Kahn Liberal Arts Institute

Kahn Liberal Arts Institute The Kahn Institute at Smith College supports collaborative research without boundaries.

Jesmyn Ward—hailed as the standout writer of her generation—will visit Smith College on Wednesday, March 25, at 5 p.m. i...
02/16/2026

Jesmyn Ward—hailed as the standout writer of her generation—will visit Smith College on Wednesday, March 25, at 5 p.m. in Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, to speak about haunting in her writing practice and in the narratives of her novels.

Tickets are free and required; go to https://smitharts.ludus.com/.

Ward’s visit is sponsored by the Kahn Institute, the Program for the Study of Women, Gender & Sexuality, the Provost’s office, and the Departments of Africana Studies, American Studies, and English Language and Literature.
Smith College - Study of Women and Gender

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Nathan Derr, Biological Sciences and Biochemistry, is one of...
02/04/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Nathan Derr, Biological Sciences and Biochemistry, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

During the project, Derr will ask, How do we separate the biology and biochemistry of genetically modified organisms from the political, economic, and social factors that oversee and influence their use and need across the globe? He will also be researching how teaching the human right to science can influence students’ understanding of the conduct of science, ultimately leading to a more just scientific enterprise that addresses how the benefits of science can truly be delivered to all humans.

Smith College Sustainable Smith

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Maria Succi-Hempstead, Italian Studies, is one of the 2026–2...
02/03/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Maria Succi-Hempstead, Italian Studies, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

Succi-Hempstead has long been shaped by food in terms of her identity, memory, and daily life, and she is drawn to understanding where ingredients come from, why certain foods gain prominence, and how culinary habits evolve. She is especially fascinated by how recipes travel and are reshaped through cultural exchange.

In the Kahn project, Succi-Hempstead aims to investigate these dynamics through questions of sustainability and biodiversity, and she looks forward to engaging in interdisciplinary conversations about food as a lens into our shared human experience.

"Human Rights & The Carceral State: Peru’s Experience of Political Violence"Thursday, February 5, 5 p.m., Klingenstein B...
02/02/2026

"Human Rights & The Carceral State: Peru’s Experience of Political Violence"
Thursday, February 5, 5 p.m., Klingenstein Browsing Room

In this lecture, Spring 2026 Neilson Professor Charles Walker links the 1982 Shining Path jail raid and brutal police retaliation — “the night that changed Peru” — with the global expansion of the carceral state.

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Margaret Sarkissian, Music, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fe...
02/02/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Margaret Sarkissian, Music, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

Sarkissian’s research for the project will illuminate how, in the search for new ways to reinforce human bonds within a small Malaysian coastal community severely endangered by the double threat of climate-related and man-made environmental destruction, music and food have taken on even greater significance. The connection between musicians and food has always been strong. Now, musicians are initiating new projects that tap into traditional practices to create solidarity and raise awareness both within and beyond the community.

Smith College Sustainable Smith

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that María Helena Rueda, Spanish and Portuguese, is one of the 20...
01/30/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that María Helena Rueda, Spanish and Portuguese, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

For the project, Rueda will examine how contemporary Latin American cinema explores care and its practices, particularly in contexts marked by violence and precarity. Often, these forms of care revolve around food and its circuits of production, distribution, and consumption.

From the environmental impact of food production to the intimacy of dinner conversations, many Latin American films place food at the center when examining human interactions with one another and with nonhuman entities.

Smith College Sustainable Smith

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Melissa Parrish, English Language & Literature, is one of th...
01/28/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Melissa Parrish, English Language & Literature, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

Parrish’s book is on the poetics and politics of emergency in the United States—which includes a brief history of SPAM, whose reputation has undergone a fascinating evolution from wartime food to a source of joyful sustainment.

Her research during the Kahn project will also support the writing of a new book on cultures of apologies and reparation. This project asks questions like, How can food have reparative power when its history is marked by imperialism and global racial capitalism?

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Juan Sebastián Ospina, Philosophy, is one of the 2026–27 Fac...
01/26/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Juan Sebastián Ospina, Philosophy, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

During the project, Ospina will explore a conceptual understanding of a “right to food” through a decolonial framework. Decolonial frameworks tend to resist the necessity and importance of conceptualizing rights. His goal is to find conceptual methods for thinking about a practical question of a decolonial rights-based approach: How exactly do we work in a decolonial state to secure food systems that ensure the protection and reproduction of human and nonhuman life?

Smith College Sustainable Smith

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Yancey Orr, Environmental Science & Policy, is one of the 20...
01/23/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Yancey Orr, Environmental Science & Policy, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

During the project, Orr will be conducting an ethnographic study on hedonic landscapes, examining how people perceive aesthetic pleasure through food, based on fieldwork in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. He will be testing which visual and sensory features of foods people find most aesthetically appealing, as well as whether these preferences extend across categories. A key question guiding this work is whether individuals identify consistent aesthetic patterns across different types of food. Throughout this work, he will also be researching the history of the organic food movement.

Smith College Sustainable Smith

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Sarah Mazza, Geosciences, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fell...
01/22/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Sarah Mazza, Geosciences, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

During the project, Mazza will explore the connection between geochemistry and the terroir of wine to improve our understanding of the influence different geologic terrains have on agricultural products. She will be examining how geochemical signatures can be recorded in grapes and thus potentially used as markers for the authenticity of the geographic origin of wines. This research will also include an examination of soil additives (e.g., fertilizers) and how vineyards are addressing the issue of topsoil degradation.

Smith College Sustainable Smith Smith College Geosciences

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Leslie King, Sociology, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellow...
01/21/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Leslie King, Sociology, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

During the project, King will examine corporate power and environmental sustainability. She will be exploring food movements that (1) aim to reconnect communities through food and gardening, (2) provide local alternatives to corporate-produced food, (3) create environmentally sustainable food systems, and/or (4) envision more socially equitable methods of producing and distributing food. Food advocacy and activism, in all its varied iterations and permutations, is rich with possibilities and real-world examples of positive and feasible action.

Smith College
Sustainable Smith

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Jinwon Kim, Sociology, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows...
01/20/2026

The Kahn Liberal Arts Institute is pleased to announce that Jinwon Kim, Sociology, is one of the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows in “Foodways: Rooted, Made, Shared, Imagined”!

As a fellow, Kim will be working on a new book project examining how East Asian geopolitics, transnational investment, urban redevelopment, and gentrification in downtown Flushing have generated complex interethnic and intraethnic relations and conflicts among Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Korean Chinese immigrants and their children. Through interviews with 181 individuals across these four groups, she plans to write about how the popularity of Korean food has shaped new ethnic relations and place-making within the Asian community.

Smith College
Sustainable Smith

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