Conferences

International Congress of Vedanta

Miami University’s Department of Philosophy is the home for the International Congress of Vedanta, which is the only major forum in North America bringing together scholars of Indian Philosophy and Religion from all over the world for   the study and exchange of ideas and latest research in Indian Philosophy.   The Fourteenth International Congress of Vedanta will be held at Miami University from April 8-11, 2004.   

Antigone’s Dilemma: Gender, Greek Tragedy, and the City-State

On October 23-25, 2003, the Classics and Philosophy Departments at Miami University hosted the three-day conference "Antigone's Dilemma:   Gender, Greek Tragedy and the City-State."   This event brought together diverse pedagogical and scholarly perspectives on Sophocles’ Antigone in an attempt to situate this complex play within its own historical context and within contemporary theoretical discourses and debates.   The conference began with a talk by Professor Charles Shepherdson of SUNY--Albany on "The Atrocity of Desire: Lacan's Reading of Antigone."   The second day there were three events:   a seminar entitled "Aei, Aiai:   The Cry of Mourning in Tragedy and Psychoanalysis," conducted by Professor Shepherdson; a public screening of the BBC production of the Antigone ; and an evening lecture by Professor Peter Burian of Duke University entitled "13 Ways of Looking at Antigone.”   The final day of the conference, was devoted to 3 workshops in 40 Irvin: "Antigone, Sexual Difference, and the Polis"; "The Oresteia, Sexual Difference, and the Polis"; and "Sexual Difference and the Polis:   Beyond Antigone.”

Linda Singer Memorial Conference

On the 10th anniversary of the Singer lecture series, we wanted to remember Linda Singer by expanding our lecture format into a larger conference and providing a forum that highlighted three different engagements with feminist and political theory and practice today.   In this way, we hoped to emphasize the need for multiple voices and perspectives in our continuing dialogue with the ideas and issues with which Linda Singer herself was so passionately engaged.   This conference reflected and supported our departmental mission, as well as the diversity and interdisciplinarity of Linda’s intellectual efforts, and gave a voice to the many who do work in feminist theory on Miami’s campus, and who are committed to maintaining a strong feminist presence and a vibrant feminist intellectual community.   The conference featured three speakers: Jane Gallop, Hortense Spillers, and Judith Butler, who participated in the often challenging, but always imperative, dialogues which Linda’s own work advanced.