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Ancient Studies Week with Joseph Howley

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

As the computer, the printing press, or the quill pen was to the book culture of other eras, slavery was to ancient Rome. From the Late Republic through the High Empire, members of Rome's literate elite made use of enslaved research assistants and stenographers to write books, enslaved copyists and binders to make new copies and maintain old ones, and enslaved readers to read aloud for convenience or in social settings. This talk by Joseph Howley ’06, ancient studies, will examine enslaved reading in Rome, situate that practice in histories of reading and of slavery, and look at how the questions this practice raises relate to the current moment of interest in generative AI.

Text says Debate of the Century

Debate of the Century

Fine Arts Recital Hall MD

Philosophers Anonymous presents the UMBC Philosophy faculty in a philosophical debate that intends to open your mind to see how philosophy affects you in daily life. Going head-to-head with the most introspective minds UMBC has to offer — the professors who teach philosophy themselves!

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Roberto Zurbano Torres

011 Fine Arts Building

The Black in the Americas Series presents Roberto Zurbano Torres, a Cuban-Haitian essayist, cultural critic, and anti-racist activist. The film Zurbano and His Racial Conscience, produced in 2022 by the University of Missouri and directed by Juana María Cordones-Cook, will be shown at the event.

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Freedom and a Friend with Aparna Nair

Online

Today, the figure of the guide dog has become a ubiquitous cultural symbol signifying blindness perhaps best shown by the fact that guide dog emojis commonly appear alongside those for wheelchairs and prosthetics. This talk will explore the role of popular culture in reshaping public responses to the figure of the guide dog and the human handler.

Orange letters on a green background say Tiely

Tiely Santos

461 Sherman Hall

The Black in the Americas Series presents Tiely Santos, who has been a part of Brazilian hip hop culture for more than 30 years. He will discuss his artwork, activism and new book, TRANSPOETHICALBODY.

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45th Annual W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture with Moses E. Ochonu

University Center Ballroom

Using Congolese philosopher V.Y Mudimbe’s concept of the invention of Africa as a point of departure, Moses E. Ochonu explores the ways in which African Americans, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, invented, and reinvented ideas, semiotics, and tropes of Africa to respond to evolving circumstances, challenges, and aspirations in America and beyond.

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Robert K. Webb Lecture with Julie Gottlieb

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

The long months between the Munich Crisis of fall 1938 and the spring 1940 end of the eight-month period at the start of World War Two, in which there were few armed engagements, has been called the Phoney War. The battlefields were psychological and imagined as much as they were physical and material. This talk will consider a variety of sources that reveal visceral experience and allow us to explore the internal and internalized history of the War.

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Lipitz Lecture with Constantine N. Vaporis

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

This talk explores the story of the official American expedition to Japan in 1852-54 to “open” the far-flung country to trade and a western-based diplomatic order. In examining the role that civilians played on the mission, Constantine Vaporis considers their work not only during the trip but also afterwards, as they disseminated information about the mission to a broader American and international audience.

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Humanities Forum: Daphne Harrison Lecture with Naomi André

Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert Hall Earl and Darielle Linehan Concert HallCatonsville, MD, United States

The Annual Daphne Harrison Lecture, part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum, features Naomi André, who will speak on Opera’s New Realism: Expanding Narratives and Representation. As opera begins to cater to more diverse audiences, performances today frequently embrace a broader mission that engages social justice in the movements around #MeToo, Queer and Trans spectrums, and Black Lives Matter. The event will also feature the UMBC Jubilee Singers under the direction of Janice Jackson.

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Humanities Forum: Saving Time with Jenny Odell

The Skylight Room at The Commons MD, United States

In conversation with UMBC’s Jason Loviglio, writer and artist Jenny Odell will discuss her recent book, Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond Productivity Culture, which shows us how our painful relationship to time is inextricably connected not only to persisting social inequities but to the climate crisis, existential dread, and a lethal fatalism. This lecture is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.

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Humanities Forum: Joan S. Korenman Lecture with Emek Ergun

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

In this talk, Emek Ergun will explore the political role of translation in facilitating transnational feminist transformations and connectivities. She will discuss the transatlantic journey of Hanne Blank’s Virgin: The Untouched History — a popular feminist book demystifying the man-made histories of virginity in western geographies — via her Turkish translation and its reception. This lecture is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.

A poster says from the Classroom to the Courtroom

From the Classroom to the Courtroom

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

The Department of English hosts two events relating to law and restorative justice on March 27, inspired by the career path of 2018 UMBC English Alumna Breia Lassiter. She will return to UMBC to share her experiences with the university community. In this event, From the Classroom to the Courtroom, Breia Lassiter will discuss her personal history from her days as an English major at UMBC, through law school and work as a student clinician at Michigan State University, to taking the bar exam, passing it, and finally now working as an Associate Attorney at a law firm.

An event poster says "Restorative Justice and the Rights of the Incarcerated".

Restorative Justice and the Rights of the Incarcerated

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

The Department of English hosts two events relating to law and restorative justice on March 27, inspired by the career path of 2018 UMBC English Alumna Breia Lassiter. She will return to UMBC to share her experiences with the university community. This event, a panel discussion, Restorative Justice and the Rights of the Incarcerated, will feature Lassiter with Walter Lomax (Executive Director, Maryland Restorative Justice Initiative), and Natasha Dartigue (Office of the Public Defender, Baltimore).

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Humanities Forum: Evelyn Barker Lecture with Sean D. Kelly

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

In 1947, Martin Heidegger wrote what is now known as his “Letter on Humanism,” which is rich and revealing. At the center of the Letter stands a singular, pointed claim: that all previous “humanisms,” have failed to recognize the “proper dignity of human being.” Drawn from a book in progress, this talk by Sean D. Kelly of Harvard University will explore questions of our proper dignity, and the threat to it posed by the technological age. This event is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.

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Humanities Forum with Fan Yang

Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

Drawing on her forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entanglements, Fan Yang mines 21st-century media artifacts such as Firefly and House of Cards to make visible the economic, cultural, political, and ecological entanglements of China and the United States. This event is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.

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