Upcoming Events
The Essays: A Selection by Michel de Montaigne
featuring Ruel Tyson, Founder and Director Emeritus, Institute for the Arts & Humanities and Lloyd Kramer, Director, Carolina Public Humanities and Professor of History "Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influential figures of the Renaissance, singlehandedly responsible for popularizing the essay as a literary form. The Essays are among the most idiosyncratic and personal works in all literature and provide an engaging insight into a wise Renaissance mind, continuing to give pleasure and enlightenment to modern readers."—Amazon Books…
Find out more »The Essays: A Selection by Michel de Montaigne
featuring Ruel Tyson, Founder and Director Emeritus, Institute for the Arts & Humanities and Lloyd Kramer, Director, Carolina Public Humanities and Professor of History "Michel de Montaigne was one of the most influential figures of the Renaissance, singlehandedly responsible for popularizing the essay as a literary form. The Essays are among the most idiosyncratic and personal works in all literature and provide an engaging insight into a wise Renaissance mind, continuing to give pleasure and enlightenment to modern readers."—Amazon Books…
Find out more »Music: A Bridge to Understanding
featuring Terry Ellen Rhodes, Senior Associate Dean, Fine Arts and Humanities, and Professor of Music Performing selections from Italian opera to American classical song and musical theater, Terry Ellen Rhodes will discuss how music serves as a connection between people of different cultures and generations and how it has opened myriad possibilities in her life as well as in the lives of her students. All Flyleaf Summer Series Wednesdays events take place at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. There are no preparatory readings for these…
Find out more »Great Cities: Tokyo and Hong Kong
Our first Dialogues seminar this summer will connect two great Asian cities: Tokyo and Hong Kong. As the early modern capital of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the city of Edo grew from a small rural town to the largest city in the world and became known as Tokyo. The British colony of Hong Kong evolved from a small Chinese island into a global center of trade and finance before returning to Chinese control at the end of the 20th century. How…
Find out more »French Language Lunch
featuring Jessica Tanner, Assistant Professor of French Interested in polishing or refreshing your foreign language speaking skills in a warm and welcoming environment? Join UNC faculty discussion leaders at Weathervane restaurant in Chapel Hill for a lunch where participants are encouraged to speak only in a foreign language. All participants will receive a short foreign language article prior to the lunch that will serve as the foundation for our discussion. Foreign Language Lunches take place from 12:00–1:30 pm. Space is…
Find out more »Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
featuring Donato Fhunsu, Lecturer, African, African American, and Diaspora Studies "Chinua Achebe caught the world’s attention with Things Fall Apart. Published in 1958, when he was 28, the book would become a classic of world literature and required reading for students, selling more than 10 million copies in 45 languages....It would be impossible to say how Things Fall Apart influenced African writing. It would be like asking how Shakespeare influenced English writers or Pushkin influenced Russians."—The New York Times "With…
Find out more »Politics, Women, and Race in Antebellum North Carolina
In honor of Elizabeth Keckly Women of all races and social classes were caught up in North Carolina’s complex political and slave system during the decades before the Civil War.This seminar focuses on the political culture and social system when an enslaved woman named Elizabeth Keckly (1818–1907) was living at the Burwell School in Hillsborough, N.C. After surviving a brutal assault, she eventually gained her freedom and became the seamstress and friend of Mary Todd Lincoln while the Lincoln family…
Find out more »Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
featuring Donato Fhunsu, Lecturer, African, African American, and Diaspora Studies "Chinua Achebe caught the world’s attention with Things Fall Apart. Published in 1958, when he was 28, the book would become a classic of world literature and required reading for students, selling more than 10 million copies in 45 languages....It would be impossible to say how Things Fall Apart influenced African writing. It would be like asking how Shakespeare influenced English writers or Pushkin influenced Russians."—The New York Times "With…
Find out more »Back to the Future IV: Unraveling Geologic Time to Forecast Disaster
featuring Drew Coleman, Professor of Geological Sciences Drew Coleman will discuss the science and policy of using what geologists know from studying deep time (greater than four billion years of Earth history) to predict and prepare for global catastrophes. In a world on the cusp of having drones deliver anything you desire to your door in under two hours, the concept of geologic time is difficult for even geologists to grasp. Dr. Coleman has a passion for understanding time and…
Find out more »The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
featuring Henry Veggian, Teaching Associate Professor, English and Comparative Literature "One of the enduring works of American fiction. Using the simple, powerful language of a fable, Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of defeat and personal triumph won from loss and transforms them into a magnificent twentieth-century classic."—Simon and Schuster, Inc. "The Old Man and the Sea is a beautiful tale, awash in the seasalt and sweat, bait and beer of the Havana coast. It tells…
Find out more »Boardinghouse Reach: Lost Stories of Southern Food and Powerful Women
featuring Elizabeth Engelhardt, John Shelton Reed Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies and Chair, American Studies Food is, of course, essential for the daily survival of every human being, but it also helps to create our cultural identities and our social relationships. Elizabeth Engelhardt brings her wide-ranging knowledge of Southern and Appalachian food customs to this discussion of how food shapes Southern cultures, family life, gender identities, and the stories of our lives. Food is about much more than what we…
Find out more »Germany in Transition: Politics and Culture
Since the Syrian refugee crisis of 2016, Germany has played an important role in Europe’s attempts to grapple with populations fleeing international conflict. Some view Germany as one of the more welcoming places in Europe, perhaps because many Germans want to atone for historical crimes. Others worry about the rising popularity of right-wing populism and the violent attacks that have been directed at refugees. How is Germany changing? Is a resurgent German nationalism reshaping German culture and politics? This Dialogue will…
Find out more »Italian Language Lunch
featuring Amy Chambless, Teaching Associate Professor of Italian Interested in polishing or refreshing your foreign language speaking skills in a warm and welcoming environment? Join UNC faculty discussion leaders at Weathervane restaurant in Chapel Hill for a lunch where participants are encouraged to speak only in a foreign language. All participants will receive a short foreign language article prior to the lunch that will serve as the foundation for our discussion. Foreign Language Lunches take place from 12:00–1:30 pm. Space…
Find out more »Hemingway/Salinger: The Trauma Artists
featuring Andrew Farah, Chief of Psychiatry, High Point Regional Health, UNC Health Care Ernest Hemingway and J.D. Salinger are giants of 20th-century American literature, but both suffered from neurological and psychological conditions in their later years. How might Hemingway’s history of head trauma and Salinger’s PTSD, incurred as a result of his military service in World War II, have contributed to or hampered their artistic output? What can we learn about their works through investigating their neurological histories? What insights…
Find out more »The Decline of Great Empires
Every great empire in world history has entered into periods of declining power and social conflicts. Human societies are always in transition, but why do all great empires decline? How is the history of these once-great imperial powers important for Americans as the United States faces the rising influence of other nations today? Our speakers will describe problems that developed in past empires and will analyze the political, social, and cultural conflicts that weakened each imperial system. We’ll also discuss…
Find out more »French Language Lunch
featuring Jessica Tanner, Assistant Professor of French Interested in polishing or refreshing your foreign language speaking skills in a warm and welcoming environment? Join UNC faculty discussion leaders at Weathervane restaurant in Chapel Hill for a lunch where participants are encouraged to speak only in a foreign language. All participants will receive a short foreign language article prior to the lunch that will serve as the foundation for our discussion. Foreign Language Lunches take place from 12:00–1:30 pm. Space is…
Find out more »The Pleasures and Complexities of French Culture
In collaboration with the Center for European Studies in honor of Bastille Day What makes French culture unique, fascinating, and maddening for Americans? This is our Bastille Day question, which we’ll explore by discussing France’s distinctive literature, art, food, wine, and films—all of which help the French sustain an enduring national identity. Join us for a humanistic celebration of France’s national holiday and a journey that will include a special French-style lunch, well-informed analysis of French cultural traditions, and even…
Find out more »Italian Language Lunch
featuring Amy Chambless, Teaching Associate Professor of Italian Interested in polishing or refreshing your foreign language speaking skills in a warm and welcoming environment? Join UNC faculty discussion leaders at Weathervane restaurant in Chapel Hill for a lunch where participants are encouraged to speak only in a foreign language. All participants will receive a short foreign language article prior to the lunch that will serve as the foundation for our discussion. Foreign Language Lunches take place from 12:00–1:30 pm. Space…
Find out more »French Language Lunch
featuring Jessica Tanner, Assistant Professor of French Interested in polishing or refreshing your foreign language speaking skills in a warm and welcoming environment? Join UNC faculty discussion leaders at Weathervane restaurant in Chapel Hill for a lunch where participants are encouraged to speak only in a foreign language. All participants will receive a short foreign language article prior to the lunch that will serve as the foundation for our discussion. Foreign Language Lunches take place from 12:00–1:30 pm. Space is…
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