How do we become friends of fire in a society that mostly teaches us to fear it?
"Fire the Monster, the Teacher, the Gift" is adapted from Ghaleb's dissertation project on fire management and intentional burning practices in California. The dissertation explores the different ways that, through burning, fire practitioners from governmental, non-governmental, and tribal backgrounds understand and engage with fire as a living being, and how these understandings inform...
What are some of the ways that street art makes me feel that I belong in the city I live in?
This talk looks at the geo-political landscape of two cities through the critical lens of public art: the border city Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico where the speaker grew up and Oakland, CA, where the speaker (and perhaps the student audience) live together. By focusing on how local artists utilize images, words, color, lines and shapes to to express...
How can we make the world a better place through food?
Agriculture is over 12,000 years old and forms the foundation of modern civilization. It is not one singular advancement, but rather many technological innovations built on top of each other. Yet while many of these technologies have helped humans produce staggering amounts of food, they have also brought new issues with them, such as soil degradation, excessive fossil fuel use, unhealthy diets, water...
Taiwan and the islands in the Taiwan Strait have increasingly become the locus of heightening geopolitical tensions in the world and the site of a cultural and psychological contestation of the region’s uncertain future. This talk examines how artists, politicians and everyday villagers are mobilized at the front lines of China’s maritime border with Taiwanese-administered islands. Students will be introduced to a...
In 1966, German-Jewish journalist Charlotte Beradt released her magnum opus "The Third Reich of Dreams," a slim book containing over a hundred nightmares she had collected from ordinary Germans who lived in Berlin during the first six years of the Nazi dictatorship (1933-1939). What they demonstrate is a persistent political climate of anxiety and fear that could follow city residents under threat of...
How do we identify, understand, and resist the negative implications of widespread adoption of artificial intelligence?
As hype and excitement grows around algorithmic technologies and artificial intelligence, it's more important than ever to understand the broad impacts that AI can have on our society. Especially when governments adopt harmful technologies, or use technology in inappropriate ways, the scale of harm can be massive. Indeed, from facial...
When should we tell the truth? When should we believe someone?
Citizens today are subject to a wide variety of misinformation. But despite the risks, we can't get by without trusting other people. How can we deal with misinformation? In whom should we place our trust?
This lesson will introduce some basic concepts from epistemology (the theory of knowledge), with a focus on feminist epistemology, in an effort to give students some...
How can we explore our feelings about climate change through creative writing?
As environmental crisis escalates, creative writers across genres are increasingly centering feelings related to climate change in their work. Reading this literature can help us access our feelings of grief or anxiety related to the climate crisis, and can illuminate the ways in which poets guide the way for us to reshape our relationship with the natural world to be one of...
How can we mitigate climate change while also keeping in mind the inequalities that climate change has made worse?
On one hand, the negative effects of frequent extreme weather events brought about by climate change are being felt by people around the world. On the other hand, human activities that contribute to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere show no signs of stopping. While mitigation efforts to decrease our CO2 emissions are...
How is climate change impacting island territories and how are people responding to those impacts?
As international organizations, national governments, and private entities race to limit emissions and reduce climate change impacts, small island developing states (SIDS) face disproportionately high levels of risk. This is a clear issue of environmental injustice, as these islands are among the lowest producers of greenhouse gasses but are burdened with the greatest impacts. The United...
