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UCSB's Department of Film and Media Studies recently hosted Dewitt King, a UC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in Film and Media Studies at UC Irvine, for a lecture on anti-Blackness and the sex-based economies within the pro wrestling scene. He told the story of a pro wrestler, Lio Rush, and his experiences with the industry and how he joined the subscription-based platform OnlyFans.
UC Santa Barbara’s Literature and Mind research center, housed in the English Department, and its Trauma-Informed Pedagogy project hosted a talk on the use of trigger warnings in the classroom. Undergraduate student Bethany Clements shared research into trauma-informed teaching and proposed solutions to help students engage with potentially triggering content.
To celebrate the life and legacy of former U.S. House of Representatives member and UCSB Religious Studies professor Walter Capps a quarter century after his passing, a symposium was hosted by the Walter H. Capps Center. One panel focused on Capps’ ground-breaking Vietnam War class, which opened national discussion that prioritized mental health care for veterans. The session this month brought the insight and healing of that innovative class to a new generation.
This fall, UCSB’s Art Design and Architecture Museum is displaying work by Helena Arahuete, an artist and architect who aims to create work that collaborates with its surrounding environment and align with nature. The museum is free, and open to students and community members at UC Santa Barbara.
UCSB's Religious Studies department hosted a three-day workshop looking into the professional artists and craftspeople responsible for the labor and construction of Buddhist sites in India, Japan, Tibet, and Mongolia. UCSB faculty and visiting lecturers looked into areas such as standard practices and information passed down through generations.
UC Santa Barbara’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC) recently welcomed author and journalist M.G. Lord to speak to students as part of IHC’s Imagining California Series. Lord shared her perspective on the creation and impact of Barbie dolls, specifically through a feminist lens. In her speech, she spoke on controversies over gender stereotypes encouraged by Barbie dolls, while also acknowledging the impact of Barbie’s early feminist portrayals.
Cherríe Moraga, playwright, essayist and activist, gave a talk titled “Imagine This: The (Re)generation of Place,” for the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s Imagining California series. Moraga tackled the inherent struggle to define one’s cultural identity in the aftermath of hundreds of years of degradation and mistreatment.
The UCSB Classic department’s Erin Lam, who is the UC President’s Post-Doctoral Fellow, spoke about the poet Ovid’s Arms Amatoria through a new lens in the talk, “Cruising Rome: Queer Orientations in Ovid’s Ars Amatoria,” which examined the poet’s work as it related to eroticism and queerness.
UC Santa Barbara undergraduate student Bryan Perez attended Las Maestras Center’s ‘Literary Skulls’ event, where the history of Dia De Los Muertos and its traditions were discussed through poetry and verse. In this personal reflection, they explore how the event allowed them to feel more in touch with their own identity.
The Carsey-Wolf Center invited a panel last week to talk about film criticism and the cultural impact of film writing in the media today. Panelists discussed the affects of the streaming model and new media platforms on the landscape of film reviews and criticism
UC Santa Barbara’s art department recently welcomed artist, Matt Mitros, executive director of the Clay Studio of Santa Barbara, to speak to students as part of the Visting Artist Speaker Series. Mitros shared his portfolio of work, along with some personal stories and words of encouragement for students looking to pursue an art career.
Faculty and students of UC Santa Barbara’s Religious studies kicked-off the academic year with hopes of peace and collaboration in the department and among religious groups worldwide. Department chair Juan Campo urged the campus to focus on efforts to foster peace as students and faculty navigate times of immense violence and suffering on all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The UC Santa Barbara Classics Department began the school year with an event that brought ancient myth to life. Interested students participated in a play through of the video game “Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical.” During the session, organized by Classics Ph.D. student Rick Castle, participants examined how contemporary adaptations of ancient stories portray marginalized communities, such people of color and queer people.
UCSB Theater and Dance department welcomed students back with The Death of Kings, directed and adapted by Irwin Appel. The Death of Kings combines Shakespeare's history plays, creating a 400-year timeline. The play features stage combat, live music composition, and more. Over the summer, the cast closed the Verona Shakespeare Fringe Festival with this production.
UC Santa Barbara’s newest construction project, the Interactive Learning Pavilion, has now been used by students and faculty for half a year and is inspiring many as the academic year starts. Working in ILP has motivated students in class and given professors ample resources to best lead their classes.
UC Santa Barbara Religious Studies professor Kathleen Moore recently sat down for an interview to discuss her introduction of Legal Humanities and Medical Humanities to UCSB in hopes of better-preparing students for their post-graduate careers.
UC Santa Barbara’s Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC) is closing out an active year of lectures, panels, fellowships, research and graduate programs. This year, IHC welcomed seven new graduate fellows into its Public Humanities program, and in June, seven other graduate fellows completed their programs. In addition, five graduate fellows won the annual IHC Dissertation Fellowship competition. This fall, IHC will start its 2023-2024 public event series, “Imagining California,” by inviting academics, activists, artists and writers to engage with California’s historical past and inspire a hopeful future.
Poet and comparative literature instructor Rick Benjamin has urged readers to engage in less self-absorption and make space for compassion for others, in his latest book of poetry, “The Mob Within the Heart.” He read excerpts from what is his fifth book at a recent launch event presented by the UC Santa Barbara student Poets’ Club. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, it expresses the poet’s feelings about love, political conflict, illness and loss. He describes overwhelming love in his closest relationships and explores the complex responsibilities of being human.
Suigetsu, the Japanese term for reflected moon, often appears in Medieval Japanese literature and art. However, there is no consistent understanding for how the term is used metaphorically. UCLA Professor William Bodiford visited UCSB to explore this historical context and interpretation further, where he shared his own findings to do with reflected moons and explored the variance in metaphorical significance in different traditions.
Joy Harjo, the 23rd poet laureate of the United States, came to UC Santa Barbara recenlty for a poetry reading and Q&A session. She is the first Native American to hold the title of poet laureate and writes about colonization, love, fear and empowerment.
