Founded 2007 Seminar Number 717 The University Seminar on Cultural Memory began in 2005 as an interdisciplinary colloquium welcoming graduate students and faculty from Columbia and its neighbors. The Seminar, incepted in 2007, builds upon this already-established community and aims to further develop a vibrant interdisciplinary dialogue on contemporary issues of cultural and collective memory, […]
Read MoreTheory and History of Media
Founded 2009 Seminar Number 727 The University Seminar on the Theory and History of Media brings together scholars from the humanities and social sciences to examine emerging concepts in media theory. Media, in this conception, refers to material technologies that (re)produce, store, and transmit information – a conception broad enough that allows us to move […]
Read MoreHuman-Animal Studies
Founded 2014 Seminar Number 769 The University Seminar on Human-Animal Studies is open to faculty and professional membership in the field of Human-Animal Studies. Vibrant new scholarship is emerging in this area of work.  The field’s focus is on how humans and (other) animals have interacted across cultures and histories: how the protein, work, and […]
Read MoreReligion and Writing
Founded 2011 Seminar Number 751 The seminar investigates the roles of literacy and writing in religious traditions.  Its goal is to serve as a research group for the comparative study of literacy and the uses of writing as a form of communication technology in world religions.  Approaching the relationship between religion and writing through the lenses of […]
Read MoreNarrative, Health, and Social Justice
Founded 2010 Seminar Number 737 This interdisciplinary and inter-institutional seminar explores the connection between narrative, health, and social justice. If disease, violence, terror, war, poverty, and oppression all manifest themselves in narrative, then it is equally true that resistance, justice, healing, activism, and collectivity can be products of a narrative-based approach to ourselves and the […]
Read MoreWomen and Society
Founded 1974 Seminar Number 545 This seminar is devoted to the interdisciplinary study of women in their historical and social contexts, as well as feminist historiography. Among the topics the seminar considers are the status and function of women historically; cross-cultural and sociological perspectives on women; representations of women in literature, media, and the arts; […]
Read MoreIrish Studies
Founded 1973 Seminar Number 535 This seminar serves as an interdisciplinary forum on all aspects and periods of Irish culture. Seminar participants come from a wide variety of fields: history, literature, art history, film studies, political science, sociology, anthropology, music, and folklore. These scholars bring to any topic under discussion a diversity of background which […]
Read MoreDeath
Founded 1971 Seminar Number 507 This interdisciplinary seminar critically engages with aspects of death, dying, disposal and grief. Presentations and discussions explore topics from both academic and clinical perspectives in areas as diverse as medicine, psychology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, religion, law, politics, architecture, and the media. In recent years the seminar has focused on contemporary […]
Read MoreStudies in Modern Italy
Founded 1966 Seminar Number 483 This seminar is concerned with political, social, cultural, and religious aspects of Italian life from 1815 to the present. In recent years, the seminar has stressed an interdisciplinary approach to Italian studies, increasing the participation of anthropologists and scholars of art, film, and literature. The seminar meets on the second […]
Read MoreMedieval Studies
Founded 1954 Seminar Number 431 This seminar addresses subjects of common interest to all branches of medieval studies. The seminar particularly encourages interdisciplinary topics and approaches, which will stimulate discussions of issues in the study of medieval culture. One of the great advantages of the seminar is that it brings together representatives of medieval disciplines, […]
Read MoreThe Renaissance
Founded 1945 Seminar Number 407 The Seminar in the Renaissance, founded in 1945 by Paul Oskar Kristeller and John Herman Randall, Jr., hosts presentations of about 50 minutes on various aspects of Renaissance thought (including Renaissance humanism) and its ramifications in the arts (painting, sculpture, architecture, music, literature) and the sciences (physical, natural, historical, and […]
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