Nerd Nite Bloomington

Doors 7:00 | Presentations 7:30
Join us for the first Nerd Nite in Bloomington! We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Nerd Nite is an event held in more than 120 cities across the globe during which several folks give 15-minute fun-yet-informative presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along. It’s like the Discovery Channel… with beer! Imagine learning about everything from math feuds or the science of the Simpsons, to the genealogy of Godzilla or debunking beer myths, while having a few or a few too many.

Come join us for a drink, learn something new, and meet fellow nerds. Be there AND be square!

This month’s speakers and presentation topics:
1) Camels in the Outback
by James Taylor

In Mid-November 2009, in the final summer of a 15-year drought in Australia, a small rural town called Docker River was in national news as a herd of marauding camels besieged the residents of the town. But camels aren’t native to Australia… So how did over six thousand end up in one rural town? This is one of many, varied stories of Australia’s complex relationship with these ships of the desert, and in this presentation, you will hear just a few. Within these anecdotes, however, is a 180 year-long narrative about place, people, and technology.

James Taylor is a PhD student studying Computing, Culture, and Society in the Informatics Department at IU. His research interests are in the information and transportation technologies of the 19th and 20th century and how they influence the ways we think about infrastructure in the 21st century. James’ current research is in Telegraphy in Midwest America.

2) “Headstrong Girl[s]!” Taylor Swift and Jane Austen as Historical Analogues
by Hannah Tate
What do romance, cherry-picked activism, and mastery of a thinly veiled insult have in common? This presentation will explore similarities between Taylor Swift and Jane Austen as pop culture icons, making an argument for the two women as historical analogues. We will focus on their respective positions in society, the reception of their work, and their influence on political issues of their respective periods. Along the way, we will get a glimpse into the constructions and reconstructions of white woman activism that capture our hearts almost as much as they stall social progress.

Hannah Tate is a PhD student at Indiana University Bloomington, working in the Comparative Literature and Gender Studies departments. Her primary academic foci are on metatheories of literary organization and disability literature, but her affinity for extended metaphor and romantic angst will never fade away, nor will her obsession with injecting chaos into the traditional literary canon.

3) Nostalgic Waters: Specters of Human Extinction
by Shane Greene
What if one day homo sapiens woke up and declared: This whole life-on-land crap isn’t working out. Let’s go back to the sea where life began. What combo of fictional imagination, paleontological finds, and evolutionary speculation might make the post-sapien desire to return to watery origins possible? Let’s find out.

Shane Greene is a Professor of Anthropology at IU. His past research is on social movements and the political histories of punk. Currently, he’s dabbling with a book of speculative essays on human extinction.