The program will open with welcome remarks from Scotti Parish, followed by a panel considering the question: What insights into the human and cosmic past can be gained through sound? This panel brings together perspectives from music, physics, and history to explore how sonic phenomena shape our understanding of temporal, cultural, and material worlds.

• Roger Matthew Grant, Wesleyan University, Music
• G. Scott Watson, Syracuse University, Physics
• Alice Goff, University of Chicago, History

Mingle with fellow scholars over strolling appetizers in a welcoming atmosphere.

Experience the music of the Kingdom of Haiti! From fierce anti-colonial anthems to moving royal tributes to virtuosic operatic excerpts, this lecture-recital brings to life the sounds of a fledgling monarchy striving for grandeur and recognition in the wake of the Haitian Revolution. Through performances of these works—most of them presented for the first time—audiences will hear how Henry Christophe, Haiti’s one and only King, strategically used music to glorify his nascent kingdom, enrapture foreign dignitaries, and wreak havoc on Atlantic narratives of Black incapacity for self-rule and artistic achievement.

• Introduction: Rebecca Scott, Charles Gibson Distinguished University Professor of History and Law Emerita

• Vocalist: Jean Bernard Cerin, baritone, Cornell University, Assistant Professor of Music

• Commentary: Henry Stoll (2022-2025, Musicology), American Council of Learned Societies Fellow

• Piano: Matthew Bengtson, Associate Professor of Music, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Start the day with a welcoming breakfast and inspiring words to set the tone for the day's interdisciplinary panels and highlighting the significance of the Michigan Society of Fellows’ 55th Anniversary Symposium.

How do forests transform as diverse forms of life intersect and interact within them? Panelists will consider forests as dynamic sites of ecological, cultural, and imaginative significance, engaging perspectives from biology, anthropology, and literature.

• Paul V. A. Fine, University of California, Berkeley, Integrative Biology
• Eduardo Kohn, McGill University, Anthropology
• Meghna Sapui, University of Miami, English

What forms has socio-economic inequality taken across global regions in the modern era? This panel examines the historical development, cultural dimensions, and structural consequences of inequality from multiple disciplinary vantage points.

• Elizabeth Hinton, Yale University, History
• Rebecca Spang, Indiana University, History
• Marlous van Waijenburg, Harvard Business School

Enjoy a lunch break and take the opportunity to connect with fellow attendees.

Mass migrations and geographic dislocations have profoundly shaped the modern world. This panel explores the assemblages they produce and the ways they are represented, with attention to art, sociology, anthropology, and literature.

• Cécile Fromont, Harvard University, History of Art and Architecture
• Neil Gong, University of California, San Diego, Sociology
• Zeynep Gursel, Rutgers University, Anthropology
• Michael Szalay, University of California, Irvine, English

Confronting adaptive pathogens, global health inequities, and mental health crises, contemporary medicine faces urgent dilemmas. This panel examines potential trajectories for medical practice through the lenses of microbiology, cultural analysis, and social critique.

• Vaughn Cooper, University of Pittsburgh, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
• Ana Vinea, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies