Previous Presentations
Spring 2017
January 27
Perfect Pitch: Gift or Curse?
James Mark, Music Department
Statistically, one in 10,000 people have perfect pitch. Some consider it a musical gift, but for many who have it, it’s a curse. Through musical demonstrations, we’ll explore exactly what it is, why musicians find it desirable, and why some of us find it unbearable.
February 17
Frances Oldham Kelsey, Thalidomide, and the Quest for Good Science in the Nuclear Age
Cheryl Warsh, History Department
In the early 1960s, thalidomide wrought havoc on thousands of families. Frances Oldham Kelsey, a Cobble Hill-born physician and pharmacologist, prevented the drug from entering the American market. The response to the thalidomide crisis, explored through archives and interviews with Dr Kelsey herself, reveals the public’s Cold War anxieties, including fear of nuclear fallout, radiation poisoning, and individual helplessness.
March 24
Beyond the Boundaries of Image and Text: Telling Difficult Stories
Debra Pentecost, Media Studies Department
How can one depict the unimaginable? When trying to represent war, conflict, and trauma, documentary filmmakers confront the limitations of image and language. Join us for an examination of Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir (Israel) and Rithy Panh’s The Missing Picture (Cambodia), and see how film captures experiences from war zones that often seem beyond the realm of representation.
For further information contact:
Katharine Rollwagen at Katharine.Rollwagen@viu.ca
