October 3, 7:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Living Myths: Joseph Beuys and Collective Memory
Lasse Antonsen
University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
Lasse Antonsen, Director of the University Art Gallery at the University of
Massachusetts, Dartmouth will speak on the Joseph Beuys Sculpture site and
the need for green, contemplative space on the UMBC campus. Antonsen's lecture
will discuss the relevance of Joseph Beuys' performances, social sculpture,
and art work today. Beuys (1921-1986) was an influential German artist who
came to prominence in the 1960s. He was a charismatic and controversial artist,
a committed teacher, and a political activist.
Sponsors:
Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture
Dresher Center for the Humanities
TKF Foundation
October 17, 4:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Webb Lecture
Ideologies of Empires:
The British Case and its American Echoes Dane Kennedy
George Washington University
"Is the United States an empire?" This question has generated a fierce
debate in recent years, a debate that hinges in part on how an empire explains
and justifies its role in the world. Dane Kennedy, Elmer Louis Kayser Professor
of History and International Affairs at George Washington University, will examine
the ideologies of empire that shaped the British imperial experience and consider
the extent to which parallels can be found in contemporary America.
Sponsors:
Department of History
Dresher Center for the Humanities
October 25, 4:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Phi Beta Kappa Lecture
Women Writing Letters in Graeco-Roman Egypt Roger Bagnall
New York University
In the papyri from ancient Egypt, we have several hundred letters written by
women-not fictitious women or literary creations, but actual women who needed
to communicate. This lecture explores the difficulties of understanding what
letters women actually wrote themselves or dictated and how these letters can
give us a view of ancient women's lives more diverse than the picture one gets
from ancient literature. Professor Roger Bagnall is Director of the Institute
for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, and a visiting Phi
Beta Kappa scholar.
Sponsors:
Department of Ancient Studies
Phi Beta Kappa, UMBC Chapter
October 30, 4:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Ancient Studies Week Lecture
Exploring the Origins of the Temple of the Goddess Mut
at South Karnak Betsy Bryan
Johns Hopkins University
Betsy Bryan holds the Alexander Badawy Chair in Egyptian Art and Archaeology
in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Currently
she leads the Hopkins team of archaeologists investigating the Temple of Mut
at Luxor. She is author, editor, and contributor to many books on Egypt, including Mistress
of the House, Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt. In this lecture,
Professor Bryan will discuss new information about the complex character of the
goddess Mut, the wife of the chief god Amun and mother of the moon god Khonsu.
Mut was an elite deity associated with kingly power.
Sponsors:
Department of Ancient Studies
Dresher Center for the Humanities
November 7, 4:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Media Convergence, Media Democracy Jason Loviglio
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Technological advances in the media of communication, information, entertainment,
and surveillance are always accompanied by a range of predictions about their
benefits and dangers to democracy. What are the consequences for democracy in
light of the convergence of new digital media with older forms of media distribution,
like broadcasting and print? Jason Loviglio is Director of UMBC's new Media and
Communication program and Associate Professor of American Studies. He is author
of Radio's Intimate Public: Network Broadcasting and Mass-Mediated Democracy,
and co-editor of Radio Reader: Essays in the Cultural History of Radio.
Sponsors:
Dresher Center for the Humanities
November 14, 7:00 p.m.
University Center Ballroom
The W.E.B. DuBois Lecture
Black Leadership in America and the African Diaspora:
Its Promises and Problems
Ronald Walters
University of Maryland, College Park
The long project of forging unity among peoples of African descent has moved
substantially beyond theory to concrete engagement. In the U.S., although the
promises of unity among people of African descent show promises, the weakening
of the traditional base of the black community and the strengthening of immigrant
African communities pose problems that constitute a new and challenging agenda.
Dr. Walters is Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland,
College Park and serves as Director of the African American Leadership Institute.
He is the author of over 100 articles and 8 books, and is the recipient of many
academic and professional awards.
Sponsors:
Department of Africana Studies
Spring 2008 Humanities Forum Lecture Series
February 5, 7:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Fiction Reading: “The Age of Shiva”
Manil Suri
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Manil Suri, author of the bestselling novel The Death of Vishnu, will read from his new novel The Age of Shiva. In this new book, India's birth as a new nation parallels a woman's complex psychological journey confronting tradition and modernity. Richly layered with themes from Hindu mythology, The Age of Shiva is at once a powerful story of a country in turmoil and an extraordinary portrait of maternal love. Dr. Suri is a professor of Mathematics at UMBC.
"Like Anna Karenina, The Age of Shiva is both intimate and epic, a balance of sensual beauty and visceral reality. Suri reveals truths about human nature: our circumstantial passions, the obsessions that confine us, and the many ways we rebel and find self-expression. “ -- Amy Tan
Sponsors:
Dresher Center for the Humanities
Friends of the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery
Ivy Bookshop
March 5, 4:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery
Drawing Serious Laughter: The Art of Political Satire
Kevin KAL Kallaugher
Political Cartoonist
Internationally acclaimed political cartoonist Kevin KAL Kallaugher has for over 30 years skewered politicians from Baltimore to Berlin. In this entertaining presentation, KAL will illustrate the excitement, challenges and pitfalls of cartooning in today's world. KAL will also share his fun and important work he is creating as artist-in-residence at UMBC.
Sponsors:
Dresher Center for the Humanities
March 26, 4:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th Floor
The Daphne Harrison Lecture
What Does the Bible Say about Women?
Adele Berlin, Robert H. Smith Professor of Hebrew Bible
University of Maryland, College Park
The Hebrew Bible has a lot to say about women even though they played a subordinate role in ancient Israelite society. When we look at the portrayal of a few individual women, famous and not so famous, and at some general statements about women, we see that biblical representations of women are more complex than we imagined. Moreover, by examining its writings about women, we learn a good deal about biblical thought.
Sponsors:
Judaic Studies Program
Dresher Center for the Humanities
May 7, 4:00 p.m.
Albin O. Kuhn Library, 7th Floor
The Low Lecture
Confederate Emancipation
Bruce Levine, James G. Randall Professor of History
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne
Prof. Levine’s most recent book is entitled Confederate Emancipation: Southern Plans to Free and Arm Slaves during the Civil War (2005). It probes the public debate that dominated politics in the South during the last six months of the war, the controversy over whether to emancipate and arm slaves to fight on behalf of the Confederacy. This book uses the rich, dramatic, and revealing record of that debate and its aftermath to explore racial and pro-slavery ideology, the real interaction of blacks and whites during the war, the nature of southern nationalism, divisions within the South’s white population, and the complex process of emancipation and Reconstruction.
Sponsors:
Department of History
Dresher Center for the Humanities
