Great Conversations 2009 Program

What is Mythology?  When we say, “Oh, that’s a myth!” do we truly understand the implications?  Mythology is a complex, rich communication that arises from humans.  Each culture uses narrative to ponder its human origins, its mortality, and its afterlife.  Heroes and Heroines negotiate the limits of physical and imaginative boundaries.  Odysseus, as a culture hero, encounters gods, goddesses, and monsters.  The human imagination creates these images today through popular culture, film, art, and textual narratives.  Join Professor Gail Lavender in a rich and memorable discussion about how humans create meaning through mythology and attempt to mediate the human and the divine.

Marketing has become a booming industry within the last fifty years, and there's no better expert with whom to chat about the subject than marketing professor Dr. Collin Payne, who studies how marketing works to influence how we eat.  Join Dr. Payne in a fascinating conversation about the psychology of the business of marketing and dissect the tactics marketers use to reach and persuade potential customers. From the new advertising mediums and technologies to the ethics of marketing what consumers eat, the table's focus will be on how you feel as a consumer and what you need to know. Do you think the current use of advertising is being abused? What kinds of advertisements work on you? What makes you feel bombarded as a consumer? How can you better educate yourself on the products you want to purchase?

Widely prevalent mainstream media images of a Muslim woman--whether partially covered with the hjiab or completely with the burqa’--might make you think of submission, oppression, sexism and so on. Both the Orientalists and Islamic fundamentalist have historically used such stereotypical images of Muslim women as a tool of domination and victimization. With the work of contemporary arab-muslim feminists, how is it possible to see beyond “veils?” Don’t miss an insightful and refreshing conversation with Dr. Hamzeh about arab-muslim women countering sexism in their lives and acting as agents of individual and global change.

For more than half a century the Israeli and the Palestinian people have been locked in a mortal embrace of conflict, violence and war. With a new American President and a new administration in office, is there perhaps some renewed hope to find a way-out from this seemingly never-ending conflict? If so, what are the main obstacles to a just and lasting resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict? What can America do to promote such a resolution? Join Regents Professor Yosef Lapid for a lively discussion about new ways of rethinking and re-energizing our strategy in the Israeli/Palestine conflict.

Genetic engineering of crops and animals established agriculture over 10,000 years ago. Today we engineer crops and animals using biotechnology as well as traditional sexual methods. Are these new methods necessary to produce food, fiber and shelter or are these methods the cause of loss of genetic diversity around the globe. Farmers from the Mesilla Valley to the Loire Valley debate these issues; refresh your genetics knowledge and join this discussion.