The 2009-2010 academic year is the Year of Humanities at the UW-Madison. The Year of Humanities’ goal is to raise the profile of the humanities, both on campus and among the general public, by presenting what the humanities are and how they enrich our lives through teaching, scholarship, and community engagement. The events listed in this brochure—public talks, conferences & colloquia, library series, film, dance, art discussions, public readings, rap—demonstrate the incredible range of the humanities.

Generous support has been provided for the Year of Humanities by The Evjue Foundation, UW-Madison College of Letters and Science, UW-Madison Office of the Chancellor, UW-Madison Office of the Provost, UW-Madison School of Human Ecology, and UW-Madison Libraries.

All events are free and open to the public.

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SEPTEMBER

• Chancellor’s Lecture
• Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities
• Monday, September 14, 7:00-9:00 pm, Elvehjem Building
• Martha Nussbaum, Professor of Law and Ethics, University of Chicago
• Martha Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago. Her award-winning books include: The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy; Women and Human Development; Sex and Social Justice; and Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of the Emotions.
• Presented by the Year of Humanities

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• Re-Fashioning Anakreon: Songs, Symposium and Sexuality in the Age of Perikles
• Thursday, September 17, 5:00-7:00 pm, Elvehjem Building
• Alan Shapiro, Professor of Archaeology, Johns Hopkins
• This talk explores cultural and political aspects of the ancient Greek symposium as represented in literature and art in the late classical period. Alan Shapiro is a classical archaeologist with a particular interest in Greek art, myth, and religion in the Archaic and Classical periods. He has written numerous studies of Greek vase iconography, including Personifications in Greek Art (1993) and Myth into Art: Poet and Painter in Classical Greece (1994). His interest in the interrelationship among art, religion, and politics is best represented in his book Art and Cult under the Tyrants in Athens (1989; Supplement, 1995). He is currently working on a study of hero cults in fifth-century Athens. More information at: http://classics.lss.wisc.edu
• Presented by Department of Classics

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• The Americana Indian: American Indians in the American Imagination
• Friday, September 25, 7:00 to 9:00 pm, Memorial Union Theater Gallery
• Nancy Marie Mithlo, Assistant Professor of Art History, UW-Madison; and Brian Baker, Professor of Sociology, Sacramento State
• “The Americana Indian” is sponsored by the UW-Madison School of Education’s American Indian Curriculum Services and is a component of the year-long initiative “A Common Read: Expanding the Narrative.” To learn more visit: http://commonread.education.wisc.edu/events.aspx

MARCH

• The Politics of Literary Fame: Winners and Losers of the Nobel Prize in Literature
• Roundtable One: Spanish- and Portuguese-Language Novelists and Dramatists; March 10, 7:30-9:00 pm; Keynote: María Luisa Fischer, Professor of Spanish, Hunter College, March 18, 7:30-9:00 pm; Roundtable Two: Spanish- and Portuguese-Language Poets; March 19, 7:30-9:00 pm
• Presented by Department of Spanish and Portuguese. More information at: http://spanport.lss.wisc.edu

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• Pompeii - Lost and Found?
• Thursday, March 11, 7:00-9:00 pm, Elvehjem Building
• Mary Beard, Professor of Classics, Cambridge University
• In a talk based on her recent book, historian Mary Beard explores what kind of town Pompeii was and what it can tell us about “ordinary” life there, from sex to politics, food to religion, slavery to literacy. Mary Beard works on many aspects of Roman and Greek culture: religion, sex & gender, art and literary history; and is particularly interested in the reception of Classics in the modern world. Her books include "The Invention of Jane Harrison" (2000) and "The Parthenon" (2002). She recently co-curated an exhibition ("From Ancient Art to Post-Impressionism") at The Royal Academy in London. She is also Classics editor of the Times Literary Supplement.
• Presented by Department of Classics. More information at: http://classics.lss.wisc.edu

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• World Languages Day for the Community
• Saturday, March 13, 1:00-4:00 pm, Memorial Union
• Presented by Language Institute
• World Languages Day features workshops and performances highlighting diverse languages, cultures and societies from around the world. Workshop topics range from: China, Yesterday and Today; and French Around the World; to: Speaking Swahili through your Clothes; and the Inkas’ World Through Inka Language. More information at: www.languageinstitute.wisc.edu

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• Writing Directors' Lives: How Biography Illuminates Filmmakers' Work
• Thursday, March 25, 7:30-9:00 pm, 4070 Vilas Hall
• Joseph McBride, Professor of Cinema, San Francisco State University
• Also, a special Cinematheque screening of a John Ford film (TBA) on 3/26, with discussion by Professor McBride Presented by Department of Communication Arts & Department of History. More information at: www.cinema.wisc.edu

APRIL

• Chancellor’s Lecture
• Thursday, April 22, 7:00-9:00 pm, Elvehjem Building
• Elaine Pagels, Professor of Religion, Princeton University.
• Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion at Princeton University. She is best known as the author of The Gnostic Gospels; The Origin of Satan; and Adam, Eve and the Serpent. Her most recent books include Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas (a New York Times best-seller) and Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity.
• Presented by the Year of Humanities

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• What is the Mind?
• Elilzabeth Spelke, Professor of Psychology & Co-Director of the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative, Harvard University; Michael Gazzaniga, Professor of Psychology & Director for SAGE Center for the Study of Mind, UC Santa Barbara, & President of Cognitive Neuroscience Institute; and John Haugeland, Professor of Philosophy, University of Chicago
• Thursday, April 29, 7:30-9:30 pm, Memorial Union
• Presented by Department of Philosophy. More information at: www.philosophy.wisc.edu/whatisthemind

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• Supernatural Presences
• The first of their kind in North America, these performances will introduce audiences to Daoist traditions of mainland China—singing hymns accompanied by flutes, gongs, and drums, brandishing swords, and burning ritual paper.
• Magic Moves: A First Glimpse of Daoist Ritual
• Thursday, April 29, 4:00 – 5:00 pm, Library Mall
• Inviting the Gods: Daoist Ritual Performance
• Saturday, May 1, 1:00 – 2:30 pm, Union Terrace
• Both Performances by The Zhang Clan from Hunan
• Throughout 2009-10, “Supernatural Presences” presents a lecture & film series at 1111 Humanities Building; and hosts a reading group at the Madison Public Library Central Branch (fall) and Sequoya Branch (spring). Books will be available at the library. More information at: www.eall.wisc.edu
• Presented by East Asian Languages & Literature, Center for East Asian Studies, Department of Art History, and Chazen Museum