EDITOR’S NOTE: The January 29 lecture with Steven Stoll has been canceled.
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The spring portion of the UT Humanities Center’s 2018–19 Distinguished Visiting Scholars Lecture Series kicks off January 29 with Steven Stoll’s “The Ordeal of Appalachia.”
Stoll is a professor of history at Fordham University and describes himself as an environmental historian. His research focuses on agrarian societies in North America.
The lecture, which begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Lindsay Young Auditorium of Hodges Library, follows the release of Stoll’s book: Ramp Hollow: The Ordeal of Appalachia. The book explores the history of dispossession in Appalachia and its unique development separate from the rest of the United States. The event is free and open to the public.
Here’s the remainder of the spring lecture series lineup. All events, unless otherwise noted, will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Lindsay Young Auditorium in Hodges Library.
- February 6—Montserrat Cabré: “Dissection, Domestic Caring, and Women’s Religious Practice in 13th Century Iberia.” Cabré is associate professor of the history of science at the Universidad de Cantabria in Spain. Her talk will explore the unexpected overlap between the history of caring and the history of dissection by looking at 13th-century music and writings. 3:30 p.m., Strong Hall 101.
- February 28—Christopher Newfield: “What do Universities Do? Bringing College and Society Back Together.” Newfield is a professor of literature and American studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His most recent book, 2016’s The Great Mistake, examines the current state of the American education system and how the damage done by private-sector models can be repaired. 3:30, Strong Hall 101.
- March 11—Anita Allen: “Making Philosophy Really Matter.” Allen is a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. She graduated from Harvard Law School and received her doctorate in philosophy from the University of Michigan.
- April 8—Jane Elliot: “The Horror of Choice.” Jane Elliot is a senior lecturer in late 20th- and 21st-century literature at King’s College in London. Her research focuses on the microeconomic mode, which she describes as the “cultural formation that combines aesthetic strategies of abstraction with narratives focused on extreme circumstances and threats to survival.”
- April 11—Amy Greenberg: “War for Empire: The 1846 US Invasion of Mexico.” Greenberg is a professor of history and women’s studies at Pennsylvania State University. Her book, A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico, explores the forgotten and overlooked complexities of the US–Mexican War as well as its effects in the decades that followed.
- April 11—Tracy K. Smith: “Dialogues: Region and Nation.” Smith is a poet and educator and is currently the 52nd poet laureate of the United States. She has taught at Medgar Evers College, the University of Pittsburgh, Columbia University, and Princeton University. 7 p.m., Strong Hall 101.