Jody Enders, medievalist and UCSB Distinguished Professor in the department of French and Italian Studies, recently translated two books of French farce. Enders spoke at a recent IHC Humanities Decanted event with Leo Cabrantes-Grant, a professor of Spanish and Portuguese. They discussed contemporary themes in medieval farces that resonate with a 21st-century audiences and how Enders approaches translating.
Migrant workers have been filling gaps in the economy and industries as far back as in the fifth century B.C. in ancient Rome, said UCLA ancient history professor Greg Woolf at a recent event hosted by UC Santa Barbara’s Classics and History departments and the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.
UCSB Film alum James Hayman spoke at the Pollock Theatre about his experience directing an episode of HBO’s “The Sopranos,” as well as his experience with UCSB’s film department and career. Hayman’s episode, “Eloise” was also screened, followed by an on-stage conversation with moderator Patrice Petro, director of the Carsey-Wolf Center.
Jeremy Kamal, Black culture scholar and professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, showed three futuristic, digitally-realized landscapes for a UC Santa Barbara audience. These landscapes, which are part of a fictional world called “Mojo,” each represent parts of Black identity.
Santa Barbara Dance Theater held its first show of winter quarter, presenting a series of performances curated by artistic director Brandon Whited with guest choreographers Helen Simoneau and David Maurice.
UC Santa Barbara’s department of Theater and Dance put on its third annual LAUNCH PAD AMPLIFY Reading Series Festival earlier this month. LAUNCH PAD and AMPLIFY, two UCSB initiatives in theater, co-organized the festival and brought four playwrights from around the nation to workshop their new plays. The festival ended with staged readings.
Reed College Classics scholar Sonia Sabnis spoke on the love story between the Roman gods Cupid and Psyche, and how this second-century myth’s darker themes impacted 20th-century American literature at an annual lecture sponsored by Center for the Study of Ancient Fiction at UC Santa Barbara.
Rob Boddice, author and historian, spoke as the inaugural speaker for the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s new Research Focus Group of the History of Emotions. Bodice highlighted the importance of different scholarly fields working together to continue making progress for research on emotions.
UC Santa Barbara history professor Anthony Barbieri has published his fifth book, The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China. The book unites the past and the present day, exploring perceptions of First Emperor Ying Zheng as both hero and villain. In a recent interview, Professor Barbieri discussed his research and writing experience.
Hong Kong born artist Shirley Tse spoke at UCSB art department’s final Visiting Artist Colloquium presentation. Tse showed past sculptures that were on display in Venice, Italy, as well as recent art installations in California. Tse discussed her recent move to Lompoc, California, where she seeks out art projects that sustainable on many levels.
Check out these Q & A’s with UCSB Film Students: an Instagram-inspired director, a transfer student making new connections, and an Indonesian student telling untold stories.
UC Santa Barbara Film and Media Studies program is renowned for its research and scholarship and students come away with a deep understanding of the field.They also have a chance to network and pursue production projects to gain traction in their future careers — applying practically what they’ve learned theoretically. Four students recently gave interviews about what they are doing on the production side. Read their stories.
Although Christian nationalism is slowly gaining support among Republicans and older Americans, last month’s election results were not as bad as some people expected for Democrats, UC Santa Barbara alum and Skidmore College associate professor Brad Onishi said at an event co-sponsored by UCSB’s Walter H. Capps Center.
Curtis Roads, professor and chair of Media Arts and Technology at UCSB, spoke to a Santa Barbara audience last week about his career in electronic music composition and music software development. During the lecture, he played some of his more recent pieces and updated his audience on future projects.
Over the past decade, after researching the practices of those who consider themselves nonreligious, UC Santa Barbara Religious Studies associate professor Joseph Blankholm, a specialist in atheism, published his new book The Secular Paradox. Blankholm proposes that the very definition of “religion” in the English language is flawed, as the term has been shaped by the parameters of Christianity. He spoke about secularism and atheism in a recent interview.
Ross Melnick, a UCSB Film and Media Studies professor, spoke at the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s second Humanities Decanted series event, to discuss his new book Hollywood Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power Around the World . Melnick also sat down with UCSB student Maxwell Wilkens to talk about his book and the role American cinema played in forging the US image abroad, in the second episode of HFA Speaks: The Podcast.
HFA student intern Maxwell Wilkens moderated a discussion on the painful associations the Thanksgiving holiday holds for Indigenous peoples, to mark Native American Heritage Month. He was joined by panelists Alesha Claveria, a UC Santa Barbara Theater alum who is now an assistant professor of American Indian Studies at Cal State Northridge, as well as UCSB professors of English Amrah Salomón J, and Candace Waid. During this 45-minute Zoom session, the three professors discussed counter-narratives of Thanksgiving that have yet to become prevalent in the US education system.
UC Santa Barbara Theater majors Sophia Papalia and Hannah Froman directed the one-act plays Dash Climbs a Rope and Reunion, both by renowned playwright and department friend James Still, under the mentorship of theater professor Risa Brainin for UCSB’s Fall One-Acts.
Legendary author and illustrator Maurice Sendak confronted his past in the dozens of books he both wrote and illustrated. As a Jewish child growing up in Brooklyn in the mid-20th century, Sendak was constantly sick and had an innate fear of surviving and dying in the world. His parents instilled in him anxiety and shame, which he captured in his books, said Tulane University professor of Jewish Studies Golan Moskowitz at UC Santa Barbara’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s talk last week.
Moskowitz went through Sendak’s life and experiences during an hour-long Zoom talk last week to kick off the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Global Childhood Ecology series.
During the pandemic, Stephanie Kraus left the Dance Department to pursue Sociology. After being confined to dancing in her isolated Isla Vista apartment, she began to feel unmotivated and doubtful of her decision to pursue dance. Although Kraus enjoyed her new classes, she missed being able to express herself without words, with only movement. The Kinetic Lab, the closing performance of the year for the dance department, gave Kraus the opportunity to reconnect with her passion for dance.
