Uncommon Conversations at Dornsife Commons

Since 2009, The Dornsife Commons has been fostering conversations across disciplinary boundaries with series including The Darwin Revolution, 1859-2059; Maps and Measures: On the Boundaries of What We Know and Rethinking the Human. Each of these series explored ways of redefining our modern world and asked what it means to be human.

This year’s theme, Brilliant Mistakes: Or, The Uses of Failure, Wandering, and Experimentation, allows us to explore what nobody ever talks explicitly about: how fruitful mistakes are, and how results that are disastrous can be so thought-provoking. From the rise and fall of empires to the reprogramming of the human memory to what could be our greatest failure yet, death — these events permit us to analyze what we don’t know, what we get wrong, and how productive errors can be.

USC Dornsife faculty and The Dornsife Commons committee have organized a series of conversations and events that will challenge and provoke. We encourage all members of the USC community, the Trojan Family and the greater Los Angeles community to come together to push forward the boundaries of knowledge.

Please join us at the events that are centered on this year’s theme of Brilliant Mistakes.

Facing our Final Failure: How to Talk About Death and Dying
October 4, 2011, 4-6 p.m.
Dohney Memorial Library 240

Signs of Life: Decoding the Dead Body
October 11, 2011, 4-6 p.m.
Doheny Memorial Library

Empires of the World
November 29, 2011, 4-6 p.m.
Doheny Memorial Library 240

The Arts of Resistance
January 31, 2012, 4-6 p.m.
Doheny Memorial Library 240

(Re)collections: Trauma, Collective Memory, and the Archive
February 10, 2012, 3-5 p.m.
Shoah Foundation Institute and Leavey Library Learning Rooms A and B
February 11, 2011, 10-4 p.m.
Doheny Memorial Library 240

The Disciplines of Empire
March 6, 2012, 4 – 6 p.m.
Doheny Memorial Library 240

In addition to the above mentioned events, there are even more discussions that take place.  For instance, October 20th and 25th will both feature discussions on the 2011 Nobel Awards.  Field trips are also included: the Getty Villa on January 26th, 2012 and Mount Wilson Observatory on April 20th, 2012.  

Be sure to go to dornsife.usc.edu/tdc for more information and an updated schedule of events!