Munroe Center for Social Inquiry at Pitzer College

As of March 12, 2020, the remaining MCSI lectures for the spring semester have been canceled due to the recent worldwide developments of COVID-19.

MCSI is proud to announce our Spring 2020 Theme: Human Suffering and the Divine Hiddenness.

For centuries, philosophers and theologians have been debating the question of why God, who is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good, is hidden, absent or silent in the face of human suffering. In our lecture series, we have invited prominent scholars from a range of disciplines and from different parts of the world to address and help us understand an array of topics pertaining to the problem of Divine Hiddenness.

Check out the video of the MCSI lecture by Siva Vaidhyanathan which kicked off this year's MCSI lecture series on Perception in a Social World.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IpI6PCPE7c&feature=youtu.be

Siva Vaidhyanathan: “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy” In Antisocial Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, wh...

Great talk yesterday by Jody David Armour, Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law, University of Southern California, on unconscious bias.

Jody David Armour, USC Professor of Law and an expert on racial profiling, will be speaking on October 9 at 4:15 p.m. in Benson Auditorium on “Unconscious Bias: The Social Construction of Black Criminals.”

Tonight!

MCSI Lecture: “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy” - Pitzer College Media Theorist Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging.

In Antisocial Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life just a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging. It’s an account of the hubris of good intentions, a missionary spirit, and an ideology that sees computer code as the universal solvent for all human problems. And it’s an indictment of how “social media” has fostered the deterioration of democratic culture around the world, from facilitating Russian meddling in support of Trump’s election to the exploitation of the platform by murderous authoritarians in Burma and the Philippines.

FMI: https://www.pitzer.edu/event/mcsi-lecture-antisocial-media-how-facebook-disconnects-us-and-undermines-democracy/

MCSI Lecture: “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy” - Pitzer College Media Theorist Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging.

“Conspiracy Theory–Conspiracy Fact,” Pitzer’s 2017 MCSI speaker series, kicks off on Tuesday! Ben Collins of “The Daily Beast” and Nick Schou of “OC Weekly” will share a journalistic perspective on contemporary and classic conspiracy theories. FMI: https://www.pitzer.edu/mcsi/fall-2017-conspiracy-theory/

The Munroe Center for Social Inquiry’s 2017-2018 theme is “CONSPIRACY THEORY – CONSPIRACY FACT: Understanding a perplexing social phenomenon.”

If recent news headlines are any indication, CONSPIRACY THEORY – CONSPIRACY FACT represent a prevalent theme in contemporary public discourse, be it theories that the attacks on 9/11/2001 were an “inside job,” that Volkswagen engineers conspired to disguise their vehicles’ emissions profiles, or that U.S. elections have been “rigged” or otherwise improperly influenced by foreign or domestic actors.

In Fall 2017, Pitzer hosts a distinguished series of investigators from fields as various as Philosophy, History, Political Science, Anthropology, Journalism & Media Studies will share what they have learned about conspiracies and conspiracy theories.

Amat Alsoswa, Former Minister for Human Rights (Yemen), will be speaking on "Yemini Women's Rights as Human Rights" on Tuesday, September 6, in Benson Auditorium at Pitzer College. Check out the Events page for more information.

http://pitweb.pitzer.edu/mcsi/ - This year's theme is "ISLAM: Beyond Idealogical Narratives." The lineup of fall 2016 speakers is being finalized now.

Munroe Center for Social Inquiry - Munroe Center for Social Inquiry Every year, the Munroe Center for Social Inquiry (MCSI) sponsors a themed series of events including lectures, seminars, exhibitions, and performances.

http://www.politicalconcepts.org/issue1/archive/

Archive : Political Concepts: Issue One

Geert Lovink's Salon with LA hactivists/gamers
DH@CC Studio, 4-6 p.m., Honnold Library

With Adam Sulzdorf-Liszkiewicz and Luke Noonan from RUST LTD, Emilia Yang Rappaccioli, and Cayden Mak, 18 Million Rising
http://pitweb.pitzer.edu/mcsi/spring-2016-events-archive/

http://pitweb.pitzer.edu/mcsi/spring-2016-events-archive/
Geert Lovink, Lunch Talk
11:30-1 p.m., Founders Room, McConnell Center
“Politics of Mask Design: Critical Internet Culture after Snowden”

Spring 2016 Events: ARCHIVE

: a q***r of color archive and activist workshop. 60 students. 6 curators. lunch. voice. connection.

This event focusd on the experience of black, trans, and q***r people, asking us to reflect on how we create personal and public records of underrepresented peoples. What would the protagonist, Cheryl, find if she used hashtags and Google analytics to trace the history of the film “Watermelon Woman”?

http://www.archivejournal.net/issue/5/archives-remixed/

Categories Archives Remixed - Archive Journal Issue 5

http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/1-5-million-slavery-era-documents-will-be-digitized-helping-african-americans-to-learn-about-their-lost-ancestors.html

1.5 Million Slavery Era Documents Will Be Digitized, Helping African Americans to Learn About... The Freedmen’s Bureau Project will make available online 1.5 million historical documents, finally allowing ancestors of former African-American slaves to learn more about their family roots.

http://www.archivejournal.net/issue/5/archives-remixed/signs-taken-for-wonders/

Signs Taken for Wonders - Archive Journal Issue 5

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/26/cobweb

What the Web Said Yesterday The Web dwells in a never-ending present. The Wayback Machine aims to preserve its past.

https://archive.org/index.php
Brewster Kahle, Co-founder of the Internet Archive

“Universal Access to All Knowledge”
November 3, 4:15, Broad Performance Space

Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/arts/design/new-online-openness-lets-museums-share-works-with-the-world.html?emc=edit_tnt_20151027&nlid=52464759&tntemail0=y&_r=0

New Online Openness Lets Museums Share Works With the World More than 50 cultural institutions have opened their collections for unrestricted use online, inviting members of the public to study and use the works as they like.

https://vimeo.com/42036139
Maria Cotera, Professor of Women’s Studies and American Culture, University of Michigan

“Chicana Technologies of Memory Before and After the Digital Turn,” October 27, Broad Performance Space,4:15

Chicana Por Mi Raza: Uncovering the Hidden History of Chicana Feminism Chicana Por Mi Raza is a public humanities project centered on the collection and digital preservation of archival materials, ephemera, and oral histories that document…