February 3-4, 2011 - "International Symposium on Risk, Social Stratification, and Changes in Institutions"
BMC Gateway Conference rooms - 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
This international conference is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Social Stratification and Inequality (CSSI) of Tohoku University, Japan in conjunction with the Center for the Social Sciences of Bryn Mawr College. The conference theme is three-fold: (1) to collectively examine the causes and conssequences of "social risk" people are increasingly exposed to, such as economic vulnerability and lack of security; (2) to understand their implications for social inequality and stratification throughout the world; and (3) to produce a book or special journal issue as a result of the conference.
March 21, 2011 - "Megamelodrama: Vertical and Horizontal Suspensions of the 'Classical'"
BMC Carpenter Hall, room 21, 4:30 p.m.
Professor Linda Williams, Rhetoric & Film Studies, UC Berkeley
This talk will focus on the critically-acclaimed HBO show THE WIRE. She will frame her analysis in terms of serial television and racial melodrama. Her paper "will examine the various social strata depicted in the series from the highest levels of Baltimore city government to the lowest 'hoppers' in the drug trade; an entire city extending geographically from the depressed Western district to the blue collar docks to the trendy inner harbor; and a lot of time - over 60 hours total of viewing extended over a six year period, in a narrative spanning years of fictional time."