Fellowships
2021-2022 Heller Center Fellows
Thursday, September 16 * 6pm
Leland Harper
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, Siena Heights University
Do Racists go to Heaven?
Is there racism in heaven? Even asking such a question seems absurd. But, if we operate with one of the two constructs of Heaven typically portrayed in popular culture, then the possibility that racism exists in Heaven is not only real but likely.
Dr. Leland Harper is a Canadian philosopher and since 2018, assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at Siena Heights University (Adrian, Michigan). His most recent book is Multiverse Deism: Shifting Perspectives of God and the World (Lexington 2020). He and Prof. Jennifer Kling (UCCS/Philosophy) just co-authored the article “The Semantic Foundations of White Fragility and the Consequences for Justice,” for a special 2020 issue of the journal Res Philosophica focusing on mass incarceration and racial justice. He received undergraduate degree from Kwantlen Polytechnic University (Surrey, British Columbia), his masters from Ryerson University (Toronto, Ontario), and doctorate from the University of Birmingham (Birmingham, UK). He has published articles in various academic journals and edited books. He has two forthcoming books: Democracy in Crisis: Perspectives on a Failing Institution from Vernon Press, and The Words We Speak Become the House We Live in: Language, Race, and Justice in the United States, which will be published by Lexington Press.
His areas of specialization are philosophy of religion and philosophy of race. In philosophy of religion, he is interested in the epistemic status of miracles and religious experiences and also in the nature of omnipotence. His dissertation was a study of multiverse theory and alternative conceptions of God in which he addresses the theological consequences of theories in quantum physics. In philosophy of race, he highlights topics related to racial solidarity, and the exploration of the terminology used to describe racist dispositions. He has researched and taught in epistemology, metaphysics, aesthetics, critical thinking, ethics, and philosophy of love and sex.
Dr. Harper will be in residence at UCCS September 13-19, 2021. His residency is co-sponsored with the Department of Philosophy.
Thursday, April 14 * 6pm
Pedro Lange-Churiόn
Professor, Department of Modern and Classical Languages, University of San Francisco
Photographic Portraiture as Civic Contract
The proliferation of the photographic image has given way to the articulation of the civil contract of photography. Subjects in this contract (photographer, photographed subjects and spectators) enter complex exchanges outside state control. These exchanges range from ownership of the photograph to bearing witness of catastrophes, crises, and violations of human rights. In these situations, the photographer becomes the bearer of a grievance.
Dr. Lange-Churiόn’s received his undergraduate degree from Glendon College, York University (Toronto), his masters and doctorate from the University of Cincinnati.
His interests span both academic and artistic pursuits. He has published works on literature, film studies, urban studies and Latin American post-colonial and postmodern theory. As a visual artist, he has written and directed various films: narrative, documentary and experimental, short and feature films, shown in national and international film festivals. Currently, he has a major photographic exhibit in Europe, Duerma en ti, large format photographs and a historical investigation on the stolen babies crisis in Spain. Thousands of newborns were abducted from their mothers in hospitals throughout Spain, from the 1940s to the 1980s. The exhibit opened at the Carmen Cultural Center in Valencia, Spain and it is scheduled to travel to Madrid, Berlin, Budapest and other European cities before coming to the US. (For more information: https://www.maymyflesh.com/ )
His areas of specialization include Latin American literature with an emphasis on Contemporary Narrative; critical theory with focus on film studies, film theory, literary theory, urban theory, psychoanalytic criticism, and feminism and cultural studies; film direction and screen writing; and photography.
Dr. Lange-Churiόn will be in residence at UCCS April 10-16. His residency is co-sponsored with the Department of Humanities.
Example’s of Lange-Churiόn’s work:
