UC Santa Barbara’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC) is closing out an active year of lectures, panels, fellowships, research and graduate programs. This year, IHC welcomed seven new graduate fellows into its Public Humanities program, and in June, seven other graduate fellows completed their programs. In addition, five graduate fellows won the annual IHC Dissertation Fellowship competition. This fall, IHC will start its 2023-2024 public event series, “Imagining California,” by inviting academics, activists, artists and writers to engage with California’s historical past and inspire a hopeful future.
Writing Program lecturer Christian Thomas recently developed UCSB’s first interactive, choose-your-own-adventure game for an undergraduate writing course. The game responds to the player’s choices, and exposes students to Rome’s rich history of art and archaeology,
Shu-Chuan Chen’s, Professor in UCSB’s Department of East Asian Language and Cultural Studies, Chinese class offers students an immersive experience into Chinese culture. From hands-on cooking classes, New Years tea celebrations, and honoring the Lantern Festival, Chen’s class is praised by students for her ability to craft an informative yet engaging course. In this article, Chen sits with Isabella Genovese to talk about her teaching, life, and hopes .
UCSB English and Global Studies professor Bishnupriya Ghosh recently published her third book, The Virus Touch: Theorizing Epidemic Media, which talks about how health experts use graphic and artistic media to portray endemics and pandemics. She discussed her inspiration and writing process during an interview conducted by Political Science major Lauren Barnhart.
Poet and comparative literature instructor Rick Benjamin has urged readers to engage in less self-absorption and make space for compassion for others, in his latest book of poetry, “The Mob Within the Heart.” He read excerpts from what is his fifth book at a recent launch event presented by the UC Santa Barbara student Poets’ Club. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, it expresses the poet’s feelings about love, political conflict, illness and loss. He describes overwhelming love in his closest relationships and explores the complex responsibilities of being human.
Suigetsu, the Japanese term for reflected moon, often appears in Medieval Japanese literature and art. However, there is no consistent understanding for how the term is used metaphorically. UCLA Professor William Bodiford visited UCSB to explore this historical context and interpretation further, where he shared his own findings to do with reflected moons and explored the variance in metaphorical significance in different traditions.
With a passion to protect the environment, Jian Hong Shi interned at the Environmental Defense Center, the only public-interest environmental law group from Los Angeles to San Francisco and a partner organization of the Sara Miller McCune Endowed Internship and Public Service Program housed within the Walter H. Capps Center. “In addition to writing updates for our monthly emails, I wrote an item in our biannual printed edition,” she said. “It was about our recent achievement securing a 100-foot buffer between the new Heritage Ridge development project and the Los Carneros Creek, which will protect sensitive wildlife habitat.“
Joy Harjo, the 23rd poet laureate of the United States, came to UC Santa Barbara recenlty for a poetry reading and Q&A session. She is the first Native American to hold the title of poet laureate and writes about colonization, love, fear and empowerment.
The 2022-2023 web and social media intern team in the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts covered an array of events for the HFA website and social media platforms this year. Meet the faces behind the stories.
Eighteen students presented personal projects at the 2023 Raab Writing Fellow showcase, which included magazines, novels, interactive websites, comedy skits, and more. The showcase capped off a year of research, writing, and revising from the fellows, who expressed their gratitude for a generous grant from UCSB donor Diana Raab, that makes this opportunity possible.
London-based artist Wajid Yaseen said that cassette tapes give a rare glimpse into the lives and immigration experiences of Pothwari-speaking people, whose language has no written form. The lecture was hosted by UCSB’s Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Music, Ethnomusicology Forum, Library Special Collections, and Interdisciplinary Humanities Center.
UCSB’s honors history students Cole Grissom, Madeline Josa, and Raana Naghieh recently spoke about the impact of women on politics in settings ranging from Ancient Rome to Georgian England, at a colloquium hosted by the History department.
UC Santa Barbara 2023 graduate Nina Lopez choreographed three numbers for the Spring Dance Recital “VITALITY.” She was one of five senior students who choreographed the showcase. She recently sat down for an interview to discuss her background in dance and what the future holds for her.
Andrew B. Liu was hosted by the East Asia Center at UC Santa Barbara, where he discussed the complex relationship between China and the US and the effects of rising hostilities. He explained why economic decoupling remains unattainable and examined the business relations between the two countries.
Throughout America, the inner workings of the First Amendment right to free speech are constantly being discussed., especially at UC Santa Barbara. To continue to discourse, KCSB held a panel with UCSB activists and professors to understand how free speech operates on campus, and how to respond to adversity.
Cookbook author Benedetta Jasmin Guetta spoke to a UC Santa Barbara audience about the evolution of Italian Jewish cuisine throughout history. The talk was sponsored by UCSB’s Taubman Symposium, a speaker series run by UCSB’s Jewish Studies Program.
ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot, has shaken the academic world for better and for worse. On the UC Santa Barbara campus, undergraduate student Scarlett Adams offers a glimpse of how students and professors have approached the AI tool in different ways — from banning it, introducing it, or guiding students on how to use it, as since this technology is here to stay.
UC Santa Cruz film professor Shelley Stamp said that the 1944 film noir classic “Gaslight” exposed sexual and psychological abuse in relationships and in Hollywood. She spoke at a “Classic” series screening hosted by UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center.
When a resident of Wuhan, China wrote an online diary criticizing the government’s response to Covid-19, authorities retaliated by launching a disinformation campaign and propelling online hate toward her. This weaponization of the internet for political purposes parallels the information wars that occurred in the United States during the pandemic, said UCLA Chinese culture professor Michael Berry at a recent UC Santa Barbara Center for Taiwan Studies event.
The Walter H. Capps Center invited a panel of UCSB faculty to discuss holistic approaches to ending sexual violence on campus. Panelists stressed the importance of informal healing processes, or ‘alternate resolutions,’ as valid and useful for survivors.
