Filmmaker Jeremy Seifert and friends rooted around in back alleys and dumpsters behind LA supermarkets to research how food gets sent straight to landfills in Dive! Living Off America’s Food Waste (2010).  Graduate student and winner of a Fall 2011 Kenan Institute for Ethics Campus Grant Maureena Thompson has organized a special screening of the film, along with a panel discussion on the ethics of U.S. food policy.

Co-sponsored by Duke University Libraries.

Free and open to the public.
Thursday, March 22, 7pm
White Lecture Hall, East Campus, Duke University (map)

Documentary film Little Town of Bethlehem (2010) tells the story of three men of three different faiths living in Israel and Palestine. Writer and director Jim Hanon explores each man’s choice of nonviolent action in the face of constant violence, and in so doing, finds the humanity common to all three.

Taking the theme “condemned to be free,” each of the films in this series in some way explores how individuals – even in the most restrictive, oppressive circumstances – claim their existential freedom by taking responsibility for their decisions and actions. The consequences of these claims, and the weight of their responsibility, may appear overwhelming, but it is this acknowledgement of freedom that enables authentic ethical action.

A panel discussion with miriam cooke (AMES), Laura Lieber (Religion), David Schanzer (Public Policy), and Rebecca Stein (Cultural Anthropology) will follow the screening.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Documentary Studies and the Program in Arts of the Moving Image.

Free and open to the public.
Monday, February 20, 7pm
Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center, Duke University (map).
Parking is available in the Bryan Center parking deck.

In 1968, United Artists removed eleven Looney Tunes cartoons from syndicated distribution due to their racist portrayals of Africans and African Americans. Nearly fifty years later, cartoon historians are calling for the end of the ban, arguing that their artistic value overrides the negative effects of the outdated stereotypes depicted in the cartoons. Can art transcend a nasty past? Is it ever okay to overlook some aspects of a work of art? Can we understand contemporary racism without understanding its roots in popular culture, like these cartoons?

Join us for a screening of two of the most critically lauded cartoons followed by a discussion with Duke History Professor Adriane Lentz-Smith.

Tuesday, January 18, 6-8pm
101 West Duke Building (map)
Light refreshments will be provided.
Free and open to the public.

Join us for a talk by Dr. George Letsas of University College London Faculty of Laws, part of our Monday speaker series. Dr. Letsas is currently the Co-Director of UCL’s Institute for Human Rights. His research interests are in jurisprudence and human rights with particular emphasis on the philosophy of rights, the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, theory of European law, and the bearing of moral and political philosophy on legal theory.

Faculty and graduate students are welcome to attend. Lunch is provided. Call 919-660-3033 for more information.

Monday, November 28
12:00-1:30 pm
Room 101, West Duke Building

South Sudanese child soldier turned musician, author and peace activist Emmanuel Jal will present a musical and spoken word performance as part of our series Uprooted, Rerouted: Stories of African Refugees Losing and Finding Home, a preview of Rights, Refugees, Resettlement, the 2012 Winter Forum sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education

Jal thought he was escaping war in Southern Sudan when he joined thousands of young boys headed to Ethiopia. Instead, he was recruited into the Sudan People’s Liberation Army as a child soldier. After several years, Jal fled to another part of Sudan. A British aid worker there helped smuggle him to Kenya, where he worked to put his horrific childhood behind him through music. He has since released ten albums, mostly hip hop, featuring tracks in Arabic, English, Swahili, Dinka and Nuer. Jal will perform tracks from his upcoming See Me Mama, and will intersperse spoken-word pieces between songs.

Co-sponsored by African and African American Studies, the Center for African and African American Research, the Duke Center for Civic Engagement and the Duke Human Rights Center.

Tuesday, November 1. Doors open at 6:30; performance begins at 7:30
Reynolds Auditorium, Bryan Center
Free parking in the Bryan Center parking deck.