Viewing entries in
Focus on Faculty
Over the past decade, after researching the practices of those who consider themselves nonreligious, UC Santa Barbara Religious Studies associate professor Joseph Blankholm, a specialist in atheism, published his new book The Secular Paradox. Blankholm proposes that the very definition of “religion” in the English language is flawed, as the term has been shaped by the parameters of Christianity. He spoke about secularism and atheism in a recent interview.
Ross Melnick, a UCSB Film and Media Studies professor, spoke at the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s second Humanities Decanted series event, to discuss his new book Hollywood Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power Around the World . Melnick also sat down with UCSB student Maxwell Wilkens to talk about his book and the role American cinema played in forging the US image abroad, in the second episode of HFA Speaks: The Podcast.
HFA student intern Maxwell Wilkens moderated a discussion on the painful associations the Thanksgiving holiday holds for Indigenous peoples, to mark Native American Heritage Month. He was joined by panelists Alesha Claveria, a UC Santa Barbara Theater alum who is now an assistant professor of American Indian Studies at Cal State Northridge, as well as UCSB professors of English Amrah Salomón J, and Candace Waid. During this 45-minute Zoom session, the three professors discussed counter-narratives of Thanksgiving that have yet to become prevalent in the US education system.
Fast fashion is a major contributor to climate change, to research taught in a class called “Climate Crisis 101,” taught by UC Santa Barbara English professor Ken Hiltner.
Olivia Candelaria is one of many UCSB students taking matters into their own hands by thrifting second-hand clothing instead of giving into fast fashion trends. Hiltner’s “Climate Crisis 101” course provides students with concrete, information about the current state of the climate crisis and what can be done to mitigate it, Calendaria writes.
UC Santa Barbara religious studies professor Juan Campo and Arabic language lecturer Magda Campo spoke last week on Jewish kosher food and Islamic halal food, and they prepared a chicken and couscous meal for a CalFresh enrollment party co-hosted by UCSB Health & Wellness, Thrive, and the Educational Opportunity Program. The event publicized the CalFresh program and UCSB’s Halal and Kosher Grocery Program for food-insecure students who observe these religions’ dietary laws.
Wolf D. Kittler, a professor in UCSB’s department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, delivered the inaugural lecture for Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s new series: Too Much Information, which explores the implications of our access to abundant information.
UCSB English professor Cathy Thomas focuses on the Caribbean to lift up minority perspectives in literature and show her students a community they might not be familiar with. By building a class around the festival of Carnival, Thomas introduces her students to Caribbean culture through the examination of different forms of literary and creative expression.
UC Santa Barbara English professor Kenneth Hiltner was recently named a 2022 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award. As a professor of Environmental Humanities, Hiltner uses his popular Ecocriticism and climate crisis courses to educate students and the general public about environmental issues. In a recent interview, Hiltner discussed the evolution of his academic career, the human component of global climate change, and his recent award recognition.
The Humanities and Fine Arts division hosted a panel of three UC Santa Barbara faculty members to discuss Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month. They said the need for a designated time to pay attention to AAPI individuals’ experiences indicates a need for societal change in America.
In celebration of Women's History Month, UC Santa Barbara's Humanities and Fine Arts division hosted a panel entitled "The Wisdom of Women," in which two faculty members stressed uplifting and recovering female voices that are not often heard in mainstream discussions of women in history. UCSB undergraduate student Colleen Coveney, engaged author and English professor Cherríe Moraga and History professor Miroslava Chavez-Garcia in an insightful discussion that ranged from the panelists' personal histories to the difficulties they encounter in academic circles.
UC Santa Barbara history professors Anthony Barbieri and Sherene Seikaly were recently awarded $60,000 each by the National Humanities Alliance to further their research on the ancient Han Dynasty and Levantine mobility, respectively.
For many students the names Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk and Chet Baker are just random names. That changes quickly for those, like anthropology student Jennifer Yoshikoshi, who take the course “Listening to Jazz,” taught by Jon Nathan in UC Santa Barbara’s Music Department. She describes how this course deepened her knowledge of music and music history.
Student Engagement and Enrichment in Data Science (SEEDS) at UC Santa Barbara is a cohort of students from a variety of majors and diverse backgrounds who study data science ethics and how algorithms have biases that further social, political, and economic divides. The students are mentored by professors, including UCSB’s Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Sharon Tettegah. And they hear presentations from researchers in various data science fields.
Theater, Dance, and Music at UC Santa Barbara have persisted through the COVID-19 pandemic with a common strength: creativity. Theater and Dance department chair Irwin Appel, UCSB Dance Company director Delilah Moseley, and UCSB Gospel Choir director Victor Bell recently spoke at a Humanities and Fine Arts Division event HFA Speaks: Arts Evolving in a Pandemic, to discuss how the arts have changed, struggled, and adapted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, Santa Barbara Dance Theater began its 2022 season under the new artistic direction of Brandon Whited, marking a return to live performance after a pandemic-induced hiatus. In downtown Santa Barbara the company presented a series of performances, curated by Whited with guest choreography by fellow dance faculty member Nancy Colahan and UCSB Dance alumna Weslie Ching.
The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center in Cuba has housed 780 “unlawful enemy combatants” over its 20-year history, detainees who were tortured and denied human rights because of the prison’s status in a “legal black hole.” In a recent Center for Middle East Studies event, UC Santa Barbara professor Lisa Hajjar said that the 39 detainees who remain at Guantanamo have not left or been convicted due to government failures. But Americans and the United States government should still be concerned with their future.
UCSB Theater and Dance’s BIPOC Reading Series Festival took place over this past week, hosting a diverse group of emerging and veteran playwrights from across the country to collaborate with UCSB students and staff on their newest works. The festival, born out of a need for more diversity in theater, creates an interactive space for playwrights and performing artists of color to present their work.
Located near UC Santa Barbara’s signature monument Storke Tower, the university’s Art, Design & Architecture (AD&A) Museum has reopened its doors to the public after 19 months of pandemic, welcoming Gabriel Ritter as its new director.
In his new book, The Psychopathology of Political Ideologies, UC Santa Barbara writing lecturer and author Robert Samuels approaches American political ideologies through a psychological lens. He explores the guiding forces behind political ideologies and how they appear in current politics.
The city of New Orleans has recast a natural disaster symbol into an icon of its people’s resilience, an example of how visual rhetoric can function within a community, says researcher Sarah Hirsch, a continuing lecturer in the UC Santa Barbara Writing Program and the 2020-2021 Charles Bazerman Faculty Fellow.
