older, black and white photo of Warren Ashby

The aim of the Ashby Dialogues is to implement the vision of the late Warren Ashby that the University should be a community of inquiry, with faculty and students engaged in the pursuit of understanding both in and out of the classroom.

Apply For 2024-2025

Applications are invited for grants to support informal programs of interdisciplinary inquiry involving both faculty and students during the 2024-2025 academic year. The application deadline is October 18, 2024.

Each dialogue group will consist of approximately 10-15 faculty and students, representing at least two academic departments, who agree to meet at least once a month for 2-3 hours.  The meetings will provide the opportunity for informal but focused inquiry into some topic or issue of mutual interest.  The group may agree to meet for a single semester or for the whole academic year.  Possible formats for the dialogues might include, but are by no means limited to:

  • discussion of a series of readings, performances, or works of art that are united by some theme;
  • sustained examination of a single important book;
  • an investigation of the social or political implications of a recent event;
  • an analysis of the public policy consequences of a scientific discovery or project.

Spring 2024:
Indian Ocean Winds

April 10 – 11, 2024
Kama La Mackerel performing outside

Kama La Mackerel

April 10: “Offerings to the island body and water memory,” a performance lecture
April 11: Discussion of Zom Fam poetry collection with the author

Shobana Shankar headshot
January 19, 2024
Beheroze Shroff and Shihan de Silva Jayasuria

Behroze Shroff
and
Shihan de Silva Jayasuria

BOOK TALK Legacies of Trade and Empire: Breaking Silences

Ashby Dialogue Series Fall 2023

Emergent Pathogens and Globalization: Past and Present

The UNCG Biology department held a series of public discussions and talks, featuring Dr. Xiang-Yang Han and Dr. Monica H. Green.

Fall 2023 Events

Thursday, October 19 @ 2:00 pm (Sullivan 3rd floor lobby) Eat, Meet, and Greet: Ashby Introduction

Thursday, October 26 @ 2:00 pm (Sullivan 3rd floor lobby) Reading Group Discussion: Evolutionary Genetics of M. lepromatosis and leprae

Friday, October 27 @ 3:00 pm (Sullivan 201) On The Age of Leprosy, Dr. Xiang-Yang Han

Thursday, November 2 @ 2:00 pm (Sullivan 3rd floor lobby) Reading Group Discussion: The Black Death

Thursday, November 9 @ 2:00 pm (Sullivan 201 / Virtual) A Diabolus ex Machina? On the Speed and Route of Plague’s Late Medieval Transit Across Eurasia, Dr. Monica H. Green

graphical poster advertising the ashby dialogue series

2022-2023 Highlights

QUEER “LINKS” TO ZELDA: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN VIDEO GAMING CULTURES

In their Ashby Dialogues, the Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming (NCSV) seeks to find “queer links” to diversity and inclusion in video gaming cultures. Through a series of meetings, lectures, and workshops, they will explore how reading one such popular game — The Legend of Zelda — can create space for inclusion and diversity in video gaming cultures.

Zelda video game case being held up

From February 24, 2023

Re-Balancing the Triforce: Gender-Bending and Cross-Dressing in the Legend of Zelda

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