Raffles will聽deliver a special guest lecture today titled, "Rocks, Stones & Other Vital Things" as part of the fourth annual lecture hosted by the Department of Anthropology at 91亚色. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Founders College Senior Common Room, 305 Founders College聽at 4:30pm.

Right: Professor Hugh Raffles

Raffles will speak about his new ethnographic project that explores the lives of rocks and stones. There are currently two central problems that anthropologists face. The first聽is familiar to anthropologists: What are the forms of life enacted by objects that, in the Western philosophical tradition, are commonly considered inanimate? The second, although related, may be less familiar: What can we learn from stones? Raffles explores these questions ethnographically, assuming that they are susceptible to empirical investigation. His research considers a limited set of cases, two of which are introduced in this talk: the ancient monuments of the British Isles and the Chinese "scholar's rocks".

Professor Jody Berland of the Division of Humanities and the Graduate Program in Communications and Culture, and Professor Peter Timmerman of the Faculty of Environmental Studies will respond briefly to the talk before discussion is open to the public.

Raffles' research and writing on the cultural and historical anthropology of "nature" explores connections among people, other beings and "inanimate" phenomena. He is the author of Insectopedia (Pantheon Books, 2010) and In Amazonia: A Natural History (Princeton University Press, 2002).

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Anthropology, the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Environmental Studies, and the Office of the Master of Founders College.

For more information, contact Margaret MacDonald at maggie@yorku.ca.

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Published by Duke University Press, Homophobias looks at these questions through critical interrogations and analysis of diverse sites where homophobic discourses are produced, including New 91亚色 City, Australia, the Caribbean, Greece, India and Indonesia, as well as American Christian churches. The idea is to uncover the complex operational processes of homophobias and their intimate relationships to nationalism, sexism, racism, class and colonialism.

In the book's preface, Murray notes聽that the term "homophobia" had moved into the global sphere. This got him thinking about the term's meaning and the existence of homophobia. "Homophobia had gone global, and to be accused of being homophobic was to be accused of something more than just not liking homosexuals; furthermore, this accusation now carried potentially serious economic and political repercussions." He hopes the book will be the initial step in answering some of the questions the term homophobia raises.

Left: David Murray

Murray聽gathered researchers from a diverse range of ethnographic sites "to demonstrate how homophobia is a phenomenon that has no centre or origin, but more importantly, to examine how, or if, a transnational, comparative and聽ethnographically informed perspective might extend, challenge or change our understandings of homophobia."

In part one聽鈥� "Displacing Homophobia" 鈥� some of the issues the contributors examine include聽homophobia in New 91亚色's gay central, American Christian homophobia and homophobia as racism. In part two 鈥� "Transnational Homophobias" 鈥� they look at homosexual hate in Jamaica, political homophobia in Indonesia, as well as the Barbadian media. In examining these issues, Homophobias provides innovative analytical insights that expose the complex and intersecting cultural, political and economic forces contributing to the development of new forms of homophobia.

Murray, the director of the Graduate Program in Women鈥檚 Studies at 91亚色, is the author of .

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More than聽300 dance artists, scholars, educators and students, representing more than 25 countries, came together to explore the聽 's 2010 theme, 鈥淚n Time Together: Viewing and Reviewing Contemporary Dance Practice鈥�.

The conference took place primarily at the and the Kimmel Center at New 91亚色's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development.

Professor Mary Jane Warner, chair of the Department of Dance and secretary of the WDA Americas division, moderated two sessions at the conference: Innovation聽& Exchange in Chinese Dance聽and a session聽titled聽Diversified Bodies聽& Contemporary Pedagogy, which featured 91亚色 alumnus聽and contract聽faculty member聽Zihao Li (BEd & MA 鈥�03) speaking on 鈥淗ow Today鈥檚 Technology Shapes our Way of Teaching Dance鈥�.

Left: Mary Jane Warner

鈥淭he alliance provides a venue for linking with colleagues with similar interests around the world,鈥� said Warner. 鈥淧articipants learn about new research, share ideas and make connections with others in many parts of the world. The Department of Dance was well represented and our faculty and graduate students were excellent ambassadors.鈥�

Also part of the sessions, 91亚色 doctoral candidate聽in dance studies,聽Evadne Kelly, presented her paper 鈥淭he Affective Experience of Time During Performance鈥� as part of the Temporality聽& Contemporary Practices session.

Performance plays a central role to the WDA's聽global assemblies and the 2010 conference featured six concert programs in addition to its paper and panel presentations, master classes and workshops. 91亚色 dance artists were front and centre throughout the program.

Professor Susan Cash (BFA Spec. Hons. 鈥�78, MA 鈥�07) presented Tree Woman, a solo that premiered last season on campus (see YFile, Jan. 21), choreographed for and performed by her faculty colleague . Delving into the notion of innate roots and the instinctive pull of ancestral influence, the work blends the dancer's Japanese heritage and the choreographer鈥檚 own Mohawk cultural inheritance and adopted Chinese traditions.

Kitano also performed in a work she conceived, and that she co-choreographed and performed with Li, titled Beyond. The piece explores the moment of death and depicts the sorrowful human destiny en route to leaving this world.聽Kitano and Li were accompanied by video projections by fine arts cultural studies Professor Don Sinclair (BA Hons. 鈥�86, BA Spec. Hons. 鈥�90, MA 鈥�02) and student dancers they met while teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Madison鈥檚聽2010 Summer Dance Institute and Intercontinental Festival the week prior to the WDA.

Professor William Mackwood, who also attended the WDA designed the lighting for Cash and Kitano as well as lighting for a piece by Professor Holly Small (BFA 鈥�77) that was shown as part of the final program.

Right: Holly Small

Contract faculty member Sashar Zarif (MA 鈥�07) performed his self-choreographed solo Dancing Freedom, which also featured his own costume and sound designs. A quarry through the memories of revolution, war and displacement, Zarif's聽work questions the notion of freedom through this creation. He asks: 鈥淪hould we achieve freedom internally before seeking it externally? Should you ask for an open palm with a fist?鈥�

In 2006, 91亚色 hosted the global assembly鈥檚 North American debut to great acclaim in the Faculty of Fine Art鈥檚 new Accolade performance facilities. In 2008, the assembly took place in Brisbane, Australia, and this year returned to North America for its first presentation in the United States.

The WDA is an international service organization that provides a forum for the exchange of ideas, and information expertise and resources in all areas of dance. The organization promotes an awareness of, access to and understanding of dance as an art, a ritual and traditional expression, and as a leisure activity in diverse communities throughout the world.聽Its global assemblies promote聽international exchanges and encourage dialogue among all people in dance.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Right: Sathima Bea Benjamin

Sathima鈥檚 Windsong traces Benjamin鈥檚 story as it unfolds through her own reflections and reminiscence and is woven together with the music she has created. It also includes the reflections of five people who know her work and the milieu which shaped it.

In her flat in the Chelsea Hotel in New 91亚色, where she has lived for 32 years, Benjamin patches together her journeys, both聽literal and figurative. Those journeys have taken her from apartheid South Africa and 鈥渢he pattern of brokenness鈥� she grew up in聽to Europe where a chance meeting and recording with Duke Ellington took place. From there, she was on to New 91亚色 where she started afresh and set up her own record company.

Left: Daniel Yon

鈥淎s it moves back and forth between Cape Town and New 91亚色, to the lyrics and rhythm of her music, it becomes, much like the title of her haunting song Windsong, a reflection on history, time and place, on apartheid, anti-apartheid and their legacies, as well as the passionate questions of memory, displacement and belonging,鈥� says Yon.

This is not Yon鈥檚 first effort at making an ethnographic film. 鈥淚n fact, it continues some of the themes and concerns of an earlier film, (2007), to do with memory, place, belonging, travel, identity. The qualities of Sathima Benjamin's music attracted my attention and my conversations with her revealed a fascinating history of 鈥榡ourneys',鈥� he says.

Right: Sathima Bea Benjamin performing

The film will screen from 3:30 to 5:30pm at the Nat Taylor Cinema, N102 Ross Building., Keele campus. After the preview screening, a wine and cheese reception will follow in the Founders Senior Common Room, 305 Founders College, Keele campus. Admission to the film is free.

RSVP by Tuesday, April 20, to Emily Tjimos, administrative assistant in the Faculty of Education,聽at etjimos@edu.yorku.ca or at 416-736-2100 ext. 66301.

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91亚色's Faculty of Education will host its annual research forum on technology in education today, from 2 to 4pm in 280N 91亚色 Lanes.

Professor Jennifer Jenson (right) will present "Baroque Baroque Revolution: High Culture Gets Game".聽In聽today鈥檚 鈥渟uper-saturated, socially networked, Second Life, massively multiplayer, online, keyed-in, content generating, 2.0, 鈥榞local鈥欌�� culture, the world of Baroque music, to many people, not only feels like a relic from an inaccessible past, but it often looks that way as well. In this talk, Jenson will聽attempt to show how play, its practices, contexts and discourses are mobilized, and how some of this might be theorized and reapplied through a design-based research project that created a Baroque music game.

Professor Ron Owston (left) will look at computer game development as a literacy activity in his presentation. According to Owston, serious gaming has become a burgeoning research field over the last several years. Most research to date has looked at students as players of computer games. But what happens when students are given the opportunity to be developers of their own games? In聽his presentation, Owston will give an overview of a large multisite study he, together with faculty colleagues and graduate students, conducted that examined the impact on literacy skills of Grade 4 students who created their own computer games. He will then review the findings of two other pilot studies he led that grew out of this work, as well as talk briefly about a research tool he is developing for remotely recording users鈥� interactions with computer screens.

Professor Chlo毛 Brushwood Rose (right) will speak about community-based media pedagogy and production in a globalized world. She will outline the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada-funded聽study she is undertaking with researchers from Montreal's McGill University and the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH, which aims to pay critical attention to the proliferation of community video production programs in urban centres across North America, their pedagogies, and the videos produced through them. The researchers are conducting a comparative study of three projects in New 91亚色 City, Toronto and Montreal that聽explore a number of聽central research themes relating to media pedagogies.

This event is free and open to the community. Following the presentations, there will be a wine and cheese reception. For more information, contact , communications coordinator, Office of the Dean, Faculty of Education, at ext. 58024.

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About 8,000 Chinese-born women gave birth in New 91亚色 last year, so the number of children at risk is substantial, according to the Chinese-American Planning Council, a social service agency that hopes to get a grant to educate parents about the pitfalls of the practice and help them find alternatives.

The phenomenon of American-born children who spend their infancy in China has been known for years to social workers, who say it is widespread and worrying. About 8,000 Chinese-born women gave birth in New 91亚色 last year, so the number of children at risk is substantial, according to the Chinese-American Planning Council, a social service agency that hopes to get a grant to educate parents about the pitfalls of the practice and help them find alternatives.

But no one tracks the numbers, and the issue has only recently seized the attention of early-childhood researchers like , a clinical psychologist at 91亚色 in Toronto, who calls such children 鈥渟atellite babies.鈥�

Their repeatedly disrupted attachments to family members 鈥渃ould potentially add up to a mental health crisis for some immigrant communities,鈥� Dr. Bohr wrote in an article in May in The Infant Mental Health Journal. She cited classic research like the work of Anna Freud, who found that young children evacuated during the London blitz were so damaged by separation from their parents that they would have been better off at home, in danger of falling bombs.

Dr. Bohr, who is undertaking a longitudinal study of families with satellite babies, cautions that the older research was shaped by Western values and expectations. Chinese parents, including university-educated professionals she has studied, are often influenced by cultural traditions: an emphasis on self-sacrifice for the good of the family, a belief that grandparents are the best caretakers, and a desire to ground children in their heritage.

Sending babies back to grandparents is also done in some South Asian communities, she said.

Bohr is a professor of psychology in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health, director of the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, and the lead author of "Satellite Babies in Transnational Families: A Study of Parents鈥� Decision to Separate From their Infants," which was published May 11, 2009 in the Infant Mental Health Journal.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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