a renowned senior scholar with a record of outstanding contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion in every aspect of his research, teaching and service. He is widely known for his work on racial identity, challenging the notion that African American students are anti-intellectual, and in recent years on the impostor phenomenon among minority students. Cokleys research has culminated in more than 75 peer-reviewed publications, book chapters and an edited book Making Black Lives Matter: Confronting Anti-Black Racism. A member of the U-M faculty since August, Cokley received the Distinguished Psychologist Award from the Association of Black Psychologists and the Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship on Race and Ethnicity Award from the Society of Counseling Psychology. He has published nearly 50 op-eds on topics such as police shootings of Black people, racial disparities in school discipline and critical race theory. Cokley has served on the American Psychological Association Task Force on Race and Ethnicity Guidelines in Psychology and the APA Task Force on the Elimination of Racism, Discrimination and Hate. Cokley recently chaired the APA Commission on Ethnic Minority Recruitment, Retention and Training in Psychology Task Force, and is president of the APA Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity and Race.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of womens and gender studies, of psychology and of Afroamerican and African studies, and director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity, LSA

Cole is widely known for her commitment to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion through her scholarship, on-campus leadership, teaching, mentoring and national professional activities. Her research program has illuminated deep evidence of the value of considering an individuals multiple social positions, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, ability and status in the field of psychology. Carefully addressing the most common sources of resistance and misunderstanding among psychologists in a widely cited paper in AmericanPsychologist, Cole laid out recommendations for how to conduct research that seriously considers the multiple category memberships people hold, as well as the simultaneous features of privilege and disadvantage that an individual may experience. Her research program constitutes a major contribution to making Black womens lives visible and intelligible in psychology. A U-M faculty member since 2000, Cole is the director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity and from 2020-22 was the associate chair of diversity initiatives in LSAs Department of Psychology, where she worked to shape and develop transformative policy and practices around DEI issues. Throughout her career, she has been an exceptionally important mentor to women graduate students and junior faculty.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; S. Jan Behrman Collegiate Professor of Reproductive Medicine and professor of obstetrics and gynecology, Medical School; and professor of womens and gender studies, LSA

Marsh is widely recognized for her contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion through her scholarship, teaching and service. Since 2016, Marsh has been chief of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Michigan Medicine. She also serves on the Community Health Coordinating Committee for Michigan Medicine and is associate director of the Michigan Institute of Clinical and Health Research. Her contributions to CHCC helped secure Michigan Medicines $9 million investment in community health needs. A member of the U-M faculty since 2016, Marshs research focuses on comparative reproductive health across populations, seeking to understand the challenges of reproductive disorders by addressing the pathophysiology, social determinants and clinical impact, patient experience and community impact of the diseases from symptoms and diagnosis to treatment and health. Marshs most recent work focuses on health care disparities in African American and Hispanic females, including the prevalence, impact and treatment of uterine fibroids, obesity and fertility. She directs the Womens Health and Reproductive Disparities Collaborative, which she founded in 2016 to serve as a research hub and a home for fellows, residents, medical students and undergraduates seeking mentored research opportunities in health care disparities in womens health.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of anthropology, of linguistics and of American culture, and associate dean of social studies, LSA

Meek has made outstanding contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion through her scholarship, teaching and service. Meek has served as a visionary leader in promoting DEI within anthropology, American culture and Native American studies. Her work has been instrumental in putting U-M on the map to becoming one of the top institutions for Indigenous studies. A U-M faculty member since 2001, Meeks current research expands upon the relationships between linguistic structure, semiotics and ethno-racialization. Within the Department of Anthropology, she has co-chaired the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and was associate chair and director of graduate studies. Within the Department of Linguistics, Meek has mentored students interested in Native American language, cultures and the social and historical factors that affect the maintenance and vitality of Native American languages and cultures. In recognition of her efforts, she was presented with the Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award in 2018. As director of the Native American Studies Program, Meek has worked to increase the number of Indigenous faculty who focus on Native American studies. Meek spearheaded an important proposal for a cluster hire of Indigenous scholars that was funded by the Provosts Anti-Racism Faculty Hiring Initiative.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; associate dean for research and innovation, Berit Ingersoll-Dayton Collegiate Professor of Social Work and professor of social work, School of Social Work; and professor of theatre and drama, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Pinto has made outstanding contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion through his scholarship, teaching and service. His community-engaged research, funded primarily by the National Institutes of Health, focuses on the impact of interprofessional collaboration on the delivery of evidence-based services to minority racial, ethnic and sexual groups in the U.S. and Brazil. Pinto has made critical contributions to shaping the field of HIV prevention research. Pinto joined the U-M faculty in 2015. A dedicated educator, his teaching focuses on social justice, LGBTQ+ issues and implementation science. He has distinguished himself as a mentor to masters and doctoral students. Pinto was a member of the School of Social Works Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee in 2015-16. He is serving two terms as the schools associate dean for research and innovation. For the past five years, Pinto has co-chaired SSWs Faculty Allies for Diversity Committee, which focuses on advancing minority students. In 2020, on behalf of FADC, he accepted the CEW+ Carol Hollenshead Inspire Award for Excellence in Promoting Equity and Social Change. In 2021, he was awarded the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award from the Office of the Provost.

University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor; professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences, College of Engineering; and professor of physics, LSA

Pozzi is an internationally recognized researcher in nuclear detection and an advocate for institutional transformation to achieve greater diversity, equity and inclusion. She is the founding director of two large consortia of multiple universities and national laboratories in nuclear security and has graduated more than 25 Ph.D. students, including the first African American female Ph.D. recipient in the history of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences. Pozzi joined the U-M faculty in 2008. As the inaugural director of DEI for the College of Engineering, she has not only addressed issues of inequity within the college, but she has become a nationally recognized expert in this area. For five years, Pozzi served on the ADVANCE STRIDE committee, teaching workshops on equitable faculty recruiting to hiring committees across U-M. In 2020-21, she led the colleges effort to establish five community teams charged by the dean to develop plans for DEI education for every faculty member, staff member and student at CoE. Pozzi also created and for three years has led the highly successful Michigan Engineering DEI Lecture Series, featuring DEI experts from U-M and around the country.

The Collegiate Research Professorship honors people who hold at least a 60% appointment at the rank of research professor. Selection criteria includes exceptional scholarly achievement and impact on advancing knowledge in science, engineering, health, education, the arts, the humanities or other academic fields of study. The recipient is Mihaela Banu.

Collegiate Research Professor; research professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and associate chair for doctoral engineering and research, Integrative Systems and Design Division, College of Engineering

Banu is a distinguished scientist, educator and mentor recognized for her multidisciplinary research in plant biology and materials science. Banu has successfully advanced knowledge in engineering at the societal level with environmentally friendly transportation and health care. Her natural-based sustainable materials have led to a 10% reduction in carbon footprints in transportation. Banu is also known for her research in developing a smart dental implant that provides a robust solution for nearly 160 million people suffering from edentulism toothlessness who currently are not candidates for dental implants. Her research program has attracted the interest of private clinicians and has also spawned patents and multiple research proposals. A member of the U-M faculty since 2013, Banu is a dedicated educator and mentor. With a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Banu established the CO2 Neutral Student Research Group within the U-M Global CO2 Initiative and the Jyoti Mazumder Additive Manufacturing Student Club that is a magnet and home for students underrepresented in mechanical engineering, including women and minority students. For this effort, she was awarded the 2021 Willie Hobbs Moore Achievement Award.

The Distinguished Faculty Achievement Awards honor senior faculty who consistently have demonstrated outstanding achievements in the areas of scholarly research or creative endeavors, teaching and mentoring of students and junior colleagues, service and other activities. The recipients are Jill Becker, Kathleen Collins, Rada Mihalcea, Stephen Rush and Melanie Sanford.

Patricia Y. Gurin Collegiate Professor of Psychology, professor of psychology, LSA; research professor, Michigan Neuroscience Institute, Medical School

Becker is a world-renowned researcher in biological psychology, neuroscience and the psychological sciences. A pioneer in the study of sex differences in the neural mechanisms of addiction and motivated behavior, Beckers groundbreaking research has effectively and repeatedly challenged existing standards and broken new ground to understand the nature of sex differences in the brain and their effects on behaviors. Her novel contributions have changed how neuroscientists view the brain and how hormones can impact behavior through neurobiological mechanisms. Since joining the U-M faculty in 1983, Becker has received numerous awards for her outstanding mentorship, particularly of female scientists, and in efforts to facilitate the representation and career trajectories of women in neuroscience, psychology and related scientific disciplines. Becker has been published in the top journals in her field, including Brain Research Reviews, Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, Journal of Neuroscience, Neuropsychopharmacology, Neuroscience Lettersand Cell Metabolism. In recognition of her influential research, Beckers awards include the Neal Miller Distinguished Lecture Award from the American Psychological Association, Excellence in Research Award from LSA, and she was named a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.

Professor of internal medicine, of microbiology and immunology, associate dean for physician scientist education and training, and director of Medical Scientist Training Program, Medical School

Collins is a renowned physician-scientist whose research has advanced the understanding of why human immunodeficiency virus causes persistent lifelong infection and the disease AIDS. Collins accomplishments over the past two decades in HIV/AIDS research have established her as a preeminent researcher, scholar, educator, mentor and international thought leader in this area of biomedical research. Collins work focuses on how to counter the immuno-evasive effects of HIV accessory proteins to provide better treatments for people infected with HIV. A member of the U-M faculty since 1998, Collins promotes diversity, equity and inclusion through her efforts on the American Society of Clinical Investigation Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and via direct mentoring. For these efforts, she was an invited speaker at the National Institutes of Health Bridging the Gap Seminar in 2019, held at the 14th Biennial Bridging the Career Gap Workshop: Promoting Diversity in Biomedical Research. She was selected to be a member of the prestigious National Academy of Medicine in 2016. In 2019, she was chosen to be the editor in chief of the ASCI journal JCI Insight for a five-year term.

Janice M. Jenkins Collegiate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, and professor of electrical engineering and computer science, College of Engineering

Mihalcea is an internationally acclaimed researcher in the field of natural language processing, the area of artificial intelligence focused on how machines make use of human language. Mihalcea is known for her pioneering work using web-based statistics for a variety of natural-language-processing applications. Mihalceas seminal work, TextRank, a graph-based ranking model, introduced a new approach to capturing the salience of text in an unsupervised manner. Mihalcea joined the U-M faculty in 2013. She has continually pushed the boundaries of natural language processing, defining new research directions at the intersection of language, society and AI technology. Mihalcea has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists. At U-M, she directs the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Strongly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, Mihalcea has initiated numerous diversity and outreach programs, including Girls Encoded, specifically designed to recruit and retain women in computer science. Her work as an advocate for women in computing at U-M was recognized in 2018 with the Carol Hollenshead Award, and in 2019 with the Sarah Goddard Power Award. During 2018-22, Mihalcea served as the vice president and president of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the scientific and professional organization for people working on natural language processing.

Professor of dance/music technology, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Rush, a renowned composer, educator and scholar, has made extraordinary contributions to the School of Music, Theatre & Dance and its students. A member of the U-M faculty since 1987, Rush has taught in the departments of Music Theory, Composition, Dance, Music Education, Jazz and Performing Arts Technology. In 2015, he received a Teaching Innovation Prize for coordinating the Creative Arts Process course taught to more than 600 students. Since 2005, Rush has taken more than 150 students to an immersive music, dance and yoga summer program in Mysore, India. He has written six operas and four symphonies and has collaborated with nearly every ensemble at SMTD. Rushs most recent work is a video opera that includes sung transcriptions of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in a fictional presentation of a dialogue after their visits to India and Mecca. He also founded and has directed the U-M Digital Music Ensemble for the past 25 years. For this work, he won the Smithsonian Award for Innovation in Technology for his annual computer-assisted installations. A member of the Faculty Senate Committee for Anti-Racism, Rush authored an essay on anti-racist music theory fundamentals, the first of its kind.

Moses Gomberg Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor; and professor of chemistry, LSA

Sanford, a widely recognized scientist and educator, conducts research across a broad range of areas, most notably organic and inorganic chemistry. Sanford is an expert in the design and synthesis of organic and inorganic molecules, as well as in the mechanistic study of transition metal-catalyzed processes. Sanfords work on high valent palladium and nickel intermediates now appears in the standard textbooks. Her awards and honors include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the Blavatnik National Award in Chemical Sciences. Sanford is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is an executive editor for the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society. Sanford has published more than 200 scientific articles that have garnered over 28,000 citations. A member of the U-M faculty since 2003, Sanford chaired the Third Century Initiative Committee, which oversaw $25 million in grants to promote experiential learning across all U-M schools and colleges from 2012-16. She also is an exceptional educator and mentor, having recently been awarded the Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award.

The University Librarian Recognition Award recognizes active and innovative early career achievement in library, archival or curatorial services. It is presented to librarians, archivists or curators who have no more than eight years practice in their profession. The recipient is Callum Carr.

Assistant archivist, UM-Flint Library

Carr is an assistant archivist at the Frances Willson Thompson Library, UM-Flint. Carrs research focuses on the nexus of community memory and established history, and the role archives play. Their work provides access to historic materials through outreach, description and digital collections. Carr has successfully managed the collection by bringing it into the modern era, curating and preserving the new collections and managing the UM-Flint archives collections. Their work has been instrumental in digitizing all parts of the collection, managing the collection using ArchivesSpace and publishing finding aids online and making them searchable. During the pandemic, Carr began working with other librarians from the FWTL on a program titled Archiving Pandemic and Protest. The program focuses on the Flint community and their experiences and stories during the pandemic and the protests that have been occurring over the past couple of years. A member of the UM-Flint faculty since 2018, they have served on the board of directors of the Genesee County Historical Society and the Whaley Historical House Museum. Carrs hard work has already had a huge impact on the FWTL, making it a more visible resource for the community and for the campus.

The Faculty Recognition Awards are intended for mid-career faculty members who have demonstrated remarkable contributions to the university through achievements in scholarly research or creative endeavors; excellence as a teacher, adviser and mentor; and distinguished participation in service activities of the university and elsewhere. Eligible candidates include full professors with no more than four years in rank, as well as tenured associate professors. The recipients are Amy Chavasse, Hui Deng, Xianzhe Jia, Kerri A. Pratt and Stephen Smith.

Professor of dance, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Chavasse is a globally celebrated dance artist recognized for her innovative pedagogy inside and outside the classroom. Chavasses creative endeavors have positively impacted the field of dance in many ways, using choreography as an invaluable methodology to research social-political-ecological phenomena and hierarchical social justice ecosystems. Her choreographic works have been featured widely across the United States and the globe. A U-M faculty member since 2006, Chavasse has created innovative new courses for the BFA and MFA curriculum sequence. She has collaborated with dance alumna Catherine Coury, the U-M International Center, and the Office of the Provosts global engagement team to establish the departments first study abroad program, inaugurated in 2019. With a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, Chavasse has spent the last two years incorporating anti-racist and culturally relevant teaching into her courses. She also found adaptive strategies that respond to a bracing assessment of research and artmaking in the academy and survival in the midst of a global pandemic and burgeoning social justice movements. Chavasses reputation as a dance artist is international in scope, and from this sustained work she has established numerous exchanges between U-M and celebrated artists in Argentina, Italy and China.

Professor of physics, LSA

Deng is recognized internationally for her research in quantum optics, nanostructures and physics. In 2017, Deng was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society for her pioneering contributions to fundamental physics and applications of matter-light coupled systems. In 2018, she was elected a fellow of the Optical Society of America. A member of the U-M faculty since 2008, Deng is the recipient of the prestigious Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation, presented annually to 20 globally renowned academics worldwide in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments in research to date and their exceptional promise for the future. A caring teacher and mentor, she has taught a wide range of courses, from introductory physics to senior and graduate-level courses in physics. Deng has published in prestigious multidisciplinary journals, including NatureCommunicationsand Physical Review Letters. Within the physics department, she has served as the adviser for the Society of Physics Students and the Society of Women in Physics, and as an official mentor to graduate students. Deng currently serves on the Quantum Science Working Group and the advisory committee to the vice president for development.

Associate professor of climate and space sciences and engineering, College of Engineering

A physicist who teaches space physics and space weather modeling, Jias discoveries have had a profound impact on the field of planetary science. As a result of his work, the bulk of the water in the solar system is no longer thought to be sequestered in planet Earth. The new discoveries by Jia and colleagues have shown that most of the water in the solar system is in the interiors of Jupiter and Saturns moons, and in Uranus and Neptune. His pioneering research and international leadership have earned Jia leadership roles on NASAs Europa Clipper and ESAs Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer missions. He is the deputy team leader for the Magnetometer Team on Europa Clipper and leads the inductive sounding efforts for both the NASA and ESA missions to the Galilean satellites near Jupiter. The results of the two international flagship missions will ensure that U-M remains at the forefront of planetary research. A member of the U-M faculty since 2010, Jia has received numerous U-M research and teaching awards, including the Research Faculty Recognition Award, Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award and Henry Russel Award.

Associate professor of chemistry and of earth and environmental sciences, LSA

Pratt is an internationally acclaimed scientist and leader in the field of Arctic atmospheric chemistry. Pratts pioneering research in the Arctic tackles the urgent need to understand atmospheric and multiphase processes. Her work examines the chemical interactions of atmospheric trace gases, particles and snow in the Arctic and wintertime environments. Her group reported the unexpected observation in the humid summertime Arctic of solid atmospheric particles, providing the first observational evidence of a previously hypothesized mechanism. Later, Pratts research group proved a long-standing hypothesis and quantitatively explained the loss of the greenhouse gas ozone near the Arctics surface atmosphere. A member of the U-M faculty since 2013, Pratt is an accomplished educator. She was recognized with the 2020 LSA Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award and the 2017 LSA Individual Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. Pratt has taken several undergraduate researchers on field expeditions to the Arctic, southern Alaska and northern Michigan. She is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including the 2021 American Geophysical Union Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award and 2021 American Meteorological Society Henry G. Houghton Award. She was selected to serve on the scientific steering committee of the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project.

Associate professor and associate chair of ecology and evolutionary biology, and associate curator of ecology and evolutionary biology, LSA

Smith is a world-renowned researcher in ecology and evolutionary biology. His research focuses on systematics, the study of similarities and differences in the morphology and other phenotypic traits of existing organisms, supplemented by the fossil record and molecular data in the form of genomic and DNA and RNA sequences. A member of the U-M faculty since 2012, Smith and his team have developed innovative techniques and tools that have been implemented in the form of open-source software made freely available to the scientific community. He has published more than 100 high-impact papers in prominent journals. Smith has had a major impact on undergraduate education through his service as associate chair for undergraduate studies in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, as well as through service on a college-level committee. He has also served U-M through his thoughtful and effective advocacy for inclusivity in STEM courses. Smith continues to contribute to the broader scientific community, recently serving as guest editor for a special issue of the American Journal of Botany,and currently is serving as associate editor of the journal Systematic Biology. He also consults, reviews proposals and serves on review panels for the National Science Foundation.

The Board of Regents created the Distinguished University Professorships in 1947 to recognize senior faculty for exceptional scholarly or creative achievement, national and international reputation, and superior records of teaching, mentoring and service. Faculty selected for the recognition, in consultation with the dean of the school or college in which they hold an appointment, name the professorship after a person of distinction in their field of interest. The duration of the appointment is unlimited. Newly appointed Distinguished University Professors are expected to deliver an inaugural lecture. The recipients are Eva L. Feldman, Hosagrahar Jagadish, Webb Keane, Peggy McCracken and Kamal Sarabandi.

James W. Albers Distinguished University Professor of Neurology, Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology, and professor of neurology, Medical School

Feldman is an internationally acclaimed clinician-scientist, a leader in health care and academic medicine. and a gifted educator and mentor. Feldman is widely recognized for her groundbreaking research in ALS, a fatal nerve affliction commonly known as Lou Gehrigs disease. Her work in developing a cellular therapy for ALS resulted in a first-in-human clinical trial. As a researcher, Feldman established the NeuroNetwork for Emerging Therapies, a global team of more than 30 scientists and clinician-scientists dedicated to understanding and finding new treatments for a range of neurological diseases. A member of the U-M faculty since 1987, Feldman is a dedicated educator committed to integrating the training of the next generation of scientists, clinician-scientists and practicing clinicians with her transformative work on treatment approaches for many significant neurological disorders. In doing so, Feldman has elevated the education of future leaders in scientific fields at U-M. A strong advocate for women, she partnered with a team of remarkable women at U-M to create a recently funded NIH RO1 project focused on a peer mentoring program to overcome obstacles for mid-career women clinician-scientists.

Edgar F. Codd Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Bernard A. Galler Collegiate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, College of Engineering; and director, Michigan Institute for Data Science

Jagadish is one of the nations most visible and influential leaders in database management and the broader area of data science. Through innovations ranging from database forms to natural language queries, Jagadish has led the democratization of data access. In 2019, he became the director of the U-M Institute for Data Science, which includes more than 400 faculty members from more than 60 departments, and has refined its focus to bring transformative change at U-M. In 2016, he developed the first massive open online course on data science ethics. A member of the U-M faculty since 1999, Jagadish also co-led the effort to create a new masters degree in data science, which involves the College of Engineering, LSA, School of Public Health and School of Information. He served on the board of directors of the Computing Research Association, the nations leading organization to advance the field of computer science research, from 2009-18. Since 2021, Jagadish has chaired the board of the Academic Data Science Alliance. Jagadish was instrumental in the effort that landed a $38 million National Science Foundation grant for the U-M Institute for Social Research to build a research data ecosystem.

George Herbert Mead Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology, and professor of anthropology, LSA

Keane is a sociocultural anthropologist best known for his work on ethics, semiotics and comparative religion. Keanes intellectual dynamism has shaped his performance as a teacher and mentor, and is fuel for the invaluable service he provides to the Department of Anthropology in LSA and to the larger discipline of anthropology. His ethnographic fieldwork has been undertaken in Indonesia, and he continues to focus some of his major writings on that country. Yet the scholarly range and significance of Keanes work is far wider, spanning anthropology, history, philosophy, religious studies, social psychology and southeast Asian studies. A U-M faculty member since 1997, in the past 10 years Keane has published more than 30 articles, reviews, interviews and book chapters, as well as two books. His work on religion is now considered foundational, as are his discussions of semiotic ideology. Keanes analyses of materiality, the objects we encounter in everyday social life, the cultural contexts of their use and the very concept of materiality itself, have fundamentally changed the way these topics are studied by anthropologists and linguists.

Anna Julia Cooper Distinguished University Professor of Medieval French Literature; Mary Fair Croushore Professor of Humanities; Domna C. Stanton Collegiate Professor of French; professor of French, of womens and gender studies, and of comparative literature, and director, Institute for the Humanities, LSA

McCracken is a field-defining scholar, valued educator and academic leader in LSA. She has served as director of the Institute for the Humanities since 2017, and is widely recognized as a preeminent scholar of medieval French literature and culture whose work has focused on the themes of gender, sexuality, spirituality, posthumanism and the body. McCracken is the author of three influential monographs, three co-authored books, six co-edited collections and numerous articles and book chapters. She serves on the editorial boards of the most prominent journals in the field and has held leadership positions in national professional organizations. A member of the U-M faculty since 1999, she has been at the forefront of creatively advancing humanities research at U-M, serving as the inaugural director of the Humanities Collaboratory. In 2020, McCrackens vision and leadership were instrumental in garnering a $1.14 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to expand programming at the Institute for the Humanities Gallery. McCracken has received numerous awards, including a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship at the Newberry Library and the John H. DArms Award for Distinguished Graduate Mentoring in the Humanities.

Fawwaz T. Ulaby Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Rufus S. Teesdale Professor of Engineering, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, College of Engineering

Sarabandi is widely known for his research in radar remote sensing in the field of applied electromagnetics. His radar calibration techniques, miniaturized antenna designs for wireless devices, metamaterials and Synthetic Aperture Radar inversion algorithms represent seminal contributions. Sarabandi is a member of the NASA Soil Moisture Active and Passive Mission science team, and for his scientific contributions in this mission he received a NASA Group Achievement Award. He led a major center, supporting 18 faculty and their students, for microelectronics and sensors funded by the Army Research Laboratory from 2008-18. He was also elected to the National Academy of Inventors in recognition of his numerous patents and the four startup companies he established. Sarabandi also served on the NASA Advisory Council, providing technical advice to the NASA administrator. A member of the U-M faculty since 1989, Sarabandi is an exceptionally talented educator and an inspirational mentor of graduate students. He has supervised 61 Ph.D. theses and numerous masters students and postdoctoral fellows. He has been recognized with the Faculty Recognition Award and the Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Jackie Lawson Memorial Faculty Governance Award reflects distinction in faculty governance service to the entire university that reaches beyond the local campus confines of Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint. The recipient must have excelled in building a positive relationship between the Ann Arbor campus and one or both regional campuses, as exemplified by Lawsons career. The recipient is J. Caitlin Finlayson.

Professor of English literature, College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters, UM-Dearborn

Finlayson is a highly respected scholar, collaborator and academic. While serving as vice chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs from 2020-22, Finlayson focused on strengthening relationships among the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses. Her dedication to bringing transparency to faculty governance and to building an equitable, just and sustainable university community has been invaluable. Most recently, Finlayson worked collaboratively to address many of the challenges all three campuses have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her main areas of focus were the pandemics impact on junior faculty and parenting faculty, as well as ensuring that the vaccine mandate applied equitably across all three campuses. A member of the UM-Dearborn faculty since 2007, Finlayson served as a representative for the Dearborn campus on the Senate Assembly from 2017-20. She has also contributed to a variety of Senate Assembly committees, including the Academic Affairs Advisory Committee and Committee on Oversight of Administrative Action, among others. Finlayson authored the Resolution on Flints Faculty Workload Policy, approved by SACUA and the Senate Assembly, as part of an effort to support Flint faculty in their immediate concerns about the proposed post-tenure review process.

The Regents Award for Distinguished Public Service recognizes public service activities that relate closely to teaching and research, and reflect professional and academic expertise. The recipient is Oveta Fuller.

Associate professor of microbiology and immunology, Medical School

Fuller is widely recognized for her scholarship in the fields of virology and public health. Most notably, Fuller has made important contributions related to HIV/AIDS transmission and pathogenesis in communities of color in Africa. She has spent more than a decade conducting global health implementation science research, which seeks to develop and rigorously document effective approaches to sharing biomedical science advances in infectious diseases with the broader community. Fuller helped to develop an innovative, science-based health education model called the Trusted Messenger Science-Based Intervention. This work disseminates the latest information about HIV/AIDS through networks of religious clergy and faith leaders to increase understanding of science relating to the diseases. A member of the U-M faculty since 1988, Fuller also has provided relevant information about SARS-CoV-2 transmission and vaccines to communities of color in the United States. During the 2020 global spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, the Trusted Messengers approach was an effective resource for transferring science-based information to the general community. For this work, Fuller was asked to serve on the FDA Advisory Panel for the evaluation of the COVID-19 Vaccine Candidates for Emergency Use Authorization.

The Distinguished Faculty Governance Awards were established by the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs in 1986. The awards recognize distinguished service to faculty governance over several years, with an emphasis on universitywide service. The Alumni Association funds the award. The recipients are Neil Marsh and David S. Potter.

Professor of chemistry, LSA; and professor of biological chemistry, Medical School

Marsh has made important contributions to faculty governance at U-M, LSA and the Department of Chemistry. At the university level, Marsh chaired the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs from 2018-19, overseeing the work of the Faculty Senate Office and Senate Assembly and the committees reporting to it. At the college level, he served from 2009-12 as an elected member of the LSA Curriculum Committee, which provides faculty oversight of all aspects of the undergraduate curriculum. At the department level, Marsh served multiple terms on the Department of Chemistry Executive Committee. A member of the U-M faculty since 1995, Marsh served on the Academic Affairs Advisory Committee to the Provost from 2009-11. During this time, his work helped to shape policy on a range of important issues, including U-Ms diversity, equity and inclusion initiative and sexual misconduct prevention training for undergraduates. In addition to his normal business as chair, Marsh has made extensive efforts to communicate to the faculty at large the importance of faculty governance through his innovative newsletters and presentations.

Franics W. Kelsey Collegiate Professor of Greek and Roman History, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and professor of Greek and Latin, LSA

Potter is widely known for his exceptional commitment to central faculty governance at U-M. He began participating in central faculty governance when he was elected to the Senate Assembly during the 1990s. Subsequently, he served on the Academic Affairs Advisory Committee, a Senate Assembly committee that advises the provost and vice president for academic affairs. Potter was elected to the Senate Advisory Committee for University Affairs from 2006-09, including serving as chair in 2008-09. In 2015, he was elected Senate Secretary, a role he held until 2021. Potters most important recent contribution to faculty governance was his service as chair of the Senate Assembly Committee to Review the WilmerHale Report, together with his ongoing service as chair of the ad hoc SACUA Motion for Sexual Misconduct Policy Working Group. A member of the U-M faculty since 1986, Potter has worked to change the climate and policies surrounding sexual misconduct at U-M. He also was a member and chair of the Student Relations Advisory Committee as an unwavering advocate for the needs of students. In this role, Potter advanced major initiatives designed to improve the educational experience of all students.

The Research Faculty Achievement Awards honor people who hold at least a 60% appointment at the rank of research associate professor, research scientist or associate research scientist. Selection criteria include exceptional scholarly achievements, as evidenced by significant contributions to an academic field of study over time, a specific outstanding discovery or the development of innovative technology or practice. The recipients are Shawn McKee and Jeanne Stuckey.

Research scientist; and director, ATLAS Great Lakes Tier-2 Computing Center, LSA

McKee has built a highly distinguished career at U-M as an internationally recognized physicist, innovator and leader in the field of high-energy physics. McKees publication history is impressively diverse, including papers in cosmic-ray physics, dark matter, dark energy and particle physics, as well as in innovative technology areas like grid computing, storage technologies and networking. He had a singular role in enabling the Large Hadron Collider research program. McKee joined the ATLAS experiment, an international collaboration of thousands of scientists from hundreds of institutions. The experiment produces vast quantities of data that far exceed previous experiments, requiring novel grid-based computing infrastructure to enable distributed processing and analysis at high-performance computing facilities around the world. A member of the U-M faculty since 1999, McKee holds important leadership roles in high-energy physics networking, including co-chair of the Research Networking Technical Working Group, network project manager for ATLAS and past chair of the Internet2 End-to-End Working Group. In the summer of 2020, he was recruited to serve on Internet2s Network Architecture, Operations and Policy Advisory group for a two-year term. McKee has served as director of the ATLAS Great Lakes Tier-2 Center, which began operation at U-M in September 2006.

Research associate professor in biological chemistry, Medical School; research associate professor and Center for Structural Biology managing director, Life Sciences Institute; and research associate professor in biophysics, LSA

Stuckey is a renowned scientist in the area of structural biology using X-ray crystallography. Stuckeys research program is devoted to structure-based drug design, most notably for cancer targets. Her investigations solve crystal structures for target proteins and analyze the structures with insight, paving the way for the design and improvement of numerous drugs. Among such drug developments is a potent degrader of STAT3, an intensely pursued protein target for several human cancers. In 2001, Stuckey was appointed co-director of the new Laboratory for the Analysis of Macromolecular Structures. In 2003, she moved the core into the new U-M Life Sciences Institute and has led it to great success as managing director of the Center for Structural Biology. Stuckey and her group perform structural research, which includes the development of cDNA constructs and purification protocols, biophysical characterization of target-ligand complexes, as well as protein crystallography, structural analysis and writing the structural aspects for grants and papers. Her work with high-quality crystal structures led to the development of a banana lectin as an effective antiviral drug. A member of the U-M faculty since 1992, Stuckey leads U-Ms participation in the multi-institutional Life Sciences Collaborative Access Team at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

The University Librarian Achievement Award recognizes exceptional distinction reflected in active and innovative career achievements in library, archival or curatorial services. The recipient is Judy Smith.

Informationist, A. Alfred Taubman Health Sciences Library

Smith is a highly respected informationist in the Research and Informatics Unit of the A. Alfred Taubman Health Sciences Library. A valued member of the U-M Library community, Smith has consistently sought new opportunities for engagement and partnership and has raised the profile and prestige of THL. At THL, Smith assumed leadership of a working group to measure the impact of THLs work on patient and population care. She is also widely recognized for establishing in 2012 a new library space at the North Campus Research Complex called MLibrary@NCRC. Smiths vision described a new model of library service, grounded in deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities posed by the interdisciplinary and collaborative research enterprise at NCRC. She coordinates all aspects of the operations and actively promotes the new library to NCRC administration, faculty, staff and students. Smith recently was guest editor for the American Journal of Botany and currently is associate editor of the journal Systematic Biology. A U-M faculty member since 2010, Smith has served as a formal mentor to library colleagues and students at the School of Information. She currently chairs the Medical Library Associations Public Health/Health Administration Caucus.

The Research Faculty Recognition Award honors people who hold at least a 60% appointment at rank of research assistant professor or assistant research scientist. Selection criteria include exceptional scholarly achievements, as evidenced by publications or other scholarly activities in any academic field of study. The recipient is Monique Verhaegen.

Research associate professor, Department of Dermatology, Medical School

Verhaegen is a world-renowned scientist, educator and mentor recognized for her pioneering research in skin biology and cutaneous oncology. While her ongoing investigations focus on various types of skin cancer, this past year Verhaegens work has resulted in advanced understanding of Merkel Cell Carcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of skin cancer associated with a Merkel cell polyomavirus. Through her deep commitment and tireless devotion, she developed the first genetically engineered mouse model of MCC, which had not been achieved since discovery of the virus in 2008. Verhaegens important work will facilitate pre-clinical studies that may ultimately improve the prognosis for patients with this aggressive malignancy. A member of the U-M faculty since 2013, Verhaegen has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Cancer Cell, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Nature Cell Biology, Cancer Research and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Her teaching talent has served to strengthen trainees skills and confidence in scientific techniques and methodology, data collection and interpretation, critical thinking, scientific writing and oral presentations. Verhaegen also is an active and exceptionally gifted mentor to trainees at all stages of career development.

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Thirty-four faculty members to receive awards this fall | The University Record - The University Record

While there is a concerted attempt to expand the scope of liberal arts for reasons ranging from ultra-nationalism to global rankings, it becomes essential to think of how liberal arts methods work for the digital age.

Liberal arts can be defined as being founded in humanistic inquiry for the well-being of both individual and society, and given to explorations of questions of method, social justice, scholarly traditions of interpretation and critical thinking.

The digital age, marked by a preponderance of visual texts, shorter attention spans and slogan-type writing (the tweet being a pre-eminent instance), appears to be at odds with the way liberal arts and its cohort of disciplines history, literature, music, philology, philosophy have traditionally thought, spoken, written and been taught.

The liberal arts traditional SOP

First, liberal arts call for deep thinking and reflection. This is facilitated by deep reading and reflection on what is read. This includes critical examination of the concepts, leaving nothing unexamined (for example, nationalism, secularism, heterosexuality).

It is interested in and reflects upon how words, discourses and registers are employed in the languages of national identity, history, names and identities to enable some people to belong and some, to be excommunicated. The liberal arts, when taught with rigour, ensure that the concepts and signifiers are also contextualised deeply, so that even supposedly innocuous usages are seen to pack ideological baggage that is discriminatory and not discerning.

For example, clash of civilizations, aliens, foreigners and natives are terms and signifiers that are loaded with specific historical connotations and which define peoples lives. In other words, the languages of politics, history-writing and the everyday are studied for questions of power, belonging, inclusion/exclusion all of which require careful attention to words, registers and discourse.

This is, of course, a time-consuming method. In the age of the MCQs, summaries and the precis as means of reducing the burden on teachers and students, one notes in passing that the pandemic exacerbated these systems in the name of making things easy sustained engagement with concepts, terms and contexts which requires extended time is not possible, or even deemed necessary. Thus, we undertake the process of reading and interpretation at a speed that does not allow for deeper reflection. Philosophical concepts, literary forms and political ideas are made available in summary form, thereby erasing the possibility of reflection, and also a nuanced understanding of the same.

Also read: The Creativity of Liberal Arts Versus the Speed of Digital Culture

Then there is the form of liberal arts output; its form of delivery the meditative essay, also born of the SOP of deep reading and sustained reflection.

The blog, the tweet and the slogan as genres of the new age demand short, terse and often cryptic writing. The popularity of the meme that summarises the great novels in one sentence each; the Twitterature volume (Twitterature: The Worlds Greatest Books Retold Through Twitter by Alexander Aciman and Emmett Rensin); The Royal Shakespeare Company tweeting Romeo and Juliet are instances of abbreviated liberal arts work.

The meditative essay, which takes a while to come to the core argument, uses footnotes and block quotes, then proceeds to unpack the arguments it is critiquing one by one is, perhaps, not a feasible genre now. In the age of post-truth and summaries, with their easy dismissal of arguments without a shred of evidence or logical reasoning, the liberal arts essay, which insists on hypothesis, rationale, argumentation, evidence, internal logic and modalities of refutation, is untenable. The liberal arts is not a quick field of inquiry, in short.

Second, the inherent resistance of liberal arts to sweeping generalisations that are made without evidence or worse, with selective evidence, ensures that it is an anachronism. The liberal arts do not endorse majoritarianism as proof of validation or truth-values; rather, the adheres to great African American thinker-activist Booker T. Washingtons, formulation, A lie doesnt become truth, wrong doesnt become right, and evil doesnt become good, just because its accepted by a majority.

Liberal arts will, of course, argue about how something came to be accepted as fact or truth, the power structures that regimented truth, among others. So much so that the liberal arts approach would appear, in the digital age, like so much quibbling over nuances.

And yet, that is the point.

The liberal arts refusal to be swayed by rhetorical flourishes and jingoism stems from its insistence on investigations into processes that enabled some dogma to become (exclusionary) truth, so that it unravels subtexts, ideologies and influences. Its insistence on examining systems of power ensures that concepts, contexts and processes are all unpacked to reveal how, for example, gender roles were made to appear natural.

The traditional liberal arts methodologies and concerns, from philology to history, semantics to image studies, philosophical explorations to ethical issues, demand a scrupulous attention to words, historical facts and specifics, and the social construction of facts rather than vague assertions that are deemed to be emotionally true. In an age where the superficial and the surface dominates the rhetoric of the tweet, which does not demand nuances and evidence, the liberal arts lose their principal strength: close attention to language, ideology and power.

Also read: Please Study Political Science But Not Just to Sit for UPSC Exams

Third, the liberal arts foundational assumptions of equality, multiple identities and justice that undergirds its motto of plurality and pluralism, is unsustainable in a world given to easy binarisms (us/them, insider/outsider, original/fake). In an age when the emotional appeal, via jingoistic rhetoric, is given over to such binaries, then the liberal arts insistence on plurality of meaning, identity and origins becomes untenable.

In the age where emotional appeal gathers strength around notions of fixed, unchanging and originary identities, the liberal arts argument in favour of features and states of being like multiculturalism and syncretism, or fluid identities and borrowings/influences, shared borders and roots, would be nothing short of anathema. The liberal arts emphases, in short, lack emotional appeal because they appeal to nuanced, layered understandings, whether of the self or of society and not static identities and invented binarisms.

Crude emotional appeal is not the liberal arts SOP. It is the careful, often plodding, appeal to reason (the feature of human civilization that the European Enlightenment, now of course debunked, enshrined). In an age of simplistic, reductive truths, an argument for multiple truths is just not tenable.

So then?

In his 2018 book Tyrant, Stephen Greenblatt, arguably the most influential Shakespeare scholar today, demonstrated how Shakespeares plays, often dismissed as tedious, outdated and of course, by a white, Christian and privileged male, can direct our attention to how democracies make dictators possible. That is, Greenblatts literary studies approach enables him to recontextualise Shakespeare in contemporary Trumps America.

Tyrant Stephen Greenblatt W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.

But the key point is not the argument he makes; the point is how he makes it.

Written for the non-literary studies, non-academic audience, Greenblatt delivers a Shakespeare who could very well be a writer of a soap-opera script or a street-play. Greenblatt reads Shakespeare closely, needless to say, but he writes the interpretation in a language that is popular, even populist. Perhaps this is the way for the liberal arts to espouse.

A similar shift is perceivable in digital projects from established institutions and scholars: the Critical Posthumanism and Arcades projects; scholars like Rosi Braidotti and others blogging. Their lectures, quite a few of which are not academic in tone, are now on YouTube, alongside their more seriously-toned conference presentations and formal lectures. Videos and Instagram Reels are short, crisp and deliver the thoughts and ideas in a bite-sized portion rather than as the academic tome.

Blogs now carry writings by celebrity authors, commentators and critics, but the delivery of their key concepts and ideas is through the language of popular writing. In the sciences, as we recognise, Matt Ridley transformed the communication strategies of high-end research, bringing it to the common reader.

Perhaps the solution lies in new forms of academic work, such as the photo essay (notably seen in the productions from the Centre for New Economic Studies), graphic medicine and developmental/environmental comics (by, to take just one example, the work of Rohan Chakraborty).

Perhaps the liberal arts need also to adopt and adapt a less forbidding (think, the Oxford University Press titles in History with 35 pages of endnotes, in small font!) tone of voice. The big publishers Oxford University Press, Routledge and others have redesigned scholarly resources in the form of online materials such as the Oxford Bibliography Online, Oxford Reference and Oxford Scholarship Online which puts its high-academic work online, but also carries author-written chapter summaries.Routledge Historical Resources prefaces high-academic essays with easy-to-understand, jargon-free introductions. A language-shift is visible in these online works, which are authored by established scholars and thinkers.

Perhaps liberal art need to make a shift in their register without losing the nuances they traditionally espouse as SOP, in order to get the audience to read what they put out there. They cannot abdicate their primary humanistic inquiry; their foundational commitment to justice, plurality and equity; their long-standing resistance to totalitarianism; their commitment to structures of meaning-making.

What they can perhaps do and need to do is to recast their mode of argumentation in more popular registers.

Anna Kurian and Pramod K. Nayar are professors at the University of Hyderabad.

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The Liberal Arts in the Age of Illiberalism - The Wire