African Culture Wars, Nazi Crimes, Local TV News Coverage, Women's Human Rights Among Topics of Yale Talks This Week

The following talks at Yale University the week of Sept. 21-27 are free and open to the public, unless noted otherwise.

African culture wars is topic of talk by anthropologist

Yale alumnus Andrew Apter, an anthropologist who is a specialist on West African culture and the African Diaspora, will present a talk on Wednesday, Sept. 23, as part of the Council on African Studies’ seminar series “Loose Canon – The Culture Wars in an African Perspective.” His talk, titled “Africa, Anthropology, Empire,” will begin at 4 p.m. in Rm. 202 of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.

Apter has focused his work in the areas of political anthropology, religion and ritual, language and power, national culture and the state, hermeneutics and social theory, and multimedia ethnography. He has studied Afro-Cuban religion and ritual in Cuba, and has also conducted field work in Nigeria and the Dominican Republic. His book “Black Critics and Kings: The Hermeneutics of Power in Yoruba Society,” was selected for honorable mention in the Melville J. Herskovits Award competition. Apter earned his B.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale and has taught at the University of Chicago since 1989.

Author will discuss writing and creative process at master’s tea

Jillian Medoff, author of the critically acclaimed novel “Hunger Point,” will discuss writing, her life as an author and the creative process at a tea on Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. in the Silliman College master’s house, 71 Wall St. “Hunger Point” chronicles the lives of two sisters with eating disorders and explores issues of family relationships, sexuality and self-image, among other topics. The novel, which will soon be produced as a movie, was described in Kirkus Reviews as “[a]t once heartbreaking and funny, a debut novel on death and renewal that is strong and honest.” In the same review, Medoff was praised for her “unwavering honesty in capturing the silent fears, thoughts, and secret confidences of women.” Medoff has also completed a second novel, “The Sum of the Parts,” which examines the relationships of a man working in the breast implant industry. She is currently working on a new television series, “The Long Way Home,” among other projects. She has taught at the University of Georgia and New York University.

Talk will feature creator of film on Nazi medical experimentation

John J. Michalczyk, professor of fine arts and films at Boston College and the creator of a film about Nazi medical experimentation, will inaugurate this year’s Program for Humanities in Medicine lecture series on Thursday, Sept. 24, with a talk titled “Medicine, Ethics and the Third Reich.” His talk will begin at 5 p.m. in the Beaumont Room of the Sterling Hall of Medicine, 333 Cedar St.

Michalczyk explores the Nazis’ unethical human experimentation in his film “In the Shadow of the Reich: Nazi Medicine.” In his lecture, he will discuss how physicians – who have been considered the healers of society since ancient cultures – became killers as they performed abusive experiments on prisoners, made false diagnoses, selected people for death camps and gassed Holocaust victims.

News anchor will be guest at master’s tea

Janet Peckinpaugh, coanchor of NBC 30 “Connecticut News Today” and a fellow of Calhoun College, will be the guest at a tea on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 4:30 p.m. in the Calhoun College master’s house, 189 Elm St.

Peckinpaugh, who has been with NBC 30 since 1995, is co-anchor of the 5:30-7 a.m. program with Rob Morrison. She previously anchored at WFSB-TV in Hartford and WTNH in New Haven. Before coming to Connecticut, Peckinpaugh worked for both WXEX-TV and WWBT-TV in Richmond, Virginia. She began her career as a radio reporter, covering Capitol Hill and the White House.

Seminar Begins on Women, Gender and Human Rights

The public is invited to attend the first session of “Women, Gender and Human Rights,” a year-long seminar for faculty and graduate and professional students that will begin on Thursday, Sept. 24. Professor Ruti Teitel of the New York University School of Law will open the series with a discussion of “Women, Gender, Sexuality and Human Rights: Theory and Practice: Social Constructions in a Global Age.” This session will be held 4-6 p.m. in Rm. 208 of the Whitney Humanities Center, 57 Wall St.

The fall sessions will explore the idea that what happens to women and sexual minorities during times of violent crisis is shaped by the ongoing situation and the prospects of these groups under ordinary circumstances. Among the areas of the world that will be discussed are Cambodia, Bosnia, South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Argentina and the United States.

All sessions will be held on Wednesdays 4-6 p.m. in Rm. 108 of the Whitney Humanities Center. Other fall meetings and topics are:

Oct. 7– This session will explore the question: How do religious and cultural practices shape local and global understandings of women’s rights and the rights of sexual minorities?

Nov. 11 – This session will focus on rape, reproductive rights, genital mutilation and rights of sexual expression.

Dec. 9 – This session will examine economic and social issues, including property, the environment and access to resources by women and sexual minorities.

“Women, Gender and Human Rights” was organized by Professors Cathy Cohen, Laura Green, Laura Wexler and Margaret Homans, who is coordinator for the fall term.

For further information, call 432-0848.

Cambodian Dance

On Friday, Sept. 25, four individuals who share both a love of dance and the sorrow of having lost close relatives under the Khmer Rouge will join in a performance with the Angkor Dance Troupe, a Cambodian dance ensemble based in Lowell, Massachusetts. The performance, sponsored by the Council on Southeast Asia Studies, will begin at 7:30 p.m. at The Little Theater, 1 Lincoln St., New Haven. Admission to the event is $5 at the door; seating is limited.

Phim Thavro, who recently came to Yale as a research associate for the University’s Cambodia Genocide Program, is one of the four dancers who will perform with the Angkor Dance Troupe. Joining him will be Penh Yom, Sek Sophea and Soeur Soy. Each is the son of an artist, and each lost a father, one or more siblings and scores of other relatives, friends and neighbors under the Khmer Rouge. The four were among the first students of the newly re-established School of Fine Arts in Cambodia, and they all went on to become teachers and lead dancers at Cambodia’s Royal University of Fine Arts. They have performed on stages across the world.