AIA Talk: Mirror, Mirror: Reflections of Femininity in Ancient Greece 1 October 2015

Dr. Mireille M. Lee
Vanderbilt University

Wilson Hall Theatre, UAH campus
7:30 pm Thursday 1 October 2015

Upcoming AIA Event: "New World Wines and Archaeology"

Knowledge is a wonderful thing. So is a glass of delicious wine. Why not have the best of both worlds? On Saturday evening, April 18, there will be a tasting of Argentine and Chilean wines, as well as a lecture delivered by Ben Hoksbergen, Archaeologist at Redstone Arsenal. His lecture, "Potlucks and Platform Pipes: The Role of Feasting in the Prehistoric Tennessee Valley," will look at the social functions of gathering to eat. Hoksbergen writes, "For the prehistoric inhabitants of the Tennessee Valley, feasting was not merely a chance to gorge themselves on delicious food - it was an opportunity to cement social bonds, renew alliances with other groups, meet potential mates, learn about the world beyond their kin group, and maintain peaceful coexistence with their neighbors. Recent excavations in north Alabama are revealing how important feasting was in prehistory, and are showing what can happen when those rituals of social cohesion begin to break down." A silent auction will also take place at the event.

The event is open to the public, and will be located at the home of Ann and John Kvach at 4834 Cove Creek Dr., Huntsville (Brownsboro), Alabama from 6-8 PM.

For tickets, please contact Dr. Lillian Joyce at JoyceL@uah.edu, or call 256.824.6114. Ticket sales support the public archaeology lecture series of the North Alabama Society of the Archaeological Institute of America. Prices are as follows:

Individual: $25
Couple: $40
Retirees: $15

It will be a wonderful evening, and we hope to see you there!

Upcoming Lecture: "The Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Afrikaner Nationalism to Mandela"

The Department is surely busy with lectures right now. Along with the Phi Alpha Theta Faculty Lecture Series, Kevin Kraak, who served as a composer-in-residence last semester at UAH, will be delivering a lecture titled "The Rise and Fall of Apartheid: Afrikaner Nationalism to Mandela."

The lecture will be held this Friday, February 7, from 1:00 to 2:30 PM in Roberts Hall 419. As with our Faculty Lecture Series, this one is free and open to the public.

We hope to see you there! Feel free to bring a guest with you!

Phi Alpha Theta Faculty Lecture Series

Phi Alpha Theta is holding its second annual Faculty Lecture Series with the Department of History. There have already been two lectures this season. The first, titled "Have a Coke and a Smile: The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan," was presented by Dr. James Isbell. The second came from Dr. Nicole Pacino, titled "What Public Health Programs Can Teach Us About U.S.-Latin American Relations: The Case of 1950s Bolivia."

There are still two left. They are as follows:

February 6, 2014, 7:00 PM: Dr. Andrei Gandila, "Ancient Coins as a Historical Source"

February 13, 2014, 7:00 PM: Dr. Evan Ragland, "Da Vinci's Bodies and Machines"

Both lectures are located in Roberts Hall 419. They are free to attend, and we hope to see you there.

Info Session for "Legacies of the Third Reich: Munich, Nuremberg, Berlin" (taught by Dr. Molly Johnson in Huntsville and Germany): Friday October 25, 1:00 p.m.

On Friday October 25 at 1:00 p.m. in Roberts Hall 423, Dr. Molly Johnson will hold an informational session for students interested in taking History 399 / Global Studies 199, "Legacies of the Third Reich: Munich, Nuremberg, Berlin."

This course will meet once a week during the spring semester in Huntsville. Then, from May 4-17, 2013, students will travel to Germany to explore historical and memorial sites in Munich, Nuremberg, and Berlin.

Dr. Johnson will also arrange for 400, 500, and 600-level history credit options for interested students.

The info session will feature a PowerPoint showing all the sites students will visit in Germany, as well as key information about travel, cost and financing, work expectations, etc. There will be plenty of time for questions and answers, and we will also have some snacks on hand.

If you are interested in the class but cannot attend the info session, please email Dr. Johnson at molly.johnson@uah.edu.

Spread the word!

Two Lectures by Eminent Historian Dr. Linda Gordon (New York University) on Thursday October 24

Dr. Linda Gordon of New York University, one of the nation's foremost experts on women's history and social policy, is coming to UAH this week as a Humanities Center Short-Term Eminent Scholar.

She will give two public lectures.

KEYNOTE LECTURE
THURSDAY OCT. 24
"Birth Control and Abortion: Why Still so Controversial? An Historical View"
Wilson Hall Theater (room 001)
7:30p.m.

HONORS COLLEGE LECTURE
THURSDAY OCT. 24
"Visual Democracy: How Dorothea Lange Used Photography to Promote Equality"
Shelby Center 107
11:10 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.


Dr. Gordon’s keynote lecture is drawn from her 1976 book, Woman’s Body, Woman’s Right: The History of Birth Control in America (revised and republished as The Moral Property of Women in 2002), which remains the definitive history of birth control politics in the United States. Her Honors lecture is based on her most recent book, Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits (2009), which won the Bancroft Prize for best book in US history and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography.

Dr. Gordon has also published three other major academic monographs, Heroes of their Own Lives: The History and Politics of Family Violence (1988), Pitied But not Entitled: Single Mothers and the History of Welfare (1994), and The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction (1999), each of which won a major book award.

Please come and bring a friend!

AIA Talk: Ancient Languages 23 September 7:30 PM

Dr. Kevin McGeough has graduate degrees from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania and teaches at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. He has done fieldwork in Israel, Turkey, Jordan, and Egypt and is a specialist in ancient economies and languages.

In his evening talk, Dr. McGeough will introduce the languages of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, describe the history of the alphabet, explore how ancient scripts were deciphered, demonstrate some of the peculiar features of ancient writing, and examine some of the different approaches world cultures have taken to expressing their ideas in written words. 

The next day he will discuss how the conventions used by ancient Near Eastern artists remained stable across shifting political and social situations. Dr. McGeough will explain how to “read” the basics of ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian visual culture.

Puzzling Out Ancient Languages or How an Evil Bird becomes a Word and A Horizontal Wedge becomes a Fish

WHERE:  Wilson Hall Theatre, UAH campus

WHEN:  7:30 PM Monday 23 September

"Reading" Ancient Near Eastern Art

WHERE:  Wilson Hall 168, UAH Campus

WHEN:  12:45 PM 24 September