Reading & Writing the Body
Lannan Symposium: February 6-8, 2023
The body, especially the sick, aging, traumatized, disabled, female, black, brown or queer body, is as much the territory of regulation and conflict as the ownership of property or wealth. The Lannan Symposium gathers writers, medical professionals, ethicists, and journalists for a series of nightly discussions, each centering upon the body as a site of impassioned, often political, and always complex debate.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6TH: Surviving in the Aftermath
Location: Copley Formal Lounge
6:00PM | A Conversation with Meghan O’Rourke, Author of The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness. Moderated by Dr. Lakshmi Krishnan.
7:00PM | A Panel Discussion with Rabih Alameddine (The Angel of History), Meghan O’Rourke (The Invisible Kingdom), and Dr. Daniel Marchalik, moderated by Tope Folarin. More than just a sickness, pandemics are the place where illness meets politics. Today we live in the aftermath of two great pandemics, the AIDS pandemic of the 1980’s and the COVID-19 pandemic. How has our society and how have we been changed by those events? What is the role of the writer as activist or custodian of memory in the story of the aftermath?
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH: How We Die
Location: Copley Formal Lounge
6:00PM | A Discussion with NPR’s Diane Rehm and Dr. Ewan Goligher
Followed by a panel Discussion with Dr. Lydia Dugdale (Columbia University), Dr. Ewan Goligher (University of Toronto), Diane Rehm (NPR), and Dr. Katalin Roth (George Washington University), moderated by journalist John Donvan. Should we be able to choose how and when we die? And what are the real-life consequences of laws that allow for medical assistance in dying? An international panel of physicians, writers, and ethicists set the stage for a discussion of philosophical, practical, theological, and personal implications of medical assistance in dying.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8TH: Body Image
Location: Maria & Alberto De La Cruz Art Gallery, 3535 Prospect St NW
4:30PM | A Conversation with Mecca Jamilah Sullivan (Author of Big Girl) and Artist Baseera Khan, moderated by Prof. Nadia Brown.
If a body could speak, what would it say? The way our bodies are viewed and categorized is not always within our power. A writer and a visual artist reflect upon representing, in words and images, the experiences which come with existing in bodies: black, brown, queer, female, Muslim, big – defined by systems of power beyond our control.
Writing through Trauma
Location: Copley Formal Lounge
6:00PM | Natasha Trethewey, former U.S. Poet Laureate
7:00PM | A Panel Discussion with Aminatta Forna, Nancy Sherman, and Natasha Trethewey, moderated by journalist Jacki Lyden. What role can language play in reconciling trauma, both national and personal? Writers Natasha Trethewey (Memorial Drive) and Aminatta Forna (The Devil that Danced on the Water) reflect on the role of storytelling in healing the psychological aftermath of violence and war, together with ethicist Nancy Sherman (Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of Our Soldiers).