Percival Everett’s novel James from 2024 powerfully rewrites Mark Twain’s 19th-century Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the runaway slave Jim. Literature professor Joseph Luzzi explores the themes that drive both of these groundbreaking works and considers how Everett’s modern re-imagining addresses major concerns in American life today, especially ones related to race.
The instantly recognizable moai statues of remote Easter Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, pay silent tribute to the extraordinary seafaring skills of Polynesian migrants and their stewardship of an ecologically fragile island. The rediscovery of Easter Island by Western explorers in the modern era has led to debates about how its original settlers reached such a distant location and carved and transported such large statues. Historian Justin M. Jacobs explains how these giant statues came to dominate the most remote inhabited island in the world.
Whether deciding on lunch or a career, changing our routines or other people’s minds, it can feel difficult to make the decisions that align with the things we care about. Neuroscientist Emily Falk, author of What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change, explains how we can work strategically with our brains to make more fulfilling choices by connecting our decisions with our core values, which can make us less defensive, broaden our curiosity through different perspectives, and spark innovation.
At its peak, the Roman empire extended from Britain to the Sahara Desert, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates River. Yet in 476, the last western Roman emperor was deposed. In a 4-part series, historian David Gwynn analyzes the dramatic events which shaped the decline and fall of the Roman empire in the west, exploring the transformation from the ancient to the medieval world that laid the foundations for modern Europe. This session focuses on new kingdoms and the rise of papacy.
Artists in Britain have delved into all major genres of painting, including historical subjects, landscapes, still life, and portraiture. Art historian Bonita Billman examines the major artists and movements in British painting, the social and cultural context in which their works were created, and the pivotal roles these painters have played from the Tudor period to the present. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
The South of France, with its glorious light and varied vistas, has long been a magnet for plein-air painters. Art historian Bonita Billman investigates the inspiration that places like Avignon, Arles, Aix-en-Provence, St. Remy, St. Tropez, and Nice provided for the brilliantly colored works produced by 19th and early 20th-century painters. (World Art History Certificate elective, 1 credit)
In the decades preceding World War II, professional architecture schools enrolled increasing numbers of women, but career success did not come easily. Architectural historians Mary Anne Hunting and Kevin D. Murphy tell the stories of the resilient, resourceful women who surmounted barriers of sexism, racism, and classism to take on crucial roles in the establishment and growth of Modernism across the United States.
The Olmec culture on Mexico’s southern gulf coast, best known for creating colossal stone heads more than 3,000 years ago, produced other distinctive artworks in a variety of materials. It also has left some of the earliest evidence of urban planning in North America and of a system of numbering and of glyphic writing. Cultural historian George Scheper explores the archaeological and sculptural wonders of the Olmec, along with their role in shaping the culture of Mesoamerica.
