AIA Talks: Aspects of Africa, Feb. 17-19

Dr. Paula Girshick comes to Huntsville as a Humanities Center Visiting Eminent Professor. She is a Professor of Anthropology and African Studies at Indiana University, where she is also affiliated with the Center for Archaeology in the Public Interest.

Dr. Girshick has had a distinguished career doing significant field research on the Benin Kingdom in Nigeria, and analyzing the cultural, political, and historical significance of the highly ritualized royal art of the Benin. She is an expert on the priestesses devoted to the powerful deity Olokun. She has published significantly on Benin art and her book, The Art of the Benin, published by the British Museum Press and the Smithsonian Institution, remains the most important survey of Benin visual culture.

More recently, Dr. Girshick has turned her attention to the use of art and museums in establishing national identity in post-Apartheid South Africa. She also investigates the dynamics of the South African market for so-called “traditional” African art.

At Indiana University Dr. Girshick teaches a wide range of fascinating courses that relate to her research areas: “Art and Commodity,” “Exhibiting Cultures: Museums, Exhibitions, and Worlds’ Fairs,” “Theories of Material Culture,” “The Anthropology of Tourism,” and “Public Art: Monuments and Memorials.”


February 17
Paula Girshick, Indiana University
Humanities Center Visiting Eminent Scholar Program
"Molders of the Gods: the Priestess as Artist in the Benin Kingdom, Nigeria"
Roberts Hall 419, 12:45 PM

February 17
Dr. Paula Girshick, Indiana University
Humanities Center Visiting Eminent Scholar Program
"There Are Three Things in the Palace That Are Threatening": Royal Ritual Symbolism in the Benin Kingdom, Nigeria"
Chan Auditorium
7:30 PM

February 18
Dr. Paula Girshick, Indiana University
Humanities Center Visiting Eminent Scholar Program
viewing and discussion of film "In and Out of Africa"
Union Grove Gallery 12:30

February 19
Dr. Paula Girshick, Indiana University
Humanities Center Visiting Eminent Scholar Program
"National Monuments and the Re-figuration of the Past in Post-Apartheid South Africa"
Chan Auditorium
7:30 PM

Research Talk by Dr. Christine Sears

On Monday February 16 at 5:30 p.m. in Roberts Hall 423 (the seminar room), Dr. Christine Sears, Assistant Professor of History, will give a talk on her research entitled "'American Livestock:' Masculinity, Slavery and Barbary Pirates."

This event is co-sponsored by the History Club and the Phi Alpha Theta history honorary.

Please come and bring a friend!

Film Showing: Schindler's List, 1:00 p.m. Friday February 13

You are invited to watch Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List , winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1993, on Friday February 13 at 1:00 p.m. in Roberts Hall 423. This film tells the true story of how German industrialist Oskar Schindler saved the lives of over 1000 Jews from Poland during the Holocaust.

This is the first of four films to be shown in conjunction with Dr. Molly Johnson's course on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Please contact her with any questions at molly.johnson@uah.edu.

Please come and bring a friend!

Iraq and Afghanistan: What the News Leaves Out

The History Club and Phi Alpha Theta are co-sponsoring a presentation by Dr. James Isbell, lecturer of history, and George Preussel, senior history major, on Monday February 2 at 6:00 p.m. in Roberts Hall 419 (the art history lecture hall).

Dr. Isbell was stationed in Afghanistan in 2007 as a Lieutenant with the Navy Intelligence Unit. George was stationed in Iraq in 2005 as a Marine Staff Sargeant. They will share their experiences with students and answer student questions.

Please come and bring a friend! This promises to be a very interesting discussion!

History Club Movie Night

On Thursday January 22, the History Club will show the movie "Mongol" at 6:15 p.m. in Roberts Hall 419 (the art history lecture hall).

Please come and bring a friend!

AIA TALK: January 20 City of the Grim Reaper

Dr. Paul Zimansky received his undergraduate degree in Classics at Johns Hopkins University and then did his PhD at the University of Chicago in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations. He has taught at UC Berkeley and Boston University before his current position as Professor of Archaeology and Ancient History at SUNY Stony Brook, where his wife and frequent collaborator, Dr. Elizabeth Stone, is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology. Prior to the outbreak of the recent wars in Iraq, Dr. Zimansky participated in and led excavations at Nippur, Bastam, Tell Hamide, and Mashkan-shapir, which will be the site he presents to us. Mashkan-shapir is approximately 100 miles southeast of Baghdad and in its hey day was larger than the famed Sumerian city of Ur. Mashkan-shapir was dedicated to the deity Nergal, the Mesopotamian god of death, and its rulers were rivals of the famed Babylonian king, Hammurabi. Recent satellite and aerial photography reveals that this once thriving city that contained extensive, well-preserved and highly significant archaeological remains has been looted on an industrial scale.

"City of the Grim Reaper: Rediscovery and Demise at Mashkan-shapir, Iraq"
Chan Auditorium, 7:30 PM
Posted by Stephen Waring at 9:01 AM 0 comments

History Club/Phi Alpha Theta Event on Nov. 13: Research Talk by Dr. Sandra Mendiola

History Club and Phi Alpha Theta invite you to come hear new history professor Dr. Sandra Mendiola give a talk, entitled "Research on the Streets: Vendors and Politics in Puebla, Mexico," on Thursday November 13 at 5:30 p.m. in Roberts Hall 423 (the seminar room). Snacks will be served!

Pictured here is a photograph from Sandra's research.

Please come and bring a friend!