Author: Eugenie Chao

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Congratulations to Stephanie Anderson, for her recent publications

Two of Stephanie Anderson’s works were published in the last few weeks:  She co-edited the book All This Thinking: The Correspondence of Bernadette Mayer and Clark Coolidge (https://www.unmpress.com/9780826364340/all-this-thinking/), and authored an article titled “Shiny Collisions: Editing as Serious Humor in dodgems”
in the most recent issue of Women’s Studies: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00497878.2022.2130314
Learn more about Stephanie’s inspirations behind the book and the article:

Continue reading “Congratulations to Stephanie Anderson, for her recent publications”

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Student Report on Religion + Protest: Reinterpretation as a Method For/Against Social Movements

Reported by Yongkun Vicky Wu, class of 2026

Religion + Protest is part of HRC’s Tuesday Night Conversation Series, Religion+X, hosted by the Religion+ research group. The informal conversations focus on the intersection between religion and a different topic each week and feature an array of faculty guest speakers. 

Photographed by Shuyuan Zhou

Do religions support or resist the authorities? If so, in what way particularly? The Tuesday Religion + Protest Conversation, hosted by James Miller and featuring Hyun Jeong Ha (research interests include power, religion, sectarianism, and gender in the Middle East), Jesse Olsavsky (teaches and researches broadly in social movements, U.S. history and politics, and African American history) and Megan Rogers (research focuses on religion in contemporary China, and she has a particular interest in the intersection of religion and social inequality) revolved around the primary tactic (though not the only) of reinterpretation. Continue reading “Student Report on Religion + Protest: Reinterpretation as a Method For/Against Social Movements”

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Computational Humanities Seminar Series: Estimating Remaining Lifespan from the Face

Computational Humanities Seminar Series

Date: Feb 24 (Friday) 10 AM, China time

Meeting ID: 987 3096 4006
Passcode: 2023

Abstract: The face is a rich source of information that can be utilized to infer a person’s biological age, sex, phenotype, genetic defects, and health status. All of these factors are relevant for predicting an individual’s remaining lifespan. In this study, we collected a dataset of over 24,000 images (from Wikidata/Wikipedia) of individuals who died of natural causes, along with the number of years between when the image was taken and when the person passed away. We made this dataset publicly available. We fine-tuned multiple Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models on this data, at best achieving a mean absolute error of 8.3 years in the validation data using VGGFace. However, the model’s performance diminishes when the person was younger at the time of the image. To demonstrate the potential applications of our remaining lifespan model, we present examples of using it to estimate the average loss of life (in years) due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to predict the increase in life expectancy that might result from a health intervention such as weight loss. Additionally, we discuss the ethical considerations associated with such models. Continue reading “Computational Humanities Seminar Series: Estimating Remaining Lifespan from the Face”

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Student Report on Religion+ Literature

Reported by Cody Schmidt, class of 2025

Religion+ Literature is part of HRC’s Tuesday Night Conversation Series, Religion+X, hosted by the Religion+ research group. The informal conversations focus on the intersection between religion and a different topic each week and feature an array of faculty guest speakers.

Photographed by Shuyuan Zhou

Literature professors Adrien Pouille, Stephanie Anderson, and Caio Yurgel joined students and faculty in the Water Pavilion on January 17th, along with religion and humanities professors James Miller and Yitzhak Lewis. Flanked by small stacks of books around their chairs, they proclaimed that “everything is literature” and examined works focusing on religion. Continue reading “Student Report on Religion+ Literature”

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You’re invited to Humanities Research Lunch

You are cordially invited to attend the Humanities Research Lunch. The event, hosted by DKU’s Humanities Research Center, will be showcasing humanities research at DKU. You will meet the humanities faculty, learn what the humanities are, and what humanities research looks like.

Registration is open. To participate, you must register by Wednesday, February 1, 9am China time. Scan the QR code to register, or visit: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0HxNnm8jxflzf7M

Scan to register

Date: Friday, February 3, 2023

AB Ballroom
1100 Lunch buffet opens
1130-1230 Presentations about Humanities Research at DKU
1300 Lunch buffet ends

We look forward to seeing you!

 

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About Planet X

Planet X has been recruiting for more student members! Learn about what they do below and see images of the game. You can also join the WeChat group and be up-to-date on the latest news by scanning the QR code on the bottom of the page.

Planet X was initiated by Nathan (Cao, 2022) and sponsored by Humanities Research Center as part of PETAL Lab in 2018. It remained to be only an idea and theory until 2019 when Nathan expanded the group. Skylar (Hu, 2023), Eric (Qu, 2023), Leiyuan (Tian, 2023), Audrey (Liu, 2023), and Nathan, formed the first development team. From 2019 to 2021, the team continued working on the conceptualization of the game, and successfully established the game world, including numerical systems, gameplay mechanisms, and artistic styles. Continue reading “About Planet X”

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HRC’s Planet X is Recruiting!

Planet X Recruitment
Want to be a member of a whole new world? Our game project “Planet X” awaits!

Applications due Jan 29, 2023.

Details of the Project

The project is supported by the Humanities Research Center.

We adopt the model of a strategy game to create an “alternative world”, in which one plays as a leader of a state on “Planet X”, thus separated from his/her real-life identity & socioeconomic status, and explore people’s possible ethical choices facing the dilemma between development and the need of countering environmental crisis. Continue reading “HRC’s Planet X is Recruiting!”