Arts & Sciences

Imrat KhanWorld-renowned sitar player Imrat Khan, a distinguished artist-in-residence in Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, will perform a concert of Indian classical music at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 29. Khan, who will be joined by tabla player Jon Nellen, is widely recognized as one of the giants of Indian classical music, celebrated for his virtuosity, musicality and inventive wit.

Observing that the current presidential campaign is becoming “hyper-racial,” a noted linguist and African American studies expert at Washington University in St. Louis suggests voters participate in a “linguistic thought experiment” to determine the extent that candidates are able to discuss race or gender on the campaign trail.

The Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present its third biennial “Young Choreographers Showcase“ March 28-30 in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio. The concert will feature more than a dozen dancers in seven original works — ranging from ballet to modern, solos to large group works — by student choreographers in the PAD’s Dance Program

Poet Mary Jo Bang, professor of English and director of The Writing Program, both in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry.

Whether or not Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination for president, the question of how much being a woman helped or hurt her campaign will linger for a long time. A WUSTL professor discusses the unique challenges Clinton faces and why people seem to react so strongly to her. Video available.

David MarchantShaina Goodman’s *Holding.*The Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences will present its third biennial Young Choreographers Showcase March 28 to 30 in the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio. The concert will feature more than a dozen dancers in seven original works — ranging from ballet to modern, solos to large group works — by student choreographers in the PAD’s Dance Program

The third African Film Festival will be held March 27-30. The series consists of four feature films and four short films from eight different African nations, touching on themes of love, gender, family and the effects of globalization. It also will include a new youth program March 26-27.

Human diseases and social networks seem to have little in common. However, at the crux of these two lies a network, communities within the network, and farther even, substructures of the communities. Weixiong Zhang, Ph.D., Washington University associate professor of computer science and engineering and of genetics, along with his Ph.D. student, Jianhua Ruan, has published an algorithm (a recipe of computer instructions) to automatically discover communities and their subtle structures in various networks.

Ancient donkey skeletons at Abydos, Egypt.An international group of researchers, led by Fiona Marshall, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has found evidence for the earliest transport use of the donkey and the early phases of donkey domestication, suggesting the process of domestication may have been slower and less linear than previously thought.

Washington University will host its third African Film Festival March 27-30. The series will consist of four feature films and four short films from eight different African nations. This year’s themes include love, gender, family, and the effects of globalization. It will also include a new youth program March 26-27.