Hannah Arendt Center and Anthropology Program present:
Making Light in Dark Times: Art and Anthropology for a Troubled World
Written by Alisse Waterston; Illustrated by Charlotte Corden
Thursday, April 8, 2021
Online Event
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
This event occurred on:
Thu. April 8, 5 pm – 6 pm
In this joint presentation, an anthropologist-writer and an artist-anthropologist reflect on aspects of their extraordinary collaboration in the making of Light in Dark Times: The Human Search for Meaning, a graphic novel rooted in nonfiction comprised of fictionalized encounters with writers, philosophers, activists and anthropologists. The collaboration and its published book are unique in bringing together serious scholarship and contemporary aesthetics, elevating the graphic genre by presenting complex philosophical and political themes in a mixed media format. In this presentation, the artist and the author describe the process of their artistic creation, an exceptional experiment in art, aesthetics and anthropology. Designed to reach multiple audiences, the book conveys the drama of the world in dark times and difficult circumstances even as it reveals spaces of excitement and hope. The reflections on the production process in this presentation provide insight into innovative ways of demonstrating the relevance of scholarship to real-world concerns, and how to take advantage of multimodal formats to produce, disseminate and receive knowledge in the interest of a more just, ethical world.
Alisse Waterston is Presidential Scholar and Professor, City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and author or editor of seven books. A Fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies (SCAS) in the Programmes in Transnational Processes, Structural Violence, and Inequality (2020-2022), she served as President of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in 2015-17. In addition, Waterston serves as Editor of the book series, Intimate Ethnography (Berghahn Books) and Advisor for Otherwise Magazine. Her most recent article is “Imagining World Solidarities for a Livable Future,” kritisk etnografi – Swedish Journal of Anthropology (2020).
Charlotte Corden is an illustrator and fine artist whose work centers around what it is to be human. She is fascinated with how the power of hand-drawn images can reveal and describe complex truths. As anthropologist and illustrator she has worked with Stripe Partners, the British Cabinet Office, and the National Health Service, UK. As a fine artist, she has studied drawing and painting at the London Fine Art Studios and the Arts Student’s League in New York City.
Join via Zoom Meeting ID: 839 1812 6364 / Passcode: 822601
In this joint presentation, an anthropologist-writer and an artist-anthropologist reflect on aspects of their extraordinary collaboration in the making of Light in Dark Times: The Human Search for Meaning, a graphic novel rooted in nonfiction comprised of fictionalized encounters with writers, philosophers, activists and anthropologists. The collaboration and its published book are unique in bringing together serious scholarship and contemporary aesthetics, elevating the graphic genre by presenting complex philosophical and political themes in a mixed media format. In this presentation, the artist and the author describe the process of their artistic creation, an exceptional experiment in art, aesthetics and anthropology. Designed to reach multiple audiences, the book conveys the drama of the world in dark times and difficult circumstances even as it reveals spaces of excitement and hope. The reflections on the production process in this presentation provide insight into innovative ways of demonstrating the relevance of scholarship to real-world concerns, and how to take advantage of multimodal formats to produce, disseminate and receive knowledge in the interest of a more just, ethical world.
Alisse Waterston is Presidential Scholar and Professor, City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and author or editor of seven books. A Fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies (SCAS) in the Programmes in Transnational Processes, Structural Violence, and Inequality (2020-2022), she served as President of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in 2015-17. In addition, Waterston serves as Editor of the book series, Intimate Ethnography (Berghahn Books) and Advisor for Otherwise Magazine. Her most recent article is “Imagining World Solidarities for a Livable Future,” kritisk etnografi – Swedish Journal of Anthropology (2020).
Charlotte Corden is an illustrator and fine artist whose work centers around what it is to be human. She is fascinated with how the power of hand-drawn images can reveal and describe complex truths. As anthropologist and illustrator she has worked with Stripe Partners, the British Cabinet Office, and the National Health Service, UK. As a fine artist, she has studied drawing and painting at the London Fine Art Studios and the Arts Student’s League in New York City.
Join via Zoom Meeting ID: 839 1812 6364 / Passcode: 822601