A lecture and performances on domestic violence will be a part of the semester-long residency of folklorist Elaine Lawless, the Nannerl Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University.
Lawless, a professor of English at the University of Missouri, spent a sabbatical year volunteering at a shelter for women fleeing domestic violence. Her work there led to more than a decade of exploration and advocacy about what she learned. She wrote “Women Escaping Violence: Empowerment through Narrative” (2001), then collaborated with University of Missouri Theater Professor M. Heather Carver to found the Troubling Violence Performance Project, in which actors present some of the women’s true stories. Lawless and Carver have since written a book about the formation and experiences of the theater troupe.
Free public events involving Lawless at UNC and Duke include:
- Oct. 25, 7 p.m.: Lecture: “Missed Representations: Visual Imagery of Intimate Partner Violence.” University Room, Hyde Hall, UNC.
- Nov. 3, 7 p.m.: Troubling Violence Performance Project, Center for Documentary Studies, Duke.
- Nov. 4, 7 p.m.: Troubling Violence Performance Project, Center for Dramatic Art, room 101, UNC.
For directions to UNC events, visit http://www.unc.edu/maps/index.htm. For directions to the Duke event, visit http://cds.aas.duke.edu/about/here.html.
The brainchild of former UNC chancellor James Moeser, the Keohane professorship was established in 2004 to recognize the contributions of former Duke University President Nannerl Koehane and her efforts in advancing the level of collaboration between the two institutions.
For more information, email folklore@unc.edu, or call Patricia Sawin at (919) 962-4065.
