Events - Oklahoma Center for the Humanities

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Events

2023-2024 Events

September

Turning Red Screening & Panel
September 14, 2023, 6 p.m. at the Lorton Performance Center

Watch Turning Red ahead of the fall Presidential Lecture with Danielle Feinberg. Join us ahead of the screening for Pixar trivia, a costume contest and Chipotle. Stay after to hear from TU professors in film, psychology, computer science and game design, and art. Learn more here.

 

What is Fantasy and Who Decides?
September 20, 2023, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

Help us celebrate Danielle Gurevitch and Elana Gomel’s new book, The Palgrave Handbook of Global Fantasy! Both Gurevitch and Gomel will participate in a panel about fantasy and their new book at 101 E. Archer. Arrive early and get a free Dungeons and Dragons dice set. Reception with food and wine to follow.

 

Hellerween Auditions
September 23, 2023, 12 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

Heller Theatre Company and the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities are proud to present the second year of the horror-themed short play program, “Hellerween: Shorts to Scare You Shortless!” Stop by 101 Archer to audition to be in this production! Auditions will be held on the second floor. Learn more here.

 

Burning Biographer: Living with D.H. Lawrence
September 26, 2023, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

Help us welcome frequent New York Review of Books contributor Frances Wilson to Tulsa. Wilson will talk about the art of biography, her new book Burning Man: The Trials of D.H. Lawrence,and the research she is doing on novelist Muriel Spark in McFarlin Library’s Special Collections. Learn more here.

 

Deep Greenwood Community Read Event #1
September 28, 2023, 6:30 p.m. at All Souls Unitarian Church

This conversation will explore the politics of Tulsa before the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and the echoes of those politics we see in our national issues today. The event will cover chapters 1-8 of Built From the Fire. Learn more here.

October

Fall Presidential Lecture – Danielle Feinberg
October 3, 2023, 7:30 p.m. at the Lorton Performance Center

Danielle Feinberg began her career at Pixar Animation Studios in February 1997, and since then, she has worked on 14 of Pixar’s feature films. She cut her teeth on early films like A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and the Academy Award®-winning Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Feinberg was the director of photography-lighting for the Academy Award®- winning features WALL•E, Brave, and Coco. Most recently she completed her work as the visual effects supervisor on Turning Red, released on March 11, 2022. Learn more here.

 

First Friday Fall Bash
October 6, 2023, 6 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is celebrating fall with a big bash for TU students during the October First Friday Art Crawl. Along with the usual food spread, live music and cash bar in our gallery, we will have free sno cones from Josh’s Sno Shack, yard games in our garden, and face painting. All students are welcome to the third floor balcony for a glo party and visit with Goldie! Don’t have a car or a ride? No worries – TU will have free shuttles running from Bayless Plaza on campus to 101 Archer and back from 4:45 – 10 p.m. Learn more here.

Graphic Design Activism
October 19, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is welcoming renown graphic designer and curator of “The Tolerance Poster Show” – Mirko Ilić. Ilić will give an encompassing lecture, detailing his many samples of pro-bono work for different organizations and why he decided to create the Tolerance Project. Originally from Bosnia, he is currently based in New York City and works as a graphic designer and illustrator.

Tarot and the Motion of Fate
October 23, 2023, 7:30 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

OCH will host a series of Halloween-themed events at 101 Archer, beginning with the haunting mysticism of tarot. What does a random card draw tell us about synchronicity? How can engagement with medieval symbolism enrich our modern lives? And how can we preserve our sense of free will while facing fateful factors beyond our control? T. Susan Chang will explore the tarot deck’s evolution over six centuries and the ways tarot acts as mirror and window for the cultures in which they appear. Learn more here.

Hellerween 2023
October 26 – 28, 2023, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is proud to partner with Heller Theatre Company to present the second year of the horror-themed short play program, “Hellerween: Shorts to Scare You Shortless!” The three-day festival features short horror and suspense themed plays written by local playwrights. The plays will be staged all throughout the building, giving guests the chance to explore the abandoned floors of 101 Archer. Learn more here.

November

FLOW State with Richard Huskey
November 7, 2023, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

Deep Greenwood Community Read Event #2
November 11, 2023, 4 p.m. at the Big 10 Ballroom

January

Isaac Butler
January 25, 2024, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

February

Patrick Deneen
February 8, 2024, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

Jennifer Raff
February 29, 2024, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

March

Book Launch for Jennifer Croft
March 12, 2024, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

Spring Presidential Lecture – Jaron Lanier
March 26, 2024, 7 p.m. at the Lorton Performance Center

Nina Berman
March 28, 2024, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

April

Deep Greenwood Community Read Event #4
April 11, 2024, 7 p.m. at 101 E. Archer

 

To stay up-to-date on all of our upcoming events, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Or visit the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities blog for more information.

  • Spring 2023 Events

    Spring 2023 Events

    April

    Pandemic Politics and the Viral Underclass

    April 6, 7pm at 101 Archer

    “A theory of the viral underclass can serve as a framework for understanding how vulnerability is manufactured… and how viruses spread through society more broadly.” Learn more here.

    An Evening With Mohsin Hamid

    April 9, 7pm at the Reynold’s Center on TU’s campus

    Mohsin Hamid is the award-winning author of Exit West, TU’s 2022 Common Read selection. Hamid will give a keynote address followed by a moderated Q&A. Learn more here.

    Publishing in Mainstream Venues

    April 15, 3:30pm at 101 Archer

    Dr. Kevin Dettmar in conversation with Ted Genoways

    Are We Losing Our Capacity for Freedom?

    April 19, 7pm at 101 Archer

    Join us in welcoming author, essayist, and literary critic, Bill Deresiewicz, as he discusses his newest book, The End of Solitude. Learn more here.

     

    March

    The Work of Sovereignty Exhibit

    March-April at 101 E. Archer

    Gallery open Wed.-Sat. 12pm-5pm

     

    Reproductive Rights and Freedom Symposium

    March 4, 9am-4pm at 101 E. Archer

    For more information and/or to register, click here.

    Freedom Machine or Death Trap? The Dilemmas of Driving

    March 9, 7pm at 101 E. Archer

    “Automobiles have always been… the great American ‘freedom machines.’ But for too many of us, they have become vehicles of unfreedom.” Learn more here.

    February

    The Rhyme and Rhythm of Democracy

    Feb. 2, 7pm at Tyrell Hall

    Featuring acclaimed historian and author, Siva Vaidhyanathan. Learn more here.

     

    In the Kingdom of Shadows: Book Launch

    Feb. 10, 5pm at the Zarrow Center

    TU Prof. Nicole Bauer will be in conversation with Jennifer Davis. Learn more here.

     

    An Evening with Susan Briante

    Feb. 16, 7pm at Tyrell Hall

    Briante will talk with TAF and OCH fellow, author Kaveh Basiri, about her newest book, Defacing the Monument. Learn more here.

     

    The All-Black Towns of Oklahoma: Conference

    Feb. 18, at 101 Archer St.

    The accompanying gallery exhibition runs January 6-February 25 at the Zarrow Center downtown. To register for the conference or to learn more, click here.

     

    Freedom in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

    Feb. 22, 7pm at the Zarrow Center

    Blaine Greteman writes, “As our lives are increasingly guided by artificial intelligence, what are the implications for the humanities, and for human freedom itself?” Learn more here.

     

    Becoming Disabled: Book Launch

    Feb. 23, 7pm at the Zarrow Center

    TU Prof. Jan Wilson will be in conversation with Sara Beam. Learn more here.

     

    To stay up-to-date on all of our upcoming events, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Or visit the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities blog for more information.

  • 2021 Events

    January

    THURSDAY, January 28, 2021 AT 7 PM – 8:30 PM

    Dying to Belong: Racism, Public Health, and the Law

    Online Event

    In this talk, Montrece McNeill Ransom, JD, MPH, public health expert and belonging strategist, will define and characterize belonging, highlight its impact on human potential and health disparities, and describe how our legal system can serve as a facilitator and barrier to a sense of belonging for marginalized populations. She will also offer tips on steps we can all take to cultivate cultures of belonging in the places where we live, learn, work, play, and worship. 

    ==> Read more here

    February

     

    THURSDAY, February 4, 2021 AT 7 PM – 8:30 PM

    White Rage: A Community Discussion

    Online Event

    Join us for an essential and timely discussion about white rage in America. Copies of Carol Anderson’s book White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide will be distributed prior to the event by our partners at Fulton Street Books in Tulsa.

    ==> Read more here

     

    THURSDAY, February 25, 2021 AT 7 PM – 8:30 PM

    BorderX: A Crisis in Graphic Detail

    Online Event

    Join us for a conversation with Mauricio Alberto Cordero, editor of BorderX: A Crisis in Graphic Detail. BorderX is a comic anthology about the crisis on the southern border. It includes work by dozens of artists who have created a series of exhibits, narratives, posters, and ruminations. This collaborative work creates a prism of different views on the cruelty of American policies at the border and their far-reaching effects on immigrants and asylum seekers.

    ==> Read more here

    March

    THURSDAY, March 11, 2021 AT 7 PM – 8:30 PM Immigration, Justice and Courage

    Online Event

    We’re delighted to welcome Reverend Daniel Groody, author of “Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice: Navigating the Path to Peace,” for a discussion about immigration, justice, and courage. This talk is designed not as another report on the crisis at the border but as a discussion about reshaping how we understand the people and events there.

    THURSDAY, March 25, 2021 AT 7 PM – 8:30 PM

    Zombies, Seances, and the Unrestful Dead: Art after the Pandemic

    Online Event

    Elizabeth Outka is the author of Viral Modernism: The Influenza Pandemic and Interwar Literature, a work about literary and artistic responses to the early 20th century Flu Pandemic and the ways in which it shaped modern culture. In her talk she will discuss pandemics featured in art and literature, connecting 1918 to 2020 and focusing on the flu’s surprising connection to zombies, spiritualism, and poems like T. S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land.”

    THURSDAY, March 18, 2021 AT 7 PM – 8:30 PM

    Coming of Age at the End of the World: An Existential Toolkit for the Climate/COViD Generation 

    Online Event

    Join Sarah Ray, the author of “A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety,” for a discussion about letting go of eco-guilt, resisting burnout, and cultivating resilience while advocating for climate justice. Copies of her book will also be given away to a limited number of participants.

    ==> Read more here

  • 2020 Events

    September

     

    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 AT 7 PM – 8 PM

    A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing: An Evening with Author DaMaris Hill

    Online Event

    Join us for a virtual talk with Dr. DaMaris Hill, author of the award-winning book, “A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing.” From Harriet Tubman to Assata Shakur, Ida B. Wells to Sandra Bland and Black Lives Matter, black women freedom fighters have braved violence, scorn, despair, and isolation in order to lodge their protests. In A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing, DaMaris Hill honors their experiences with at times harrowing, at times hopeful responses to her heroes.***30 free copies of Dr. Hill’s book and Humanities Center bookmarks will be given away to participants as part of this event***

    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 AT 7 PM – 8 PM

    Dr. Jennifer Freyd: Addressing Sexual Violence with Institutional Courage

    Online Event

    Dr. Jennifer Freyd is an American researcher, author, educator, and speaker who has published widely on betrayal trauma, institutional betrayal, and institutional courage. In this virtual lecture, Jennifer Freyd will explore the power of institutions to act with institutional courage and the importance of accountability and transparency in these critical moments. She will explain her concepts of betrayal trauma, betrayal blindness, DARVO, and institutional betrayal – and how these ideas and her research findings led to her work on institutional courage. Freyd will suggest concrete steps for both individuals and institutions to address sexual abuse through a lens of institutional courage.

    Learn More ==>>

    October

     

    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2020 AT 7 PM – 8 PM

    Laughable Testimony: When Women Discuss Health

    Online Event

    Melanie A. Kiechle is an associate professor of history at Virginia Tech, and author of “Smell Detectives: An Olfactory History of Nineteenth-Century Urban America” (Washington University Press, 2017). Smell Detectives looks at the relationship between the construction of scientific expertise, on the one hand, and “common sense”―the olfactory experiences of common people―on the other. She researches and teaches at the intersections of science, medicine, lay experience, and the environment in the nineteenth century. Join us for a talk with Dr. Kiechle about the history of public health as a way of providing some context and depth of understanding to our current pandemic. Specifically, Kiechle will focus on the role women play/have played in public health.

    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2020 AT 7 PM – 8 PM

    Our History is the Future: Standing Rock and the Long History of Indigenous Resistance

    Online Event

    Dr. Nick Estes, a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe and Assistant Professor in the American Studies Department at the University of New Mexico, will discuss the long tradition of settler violence and indigenous resistance in the U.S. Estes is the author of the book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Verso, 2019) and he co-edited Standing with Standing Rock: Voices from the #NoDAPL Movement. In 2014, he co-founded The Red Nation, an Indigenous resistance organization. ***30 free copies of Dr. Estes’ book and Humanities Center bookmarks will be given away to participants as part of this event***

    THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2020 AT 7 PM – 8 PM

    All the Rage: The Culture of Online Anger

    Online Event

    Anger and fear seem to pervade online culture in our current times–and liberals and conservatives are both susceptible. Join us for a virtual discussion with Dr. Dannagal Goldthwaite Young and A.J. Bauer about the culture and psychology of online political outrage. Young is an Associate Professor of Communication and Political Science at the University of Delaware where she studies the content, audience, and effects of political humor. Her research on the psychology and influence of political entertainment has been widely published. Her book Irony and Outrage examines satire and outrage as the logical extensions of the respective psychological profiles of liberals and conservatives. Bauer is a writer and former journalist based in New York. His work has appeared in The Daily Texan, the Austin American-Statesman, the Texas Observer, The Patriot Ledger, the Boston Globe, Social Text Periscope and The Guardian. He researches contemporary and historical right-wing movements and conservatism in the United States. He is visiting Assistant Professor at NYU and co-editor of the recent book News on the Right. He will start as Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama in 2021.

    November

     

    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2020 AT 7 PM – 8 PM

    Hope in Times of Trauma: A Discussion with Dr. Chan Hellman

    Online Event

    Dr. Chan Hellman is internationally renowned for his work on building a hope-centered response to trauma. Hellman is a professor in the Anne & Henry Zarrow School of Social Work and Founding Director of the Hope Research Center. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Pediatrics for the OU College of Medicine and the Department of Health Promotion Science for the OU College of Public Health. With over 150 scholarly publications and countless workshop in the areas of child maltreatment, domestic violence, homelessness, etc., Chan has focused his work on sharing the science and power of hope in our ability to overcome trauma and thrive. If you’re interested in ways to build a hope-centered approach to trauma, then you won’t want to miss this discussion.

    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020 AT 7 PM – 8 PM

    Who Watches the Watchmen? Race and Representation in Speculative Fiction

    Online Event

    Join us for a virtual conversation between Dr. André Carrington and Dr. Rebecca Wanzo on representations of race in The Watchmen–and beyond. From comic books to science fiction, our acknowledgement of the significance of blackness in twentieth-century American literature, television, and culture is more important than ever. Carrington is a scholar of race, gender, and genre in Black and American cultural production. His first book, Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (Minnesota, 2016) interrogates the cultural politics of race in the fantastic genres through studies of science fiction fanzines, comics, film and television, and other speculative fiction texts. Rebecca Wanzo is a professor and chair of the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Her most recent book, The Content of Our Caricature: African American Comic Art and Political Belonging (NYU Press, 2020) examines how Black cartoonists have used racialized caricatures to criticize constructions of ideal citizenship, as well as the alienation of African Americans from such imaginaries.