Report by Muxiao Li, class of 2027; Photo by Yu Sun, class of 2028
On April 28, the HRC fall conference began with the opening remarks by HRC Co-Directors, Professor Selina Lai-Henderson and Professor carlos rojas, who introduced the conference theme and event framework. Dean of Faculty Affairs, Professor Zach Fredman, emphasized the success of the HRC and the central role that the Center plays in connecting DKU to the global community of humanities and interpretive social sciences research.
The keynote lecture, Art History from the Margins: Architecture at War in Nazi-Occupied Europe, delivered by Professor Paul Jaskot from Duke University, examined a broader question on the intersection of marginal architecture and the history of war. As Professor Jaskot stated, “Architecture is always a matter of warfare.” He argued that architecture was not separate from the political and social realities of the Nazi war effort. In particular, housing was used to support Germanization, urban planning helped reorganize occupied cities, ghettos were used for racial segregation, and construction projects depended heavily on forced labor.
The afternoon events consisted of two important panels, and Professor Keping Wu chaired the first panel, titled Film and Work at the Margins of History, which featured four speakers across different humanities fields.
Professor Travis Wilkerson’s film, An Injury to One, explored the history of labor organizer Frank Little and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Professor Wilkerson identified what he called a “death cult”, referring to the tendency to focus on Frank Little’s violent death and his role as a victim rather than understanding his life, actions, and achievements. Then he showed his reflection on the limitations of his work, beginning a new filmmaking project that attempts to shift the narrative from commemorating Little’s death to understanding his life.
Professor Titas Chakraborty examined how historians can use visual materials and archival sources to recover the experiences of marginalized people. Through a seventeenth-century Dutch East India Company document recording runaway sailors, Professor Chakraborty illustrated how historians place marginalized figures such as overlooked workers at the center of historical narratives.
Professor Jesse Olsavsky explored how intellectual history can be reconstructed through unanswered letters and overlooked archival materials. Through examples from the writings of well-known thinkers, Professor Olsavsky demonstrated how seemingly insignificant or unanswered correspondence can reveal broader networks of political and anti-colonial aspects.
Drawing on research into rising sea levels, floating communities, urban rewilding, and the history of people living on water in southern China, Professor Rui Hu questioned who benefits from contemporary climate-adaptation visions and highlighted the often-overlooked marginalized communities. Through an essay film of his work, Star House above the Breaking Waves, Professor Hu brings together mythology, maritime history, piracy, and local social histories to imagine alternative futures.
The second faculty panel, The Scandal of Authorship, was chaired by Professor Caio Yurgel, featuring faculty presentations that range from poetry, comparative philosophy, to dating in the digital world.
Professor Stephanie Anderson examined Ted Berrigan’s use of imitation and appropriation, with particular attention to the influence of Frank O’Hara on his work. She argued that such practices are not merely derivative but can be creative and collaborative.
Professor Hwayeong Wang introduced her paper featuring the authorship and intellectual contributions of two women philosophers – Gang Jeongildang and Harriet Taylor Mill, whose writings were closely intertwined with their male partners. The presentation ultimately questioned conventional ideas of individual authorship and originality, highlighting how intellectual work can be a joint product shaped by shared knowledge, emotional support, and the division of intellectual labor
Professor Andrew Wortham examined how the Chinese term “乱 (luan)” associated with disorder, is used to construct ideas about gay men and male sexuality. After analyzing some gay-related social issues, Professor Wortham highlighted how these recurring scandals can discourage young gay men and deepen tensions between feminist and LGBTQ+ communities in China.
After the panels, the event was followed by the Feeling into Form Exhibition Launch and Reception, which was led by Professor Kolleen M. Guy and Professor Jung Choi. Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, Professor Scott MacEachern, celebrated the special occasion by amplifying the importance of art on campus, the timeliness of the exhibit, as well as the vibrant community that the HRC enabled through its exhibit series and events around the year.
On April 29, the event featured two special roundtables at HUM Space.
In the first roundtable was chaired by Professor Lai-Henderson, featuring four professors who approached the theme of Art at the Margin from different perspectives, including technology, documentary, and AI. Professor Vivian Xu first examined the relationship between organic life and technological systems through her artistic practice. Drawing on Manuel DeLanda’s concept of “nonorganic life,” she explored how human bodies can be understood as interconnected with technological, material, and computational processes. Professor Paul Jaskot then discussed how digital methods can bring marginalized artworks and overlooked evidence into the center of art-historical research, while also raising questions about what may remain invisible. Professor Erin Wilkerson presented her documentary work, which demonstrates the concept of “margin” as a space of displacement and exclusion. She examined how colonial representations of landscape often erase the people that occupy the land, emphasizing that what is left outside the frame can be as significant as what is represented. Last but not least, Professor carlos rojas focused on the expanding boundaries of art and creativity, exploring how AI challenges the assumption that creativity is uniquely human.
Chaired by Professor Jung Choi, the second roundtable brought together the creative team behind Feeling into Form to share the stories and ideas behind the exhibition. Professors Kolleen Guy and Jung Choi introduced the inspiration and curatorial vision of the exhibition, reflecting on how an initial idea gradually developed into a collaborative artistic project. Two artists from South Korea involved in the exhibition, Tae Eun Kim and JiYoon Chun, also shared their experiences of working with the team and offered their own perspectives on translating complex histories and emotions into artistic forms. Honey Huang from Campus Engagements along with the student curators, Xinlan Shen, Erine Xu, and Goldi Shwe, further reflected on their personal connections to the history of the comfort women from Nanjing, bringing a more intimate and moving dimension to the conversation.
The conference concluded successfully with its many lively conversations and interactions, creating a welcoming and engaging atmosphere.
