Religious intolerance. Chinese history. Slave emancipation. These are among the topics that will be addressed by prominent scholars in the second annual lecture series presented by the UT Humanities Center.
The series kicks off Monday, September 9, with Philippe Buc, a history professor at the University of Vienna, whose lecture is entitled “The Sacred and the Secular: Conflict and the Creation of a Moral World.” His talk will begin at 5:00 p.m. in Hodges Library’s Lindsay Young Auditorium.
Buc’s research focuses on religion and power in pre modern western Europe, from the second to the fourteenth century. He is the author of two books, L’ambiguïté du Livre. Prince, pouvoir et peuple dans les commentaires de la Bible (The Ambiguity of the Book. Prince, Power, and the People in Biblical Commentaries) and Dangers of Ritual. He is now researching and writing a third book that looks at holy war, martyrdom, and terror.
Here’s a look at the rest of the series:
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Martha Nussbaum Monday, September 16—Martha Nussbaum, Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago. Her talk is entitled “The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear.” She will talk about how the Muslim community has been stigmatized for the horrific events of 9-11 and will offer a “rational and morally appropriate prescription” to allay the anxieties and prejudices against the Muslim population. Nussbaum has taught at Harvard, Brown, and Oxford Universities. She has received honorary degrees from more than forty colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada, Asia, Africa, and Europe. She has written nineteen books and is working on another, to be titled Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice.
3:30 to 4:30 p.m., University Center Auditorium, Room 329. Brief reception to follow.
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Edward Hirsch Monday, September 30—Edward Hirsch, poet, author, and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He will talk about applying for a Guggenheim Fellowship and also give a poetry reading. A MacArthur Fellow, Hirsch has published eight books of poems. His most recent, The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, compiles thirty-five years of work. His awards include the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Literature.
Lecture, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., 1210-1211 McClung Tower; poetry reading, 7:00 p.m., Hodges Library Lindsey Young Auditorium.
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Amy Murrell Taylor Tuesday, October 15—Amy Murrell Taylor, associate professor of history, University of Kentucky. Her talk is entitled “On the Frontlines of Freedom: Life Inside the US Civil War’s ‘Contraband’ Camps.” An historian of the US South with a special interest in the Civil War era, gender, and family, Taylor is the author of The Divided Family in Civil War America and co-editor of Major Problems in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Her essays have appeared in popular publications including The Civil War Monitor magazine and The Civil War: Official Park Service Handbook.
4:00 p.m., University Center Shiloh Room (Room 235).
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Patricia Buckley Ebrey Monday, March 10—Patricia Buckley Ebrey, professor of history, University of Washington. Her talk is entitled “Emperor Huizong: Daoist, Poet, Painter, Captive.” She will offer a fresh look at the Chinese emperor who came to the Song Throne in the first month of 1100, a few months after his seventeenth birthday, and reigned almost twenty-six years. Rather than dwell on the turmoil caused by his reign, she will look at the ruler as a skilled poet, painter, calligrapher, musician and art collector.
Time and location to be announced.
- Thursday, April 24—Carole Pateman, distinguished professor emeritus of political science, University of California, Los Angeles.
Details of her talk, as well as its time and location, to be announced.
For more information about the Humanities Lecture series, visit the website.
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C O N T A C T :
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)