Calendar of Events
Humanities for Everyone
January 2019
Music, Storytelling, and Politics
Ugandan ethnomusicologist and Middlebury assistant professor Damascus Kafumbe examines music-making and storytelling, especially as they are used both to maintain political power and to help people survive political repression in his native Uganda. Read More »
February 2019
The News about the News
In today’s political and cultural atmosphere, it is vital the public stays informed and the press does its job. Pulitzer Prize winner David Shribman examines the current media landscape, distinguishing between fake and real news, amateur and professional, slanted and objective. Read More »
March 2019
The Power of the Journey in Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston’s landmark novel tells the story of Janie Mae Crawford’s journey from adolescence to maturity, from dependence to autonomy, and most importantly, from silence to speech. Middlebury professor Will Nash examines Janie’s timeless and profoundly relevant journey. Read More »
April 2019
Vincent Van Gogh and the Books He Read
Van Gogh’s letters reveal that his paintings and drawings were inspired by his reading as well as by people, nature, and other painters’ work. Art historian Carol Berry shows the profound influence of the works of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and others on Van Gogh’s life and art. Read More »
May 2019
Bierstadt’s “Domes of Yosemite”: The Creation of an Icon
Yosemite was more than the first federally protected American landscape; it was an emblem of freedom in the years surrounding the Civil War. Eleanor Jones Harvey, senior curator at Smithsonian American Art Museum, discusses the story behind Bierstadt’s monumental painting, weaving together several historical threads to deepen our appreciation of Yosemite as part of our national identity. Read More »