The College of Humanities is putting on its fourth annual Humanities Week. Over the years, the week has evolved, proving a continued concentrated effort to bring a series of free lectures and workshops to the campus dealing with such topics as dance, literature, urbanization, music, culture, ideology and religion.
With more than dozens of degree programs and 10 times as many faculty, the college tries with this week to span the breadth of what’s to offer with their different courses.
Here are some highlights from this week’s events:
Monday 5 to 6 p.m.
(A Guide to) Getting Lost in Labyrinths
Presented by Ander Monson of the Department of English
Assistant Professor of English Ander Monson will, in an hour, try to link Internet browser histories, Tucson’s Udall Park and the floor of a French cathedral as a host of different arenas for how labyrinths have become common — both subtly and less so — in human life.
Editor of the journal Diagram and the New Michigan Press, and the author of five books, Monson will tackle the history of the labyrinth from the classic mythological roots he studied while in Crete this year to why it remains in culture today.
Tuesday 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.
The Language We Dance In: Story, Social Meaning, and Identity in Africa
Presented by Praise Zenenga of the Africana Studies Program
So you think you can dance? Well learn a little more about how that skill translates to all parts of life with this lecture.
Praise Zenenga, assistant professor in the Africana Studies Program, will tackle dance as it relates to language. A central focus of much of his research, which tackles interdisciplinary ways to understand social change and social justice, Zenenga’s presentation will present a culmination of his work with dancers both at home and abroad in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ghana.
Friday 3 to 4 p.m.
Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” and the Modernist Movement
Presented by Charles Scruggs of the Department of English
People hear Ernest Hemingway and jump straight to reading “A Farewell to Arms” or “The Sun Also Rises” (or at least the Sparknotes) in high school.
But Charles Scruggs, an American literature professor, will break down the interplay between blues music, the painter Edward Hopper and the Modernist movement and two famous black writers of the 20th century, Albert Murray and Ralph Ellison, with his lecture. He’ll highlight “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” as a prelude to issues which would continue to appear in the modern world, long after the World War I-era in which he wrote.
7 to 9 p.m.
Russian Fantasia: Folklore, Farce, Fairytales in Readings and Music
Presented by the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies
Light refreshments begin at 6:15 p.m. on the UA Poetry Center plaza. Billed as “including excerpts from folklore, fairytales, farce, and the fantastic,” the final event in this year’s Humanities Week will include readings from students and faculty in the Russian department presented in both Russian and English. The Arcadia Chamber Ensemble will also play regional pieces with its suite of instruments — tenor, piano, French horn and clarinet.
The organizers are even inviting guests to celebrate Halloween a little early and come dressed as a Russian character from any folktale (with prizes handed out to those with the best costumes at the event).