about the Center

The Center for 21st Century Studies, a UW System Center of Excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, is a postdoctoral research institute founded in 1968 to foster crossdisciplinary research in the humanities. Supported by the College of Letters and Science and The Graduate School, the Center seeks to promote discussion of topics of compelling interest to us today. The Center has long been a leader in the study of modern and contemporary culture, including film, performance, the visual arts, and everyday life, as well as in critical reflection in such areas as feminism, media theory, multiculturalism, postcolonialism, cultural and social theory, and lesbian and gay studies. We do not, however, limit our inquiries to the contemporary world, recognizing that the exploration of the historical, political, and social dimensions of contemporary problems, including race, class, gender, sexuality, and conflict, can only enhance our understanding of them.

Each year the Center designates a theme that lends itself to multidisciplinary study as the subject for its research. A group of some six to eight fellows from different departments and disciplines at UWM is selected to be in residence. The Center also regularly welcomes fellows from other UW system campuses, and, on occasion, scholars from other institutions and independent scholars for externally funded postdoctoral and summer fellowships.

The theme for 2007-08 is "Past Knowing."

Past themes include "Autonomy, Gender, and Performance" (2006-2007), "States of Autonomy" (2005-2006), "Geographies of Difference" (2003-2005), "War" (2002-2003), "Transculturalism and the Ends of Community" (2001-2002), "Structures of Feeling: Passions, Emotions, Moods" (2000-2001), "Representing Animals" (1999-2000), "Cultures of Knowledge" (1998-1999), "Exhibiting Culture" (1997-1998), "Technology, Culture, and the Body" (1996-1997), and "Age Studies" (1995-1996). Recent visitors to the Center include Judith Butler, Dipesh Charkrabarty, miriam cooke, Stephen Darwall, Mary Ann Doane, Cynthia Enloe, David Harvey, Anne Higonnet, Lisa Lowe, David Román, Walid Raad, Irit Rogoff, Elaine Scarry, Joan Wallach Scott, Tyler Stovall, and Michael Walzer.

The Center is located on the top floor of Curtin Hall, a nine-story building that houses most of the humanities departments at UWM and overlooks Lake Michigan and downtown Milwaukee. In addition to a suite of offices for Center Fellows (each Fellow has his or her own office) and Center staff, a conference room hosts meetings of Center Fellows and smaller research seminars. Public lectures and screenings take place on the ground floor of Curtin Hall and elsewhere around campus.

Center for 21st Century Studies

Daniel J. Sherman, Director