Summer 2017
This course examines modern histories of collective memories through the institutions and technologies that facilitate recall, such as museums, photography, and visual culture. We will consider moments of tension when history and memory appear to be at odds, when competing interests in the meanings of the past have created social conflict, or when silences about […]
The University of Arizona has one of America’s greatest holdings in the field of vaudeville. Special Collections Guest Curator David Soren presents some of the best stars and specialty acts you’ve never heard of along with fascinating and little-known information about some of the biggest stars. Featured are vaudeville’s most versatile performer Joe Cook, whose […]
Virgil, the greatest Roman poet, did more to establish the idea of Rome (and hence of the Roman Empire) than any other ancient poet. As a young man he began his poetic career writing pastoral poems, which are called Eclogues. This seminar will study the political pressures in the final days of the Roman Republic […]
Environments commonly known as “deserts” occupy nearly one-third of the earth’s land surface and are home to about a billion people. We will first discuss the geographical features of deserts, answering seemingly simple questions: What is a desert, and why do they occur where they do? Humans are particularly maladapted to life in deserts, but […]
What inspired Romantic composers of the 19th century to create the significant piano works that continue to speak profoundly to today’s audiences? Throughout the Romantic era the piano and the pianist-composers who wrote for it assumed an increasingly important role in European society. These pianist-composers and virtuosi fully explored the inner depths of their imaginations, […]
The United States was founded on broad principles of individual freedom – declarations of the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” were central to the American Revolution and the subsequent foundations of the new country. Looking back, we know that those rights were meant at the time for white land-owning men, and […]
The Bronte family – their extraordinary literary output, as well as their fascinating lives – have become something like a cottage industry, inspiring imitators, adaptations, a tourist attraction, tea towels, dance, music, and even the names of three asteroids. What accounts for this popularity? Is it the novels themselves? Or is it what is sometimes […]