Lewis Lapham on 'Celebrity in Contemporary Culture'
The Institute for Contemporary Culture presented the fourth annual Eva Hotby Lecture on Contemporary Culture on October 27, 2009. Celebrated American writer and publishing magnate Lewis Lapham, explores the theme of celebrity in modern society. This lecture was inspired by the ICC exhibition, Vanity Fair Portraits: Photographs 1913 - 2008.
Greenomes
The Greenomes site is part of a laboratory- and Internet-based curriculum to bring college students up to the minute with modern plant research. Plant molecular genetic and genomic research still lags behind medically-oriented research on microbes and higher animals. As a result, there are relatively few lab experiences that expose college-level students to the growing insights into plants offered by genomic biology.
Sunlight and the Seasons
Children study seasonal change in sunlight in a global game of hide and seek. Students try to find 10 "mystery classes" hiding around the globe. The amount of sunlight is the central clue. Other clues link to each location's history, geography, culture, and more. Through these interrelated investigations, students discover that sunlight drives all living systems and they learn about the dynamic ecosystem that surrounds and connects them. This project reinforces a key concept: Changing sunlight d
Celebrating Stephen Sondheim
Looking for ways to introduce students to one of the most influential figures in musical theatre history? These lesson plans and activities, a comprehensive glossary of terms, and additional resources will introduce students to the magical world of musicals and the legendary Stephen Sondheim.
Europe's awakening
One of the most remarkable features of modern European history is the gradual emergence of that theoretical reasoning and experimental practice focused on the natural world that today we call science. In this unit we throw light on that eventual emergence of modern science in Europe by examining its beginnings in Greece and making comparisons with the early achievements of Chinese and Islamic science. You then return to medieval Europe in order to understand the intellectual and social origins o
President Heckler Lilly Conference Address - Part 1
Valparaiso University President Mark Heckler speaks on the subject of "The Arts as Institutional Signature" during the 20th anniversary national conference of the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities and the Arts (www.lillyfellows.org). More than 200 scholars from across the United States converged at Valparaiso University, Oct. 14 to 17, 2010, to discuss how colleges and students are being affected by changing notions of place, community and higher learning in the 21st century. How distance lear
21H.912 The World Since 1492 (MIT)
This course explores the last 500 years of world history. Rather than trying to cover all regions for all periods of time, we will focus on four related themes: the struggles between Europeans and colonized peoples; the global formation of capitalist economies and industrialization; the emergence of modern states; and the development of the tastes and disciplines of bourgeois society. Note: This course is based on a model developed by Professor Daniel Segal of Pitzer College.
Reel American History Project
The general goal of the Reel American History project is to foster critical thinking about a matter of enduring cultural attention, especially where young people are concerned: the formation of our national identity.
Reel American History is designed to be a "Collaborative Shared Resource". It aims at being a large, ongoing, cumulative, collaborative project that involves many students and many faculty over a long period of time. We strive to engage students in authentic learning – making st
5.1 Common sense revisited It is worth taking a little time to reflect on what we have discovered so far. Starting from ‘what everybody knows’ about a social problem – or what are sometimes called the common-sense understandings – allows us to see a number of things if we apply the scepticism of being a stranger in our own society. First, there is a question about whether particular issues are commonly understood to be social problems. As we have seen, there are views which say either that pov
The City, Spring 2003
Examines the evolving structure of cities, the dynamic processes that shape them, and the significance of a city's history for its future development. Develops the ability to read urban form as an interplay of natural processes and human purposes over time. Field assignments in Boston provide the opportunity to use, develop, and refine these concepts.
Jay Winter: Moving Images
Professor Jay Winter (History, Yale University) 'Moving Images: From Silent Film to Film Silences in War Films, 1914-2009'. Keynote lecture at CRASSH conference 'The Moving Image' (26-27 February, 2010). This paper explores the long history of representation of war in film, from the Great War to the present. It suggests first that silent film provided a form of public séance in an era when spiritualism was at its apogee, and secondly, that it is the silences in later 'talkies' which enable us t
Training Methods and Continuing Education for Health Workers
This course in Training Methods and Continuing Education for Health Workers identifies the role of training and continuing education as an important component of health service and personnel management. Participants will be guided through the steps of planning training and continuing education activities for a range of health workers from managers to village volunteers. The course draws on real life examples from community-directed onchocerciasis control, village health worker programs, and pate
Early Advertising
The modern advertising industry really began in the early 1900s. These early advertising images show how companies approached the business of selling products, places, and ideas in the early 20th century.
Overview
The promotion of products, particularly national brands, began to become more prevalent in the early 1900s. Some categories of advertising shown in this group of images are still with us today: cars, cigarettes, and products aimed at homemakers. In California, car dealers and garages
Tsunamis
Tsunamis harbor an element of surprise: In the deep ocean, tsunami waves pass unnoticed beneath boats, yet they rise to dangerous heights near shore. How do tsunamis work? What was the worst tsunami in recorded history? How does a tsunami warning system work?
Dr Rob Lambert, Environmental Historian from The University of Nottingham
Dr Rob Lambert, from The University of Nottingham's Business School and School of History joins the Birds Britannia team on BBC Four.
Creole Language and Culture, Spring 2007
This course introduces students to the language of Haitian Kreyòl, or Creole, and to the culture of its speakers. The course is intended for students with no prior knowledge of the language and will develop both reading and writing skills--emphasizing communicative competence as well as grammatical and phonetic techniques. Importantly, this study of Kreyòl explores the language's social and cultural elements, as seen in Haiti and elsewhere in the Caribbean. The course includes an anthropolo
Professor Interviewed for Lafayette Documentary on PBS
College of Charleston history professor Robert R. Crout is one of the world's leading authorities on the Marquis de Lafayette. Crout is the co-editor of the Lafayette Papers Project at Cornell University.
Preview part of his interview from the documentary Lafayette: The Lost Hero which premieres nationally on PBS stations on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 10 p.m. EST. Check you local listings.
Jews and Christians Through History
This course will explore a number of issues which emerge from the history of Christian theology: How did a negative image of Judaism develop within Christianity? In what ways did these unfavorable teachings contribute toward violence against the Jews over the centuries?What is the relationship between Christian anti-Jewish teachings and Anti-Semitism? Is there any corresponding Jewish hostility towards Christians? In what ways have Jewish authors reacted to developments within the Christian trad
Islamic Societies of the Middle East and North Africa: Religion, History, and Culture
This new course offers a panoramic survey of the Islamic societies of the Middle East and North Africa from their origins to the present day. It will deal with the history and expansion of Islam, both as a world religion and civilization, from its birth in the Arabian peninsula in the seventh century to its subsequent spread to other parts of western Asia and North Africa. Issues of religious practices, political governance and movements, gender, social relations and cultural norms will be explo
Leading Across Boundaries
“This is a strange and paradoxical time,” says moderator Peter Senge, in which people live “more and more in each other’s backyard”-- interdependent globally but also fragmented by economics and politics. Senge believes “working across boundaries is the defining challenge” of our era.
Ron
