Public Intellectuals in a Changing World

Professor Hsiu-Chaung Deppman (Oberlin), Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow Xin Zhang, and Professor Chengjuan Sun (Kenyon College) co-organized an international symposium at Oberlin College on February 28-March 2, 2019, to bring together scholars, scientists, musicians filmmakers and writers from China, Italy, and the US to discuss the impact of art on public discourse. Grant funds supported travel expenses for keynote speakers Chinese documentary filmmaker Wu Wenguang, video artist and cultural critic Laura Kipnis (Northwestern University), and post-colonial studies and world literature scholar Aamar Mufti (UCLA). The symposium attracted faculty participants from the Ohio Five and OSU, and included five panels featuring 15 speakers. 24 courses across the Ohio Five embedded symposium activities in their courses.