University of Iowa News Release

Sept. 14, 2011

Photo: Peggy Mills, Lorraine Ross and Hana Haskova participate in an April 2011 WorldCanvass discussing Women in Post-Socialist Easter Europe. Photo by Karina Schroeder.

WorldCanvass kicks off third season with 'Comics, Creativity and Culture' Sept. 23

WorldCanvass will kick off the 2011-12 season with a program featuring "Comics, Creativity and Culture" from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol Museum.

The monthly television and radio series from University of Iowa International Programs will continue each month with its tradition of lively discussion of culture, history, literature, language, politics and art, all surrounding an international theme. WorldCanvass takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. one Friday a month in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol Museum. All programs are free and open to the public.

Themes for the third season include topics as diverse as: global science fiction; women, hysteria and medicine; and new culture and new welfare in South Asia.

The "Comics, Creativity and Culture" program will give a glimpse into the 2011 Obermann-International Programs Humanities Symposium of the same name, which will be held Oct. 6-8.

Joining WorldCanvass host Joan Kjaer (photo, left) in discussion for the September show are Rachel Williams, Department of Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies and School of Art and Art History; Ana Merino, Department of Spanish and Portuguese; and Corey Creekmur, Department of Cinema and Comparative Literature and Department of English, all UI faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and organizers of the symposium.

They and other guests will explore such topics as the origins and international presence of comics, graphic novels and graphic language in art, comics as the birthplace of superheroes and villains, and the political, cultural and social impact of comics. For a full list of topics and other guests, visit http://accents.international.uiowa.edu/worldcanvass.

Other WorldCanvass topics for the coming year are New Culture and New Welfare in South Asia (Oct. 7), Being the Other (Nov. 11), Iowa and "Invisible Man" (Dec. 2), Women, Hysteria and Medicine (Jan. 27), The History of Sustainability (Feb. 10), Japan (March 2), Global Science Fiction (April 13) and Art and Memory (May 4).

New opportunities to watch, listen

Podcasts through iTunes are now available for all shows in the past 2010-11 season, and new shows will be added as they are available. The free downloads can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/worldcanvass/id433243182. WorldCanvass will continue to be aired on Iowa Public Radio and archived on the Public Radio Exchange at http://www.prx.org/pieces/42214.

Those who are unable to attend the programs can watch live video streaming through International Programs' website at http://international.uiowa.edu/livestream.asp or listen to live audio through KRUI 89.7 FM or online at http://krui.fm/listen.

Programs are also recorded for later broadcast on UITV and other Iowa cable television systems. See the UITV broadcast schedule at http://www.uiowa.edu/~uitv/schedule.

WorldCanvass Studio, a one-hour mobile version of the monthly WorldCanvass program, has two shows planned for the fall as well: William Reisinger, history professor in CLAS, will join other UI faculty and guests to discuss the ethnic complexity, regional security issues and rich artistic traditions of the North Caucasus Thursday, Oct. 27, at 5 p.m. in the Senate Chamber; and on Friday, Oct. 28, the Mongolian throat-singing group AnDa will demonstrate their craft and explain its history during a noon show in the University Capitol Centre second floor lounge, Room 2780.

WorldCanvass is a production of International Programs in partnership with the UI Pentacrest Museums, UITV, KRUI and Information Technology Services.

For more information about WorldCanvass and WorldCanvass Studio, visit http://accents.international.uiowa.edu/worldcanvass.

For more information about the 2011 Obermann-International Programs Humanities Symposium, visit http://international.uiowa.edu/comics.

STORY SOURCE: University News Service, 300 Plaza Centre One, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500

MEDIA CONTACTS: Joan Kjaer, UI International Programs, 319-335-2026, joan-kjaer@uiowa.edu; or Lois J. Gray, 319-384-0077, lois-gray@uiowa.edu; Writer, Katelyn McBride