Come meet chairs and members from other seminars and bring along friends who are interested in learning more about The University Seminars program. The University Seminars office staff and Advisory Board will attend.
This two-day conference brings together a diverse group of established and emerging scholars working on the history of modern Iraq from the Ottoman period to the present to interrogate Iraqi studies; taking stock of its past, reflecting on the present, and looking towards its future. Studies of modern Iraq have grown qualitatively and quantitatively in recent years. There is now a critical mass of innovative scholars in the US, Europe, and the Middle East who work on Iraq and are exploring new lines of inquiry in a number of different directions. It is common to see Iraq-themed panels and round […]
The COVID-19 is now categorized as a pandemic by the CDC. Columbia's classes will be held virtually for the remainder of the semester and all non-essential gatherings are restricted. In line with these measures, The University Seminars has decided to cancel all in-person seminars and conferences for the remainder of the semester. Our Annual Dinner, which was originally scheduled for late April, has been postponed until the fall. For those who wish to hold meetings over Zoom, Skype or Google Hangouts, please note the following guidelines: 1. The chair or organizer must read out The University Seminars publication policy to […]
In Honor of the First Commemoration of Indigenous Peoples Day at Columbia University REGISTER HERE
Hosted by Columbia University’s Arabic Studies Seminar Institute for Comparative Literature and Society Sheikh Zayed Book Award Brill Academic Publishers In Memory of Jaroslav Stetkevych Organizers: Rebecca Johnson, Nizar F. Hermes, Chiara Fontana, Bilal Orfali and Sarah Monks This event will be hosted at Columbia University’s Faculty House and also available virtually for all. Columbia University Affiliates wishing to attend in person should register by clicking the below link. This link is only for Columbia University faculty, students, and staff. For all others, see the links to register in the program. IN-PERSON REGISTRATION PROGRAM AND VIRTUAL REGISTRATION
Photo by Jessica Collins During the decade of the First World War (1910-1920), African American philosopher, W.E.B. Du Bois, argued that white supremacy functioned both domestically and internationally to thwart the democratic political aspirations of the earth’s “darker peoples,” thus intensifying their vulnerability to anti-black mob violence, race-based economic exploitation, and the devastation wrought by the war itself. During the same decade, Du Bois elaborated an aesthetics—a philosophy of beauty—that conceptualized beauty as a political force capable of supporting the struggle against white supremacy: of sustaining the moral resolve required to fight white supremacy and of undermining the grip of […]
Photo by Jessica Collins During the decade of the First World War (1910-1920), African American philosopher, W.E.B. Du Bois, argued that white supremacy functioned both domestically and internationally to thwart the democratic political aspirations of the earth’s “darker peoples,” thus intensifying their vulnerability to anti-black mob violence, race-based economic exploitation, and the devastation wrought by the war itself. During the same decade, Du Bois elaborated an aesthetics—a philosophy of beauty—that conceptualized beauty as a political force capable of supporting the struggle against white supremacy: of sustaining the moral resolve required to fight white supremacy and of undermining the grip of […]
Photo by Jessica Collins During the decade of the First World War (1910-1920), African American philosopher, W.E.B. Du Bois, argued that white supremacy functioned both domestically and internationally to thwart the democratic political aspirations of the earth’s “darker peoples,” thus intensifying their vulnerability to anti-black mob violence, race-based economic exploitation, and the devastation wrought by the war itself. During the same decade, Du Bois elaborated an aesthetics—a philosophy of beauty—that conceptualized beauty as a political force capable of supporting the struggle against white supremacy: of sustaining the moral resolve required to fight white supremacy and of undermining the grip of […]
November 16, 2022 2022 Tannenbaum Lecture Hecuba’s Howl: Poetry as Feminist Lament This talk includes a reading from my newly published poetry collection, Year of the Dog, a Latina chronicle of the Vietnam War era, and a discussion of the tradition and function of feminist elegy during times of disaster and atrocity. The talk interweaves my perspective as the daughter of a Mexican immigrant Vietnam veteran with other stories of historical and mythic women responding to Vietnam and other forms of warfare—as warriors, widows, antiwar activists, and witnesses of violence. Drawing from the mythic figure of Hecuba, who committed herself […]
Colloquium for Early Medieval Studies Indigenous Futures / Medieval Pasts "Analogues and Kinship: A Talking Circle" Co-hosted by Tarren Andrews (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Yale University), Gage Diabo (Kanien’kehá:ka, Concordia University), Emma Hitchcock (Columbia University), and Stephen Yeager (Concordia University) Sponsored by CEMS, Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement, Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Department of English and Comparative Literature, University Seminar on Medieval Studies, Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity REGISTER IN PERSON HERE | REGISTER FOR ZOOM HERE This CEMS talking circle and workshop facilitates a broad discussion about the politics, power structures, and […]
Hidden Hybridities I: The Eccentric and Creole Nature of the English Language Much of my academic work addresses the results in language of contact between groups. My main interests are in revealing hybridities hitherto unsuspected, and in refining our conception of hybridities more obvious. My goal, addressing a wide range of languages and also extending to music, is to wean us from preconceptions due to superficial appearances, distracting gulfs between the present and the past, and concerns more local to our moment than scientifically framed. In these three lectures I will present areas that I have found of particular interest […]
Hidden Hybridities II: The Afrogenesis Hypothesis of Creole Language Origins Much of my academic work addresses the results in language of contact between groups. My main interests are in revealing hybridities hitherto unsuspected, and in refining our conception of hybridities more obvious. My goal, addressing a wide range of languages and also extending to music, is to wean us from preconceptions due to superficial appearances, distracting gulfs between the present and the past, and concerns more local to our moment than scientifically framed. In these three lectures I will present areas that I have found of particular interest in this […]
Hidden Hybridities III: The Black American Roots of the Broadway Musical Sound Much of my academic work addresses the results in language of contact between groups. My main interests are in revealing hybridities hitherto unsuspected, and in refining our conception of hybridities more obvious. My goal, addressing a wide range of languages and also extending to music, is to wean us from preconceptions due to superficial appearances, distracting gulfs between the present and the past, and concerns more local to our moment than scientifically framed. In these three lectures I will present areas that I have found of particular interest […]
Celebrating a Half-Century of the Columbia University Seminar on Appetitive Behavior Co-sponsored by: NutriSci, Inc. and The University Seminar on Appetitive Behavior. A brief history of the seminar: The Appetitive Seminar had its first meeting on March 9, 1972. It was created to combine a number of disciplines to study appetite. As the founder, Dr. Theodore VanItallie stated in a letter (16 November 1971) proposing the seminar: “The regulation of food intake and its epiphenomena represent fundamental problems in human biology and physiology. How food intake (appetite) is regulated is still poorly understood and should remain a subject of intense […]
10 am - 5 pm Interdisciplinary Symposium at the Heyman Center for the Humanities 5:30 pm Concert at the Maison Française The goal of our conference is to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to think through some key questions and issues that arise when we study the connections between the arts and the history of abolitionism in the Atlantic world, e.g.: What approaches did writers, musicians, and artists take to the problems of slavery and the slave trade? In what ways did their creative activities subvert or reinscribe stereotypes about Africans and African-descended people? How did the materiality of the objects […]
Please join us to discuss two recent collections in Memory Studies and to take stock of new directions in the field. Irene Kacandes, editor of On Being Adjacent to Historical Violence (De Gruyter, 2022), and Brett Kaplan, editor of Critical Memory Studies (Routledge, 2023), will each introduce their volumes and reflect on how the pandemic lock-down inflected the books' contributions. Contributors Claudia Breger, Leo Spitzer, Marita Sturken, Sonali Thakkar, and James Young will offer brief accounts of key memory studies concepts emerging from their essays. This event is open to the public. Fliers to order books at a discount are attached, along with the two […]
Crooked Plow: Translating Social Justice in Brazil Join us for a discussion of Brazilian author Itamar Vieira Junior’s best-selling novel Crooked Plow, now available in English. Our speakers will explore translation, literary writing, social justice work, and the long shadow that slavery casts. Co-Sponsored by the University Seminar on Public Humanities: Expanding Scholarship and Pedagogy; Columbia University Department of History; The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities; Columbia Global Centers, Rio De Janeiro; Institute of Latin American Studies. This event is free and open to the public. About the Book Deep in Brazil's neglected Bahia hinterland, two […]
The Abundant In Between Time II: A Timeless Tale: Paule Marshall’s Underappreciated Great Work, “The Chosen Place, The Timeless People” Monday, November 20, 2023, 8 pm Farah Jasmine Griffin The William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American and African Diaspora Studies, Columbia University Drawing upon Maya Angelou’s memoirs, The Heart of a Woman (1981) and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), these lectures identify a few of her friends, singer, composer, Abbey Lincoln, novelist, Paule Marshall and art historian, ethnographer, Sylvia Ardyn Boone, major artists and intellectuals in their own right, who help us flesh out an […]
The Abundant In Between Time III: To Be a Part of the Future: The Quiet Quest of Sylvia Ardyn Boone Monday, November 27, 2023, 8 pm Farah Jasmine Griffin The William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African American and African Diaspora Studies, Columbia University Drawing upon Maya Angelou’s memoirs, The Heart of a Woman (1981) and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), these lectures identify a few of her friends, singer, composer, Abbey Lincoln, novelist, Paule Marshall and art historian, ethnographer, Sylvia Ardyn Boone, major artists and intellectuals in their own right, who help us flesh out an […]
The conference is intended to encourage regional HB scholars and PhD students to make or strengthen personal connections with one another. At the same time, we hope to highlight interdisciplinary, intercultural, and intertextual connections that many of us are making in our scholarship on the Hebrew Bible The day will be prepared for by gathering responses from planned participants (both attendees and presenters) with 1-2 sentences giving a brief pointer to how they have found an interdisciplinary connection useful for their research or teaching. Those responses will be collected and circulated to attendees so they have an idea of who is at […]
The University Seminar for the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas will be hosting a reception to celebrate the life and achievements of Dr. Francesco Pellizzi, who joined the ancestors in August 2023. Francesco served generously as chair or co-chair of the seminar for 18 years (2005-23), which, under his guidance, made a huge contribution to the life of the department and the university. Thanks to Francesco’s international stature as an anthropologist, art critic, and the Founder and Editor of Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics, Francesco was able to attract an astonishing caliber of scholars to speak. This included distinguished anthropologists […]
Lecture 1: People in Me: Mapping Maya’s Circle, Following Abbey's Road
There is considerable excitement about a new generation of anti-obesity medications (AOMs). These medications supply the body with analogues of hormones that are naturally produced in the gut, including glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1), which signal the termination of eating and suppress hunger. Recent clinical trials demonstrate marked efficacy of GLP-1-based AOMs in promoting weight loss with some evidence that their primary mechanism of action is to limit food intake. Although work is needed to precisely characterize effects on eating behaviors, initial data suggest that GLP-1 analogues can enhance satiation and curb appetite. Ultimately, these new classes of AOMs have potential to counter […]
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Cine-Memoria: Past and Present in Latin American Cinemas is a conference and screenings that consider two times in the history of regional Latin American filmmaking. We return to the radical women’s movement and collective filmmaking of the 1960s and 1970s in screenings of rare short titles and reconsider this work in the light of political developments and the emergence of “global auteurs” with international recognition. The first day is dedicated to remembering the critical work of Cuban-American scholar Ana M. López and a third day features online presentations in Spanish and Portuguese. View the Detailed Schedule PRESENTED […]
The Heavy Burden of Modern German History: Imperialism, Wars, Genocide in the Twentieth Century, and the Fall-Out Volker R. Berghahn Seth Low Emeritus Professor of History Columbia University Lecture I: Debates Among Historians of Modern Germany, 1950-2024 Monday, October 7, 2024, 8 pm Lecture II: Hitler’s War Aims: Genocide and World Domination Monday, October 21, 2024, 8 pm Lecture III: Learning from the Past after 1945: Ordinary Germans and Elites Monday, October 28, 2024, 8pm These lectures will examine the development of Germany in the twentieth- and twenty-first- centuries up to the year 2024. As that development has led to at times heated debates […]
Community Hour at Faculty House is back. Before you head home after work, take some time to wind down and socialize with your colleagues and other Columbia community members. $15 for 3 drink tickets, beer and wine Complimentary light snacks No reservations required Cash and credit cards both accepted
Meeting of all seminar chairs.
The Heavy Burden of Modern German History: Imperialism, Wars, Genocide in the Twentieth Century, and the Fall-Out Volker R. Berghahn Seth Low Emeritus Professor of History Columbia University Lecture I: Debates Among Historians of Modern Germany, 1950-2024 Monday, October 7, 2024, 8 pm Lecture II: Hitler’s War Aims: Genocide and World Domination Monday, October 21, 2024, 8 pm Lecture III: Learning from the Past after 1945: Ordinary Germans and Elites Monday, October 28, 2024, 8pm These lectures will examine the development of Germany in the twentieth- and twenty-first- centuries up to the year 2024. As that development has led to at times heated debates […]
The Heavy Burden of Modern German History: Imperialism, Wars, Genocide in the Twentieth Century, and the Fall-Out Volker R. Berghahn Seth Low Emeritus Professor of History Columbia University Lecture I: Debates Among Historians of Modern Germany, 1950-2024 Monday, October 7, 2024, 8 pm Lecture II: Hitler’s War Aims: Genocide and World Domination Monday, October 21, 2024, 8 pm Lecture III: Learning from the Past after 1945: Ordinary Germans and Elites Monday, October 28, 2024, 8pm These lectures will examine the development of Germany in the twentieth- and twenty-first- centuries up to the year 2024. As that development has led to at times heated debates […]
Morningside Campus is closed. Faculty House is closed for seminars and events.
Morningside Campus is closed. Faculty House is closed for seminars and events.
Morningside Campus is closed. Faculty House is closed for seminars and events.
The University Seminars office is closed from 6 pm on Friday, December 20 until 10 am Monday, January 6, 2024 for the holiday break.
Morningside Campus is closed. Faculty House is closed for seminars and events.
Faculty House is closed for seminars and events.
Co-sponsored by The University Seminar on Medieval Studies, Columbia Maison Française, Department of Music, and the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program A Talk by Emma Dillon Why do we sing? How does singing shape how we see ourselves and how we relate to one another? Emma Dillon takes up these universal questions in the context of a medieval song community. Her talk explores Medieval French songs (trouvère songs) as a social practice, linked to specific people and families from Northern France and to other forms of social activity. She offers a case study of twelfth-century trouvères (using new recordings of their songs), […]
Co-sponsored by The Columbia University Seminar on Studies in Modern Italy and the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies In honor of the 80th anniversary of Italian Liberation Day, April 25th, 1945, the Columbia University Seminar in Modern Italian Studies presents a special panel and conversation. Resisting Silence: Unveiling the Legacy of the Italian Resistance aims to explore the historical significance and contemporary relevance of Italian antifascism. By bringing together scholars, activists, and community members, we will foster meaningful discussions that illuminate the lessons of resilience and social justice. Program: Introductory remarks by Elizabeth Leake, Professor, Columbia University Chair, Marla Stone, […]
This event is open to members of The University Seminars community only. Registration is required. This year’s Tannenbaum Lecturer is Margo Jefferson and the Tannenbaum-Warner Award recipient is Robert Pollack. TANNENBAUM LECTURE Criticism as Intellectual Inquiry and Emotional Invention Being an Other in America teaches you to imagine what can’t imagine you. I was thinking, when I first wrote this, of certain kinds of otherness. Otherness in terms of race, gender, and class; in terms of temperament and aesthetics. I was thinking about the charged relations between fact, practice, ideology, and passion when one writes criticism. And of the social structures […]
Faculty House is closed for seminars and events.
This conference celebrates the long and distinguished career of Christopher Baswell (Ann Whitney Olin Chair of English, Barnard College; Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University), a leading scholar of medieval literature. Baswell’s work combines analytical precision, theoretical sophistication, and astonishing erudition to probe a wide range of topics, from medieval reception of the classics, to multilingualism, to disability studies, to women’s poetry across time. He is the author of Virgil in Medieval England: Figuring the Aeneid from the Twelfth Century to Chaucer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), a dazzling demonstration of the ways manuscript study can inform literary analysis, […]
Morningside Campus is closed. Faculty House is closed for seminars and events.
