Themester

The College of Arts and Sciences’ 14th annual Themester is underway with an exploration of the theme of “Identity and Identification” throughout the fall. This year’s theme explores the concept of identity and identification from many perspectives, touching on topics such as geography and culture, disability, race, gender, and more.  

“One of the things I love about this fall’s theme is that it really does implicate everybody.  And I mean everybody.  We all have identities; every one of us.  Turns out they’re extremely hard to do without,” said Colin Johnson, associate professor of gender studies and a co-chair of the Themester 2022 advisory committee. “And in different ways," Johnson continued, "we all identify with and are identified by others—sometimes in ways that accord comfortably with our own sense of who we or what we know ourself to be, and sometimes in ways that feel unwelcome, unfair, or just plain unexpected."

"Learning about personal identities and how they shape the way we see the world is critical. Developing this type of perspective can really help people understand one another better," said Sarah Junk Hatcher, head of programs and education at the new IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and a committee co-chair.

Highlights from the fall Themester calendar include: 

• Cherríe Moraga, celebrated author, playwright, director and activist, will speak on her first publication This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color on Sept. 13. This event will take place at Franklin Hall. She will also be reading from her novel Waiting in the Wings and Native Country of the Heart on Sept. 15 in Franklin Hall. These events are part of the William T. Patten Foundation lecture series.  
• Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and creator of the landmark “1619 Project,” will speak at IU Auditorium on Oct. 20. The event is this year’s Lou Mervis Distinguished Lecture, presented by the Union Board.  
• "Punk. Race. America,” a panel featuring special guest James Spooner, graphic artist and filmmaker, to discuss the connection between race and the phenomenon of punk, including Afro-punk. Spooner is best known for his documentary film Afro-Punk and co-creating the Afropunk Festival in Brooklyn, New York. The discussion takes place on Oct. 6 at First Thursdays. Later that evening, there will be a related performance at the Bishop.  

Films 

Themester will partner with IU Cinema to present a series of three films. The science fiction thriller Gattaca depicts a future society based on genetic engineering to emphasize the effects of identity and classism in a futuristic world. This event will be shown at IU Cinema on Oct. 18.

Other films are the documentaries Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution, which discusses the early days of a camp for disabled youth and its effects on the disability rights movement, and Black Is . . . Black Ain’t, an exploration of Black identity and the final film of director and producer Marlon Riggs.  

Theatre and Performance 

After a pandemic-related hiatus, live theatre and performance is back in force with productions mounted by IU Theatre, Constellation Stage and Screen (formerly Cardinal Stage Company), and IU students and recent graduates. The IU Department of Theatre, Drama, and Contemporary Dance will present Everybody, a modern riff on the fifteenth-century morality play Everyman that grapples with the meaning of living. Constellation will present Oscar Wilde's classic romantic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, opening Oct. 13. Both productions require tickets. 

Student productions include Color Me Human, a free outdoor dance concert choreographed by undergraduate Zoey Dickenson of IU’s Contemporary Dance program on Sept. 23 and 24 in Dunn Meadow, and I Am Carmen Miranda, an opera performance and musical drama introduced and performed by soprano and Jacobs School of Music doctoral candidate Alejandra Martinez. Jayne Deely, who received an MFA in Playwriting from IU this year, presents Revisionary Circumstances, or, decolonizing your mind with Walter Mercado, Sept. 21 through 24 at the Studio Theatre. 

Themester will also include Image May Contain, a staged reading by playwright Yu-Li Alice Shen about Buddhist identity and rites. 

Exhibitions 

"Traditional Arts and Creative Identities: Traditional Arts Indiana’s 2022 Apprenticeships," an exhibit now at the Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities, explores how diverse communities throughout Indiana assert their identities through traditional arts.

"Identity: Identify,” opening September 9 at Grunwald Gallery, features contemporary art that explores the vast territories of identity within today’s visual artistic practice. Later this semester, sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, a 54-ton tapestry, will return to IU for an exhibit in Alumni Hall Nov. 10 through 12. More information on these and other exhibitions can be found at IU Themester/Exhibitions.  

Podcasts 

The Themester podcast will feature interviews with College of Arts and Sciences faculty discussing their work and expertise related to the theme. The episodes, produced by 2022 Themester student interns Curren Gauss, Kate O’Brien, Brooklynn Shively and Amanda Tinkle, will be made available at no cost on the Themester website, SoundCloud, and iTunes. The first episode, a conversation with Dr. De Witt Douglas Kilgore of the Department of English, discusses racial representation in comics and identity and will be released September 15.

More information 

For more Themester 2022: Identity and Identification events and details, visit the Themester News + Events page. Most events are free and open to the public; however, some require admission fees, registration or tickets. 

Themester 2022 events and programs complement College of Arts and Sciences courses. Courses are available at all levels and in a dozen College programs, departments, and schools, including African American and African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, Gender Studies, History, the Human Biology Program, International Studies, and Political Science. For a complete list of courses visit Themester Courses. 

Themester is an initiative of the Indiana University Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences. 

Contact 

Tracy Bee 
Phone: 812-856-7183 | Email: tbee@iu.edu