Polymathic Pizza

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POLYMATHIC PIZZA SERIES Fall 2025–Spring 2026

META: A Companion to Polymathy

Meta: prefix; (from Ancient Greek μετα- (meta-), from μετά (metá), from Mycenaean Greek, meaning “after” or “beyond”); meanings related to change, transcendence, or something that is higher or beyond. “I derived a huge sense of value from the polymathic conversations because they enabled me to transcend my own isolated perspective and view the world in a more holistic fashion.” —Grace Chediak, Harman Fellow 2014

In ancient Mycenaean Greek, the prefix meta- is used to indicate a concept that is more comprehensive than the original concept it’s attached to. Think physics to metaphysics, narrative to metanarrative. Meta has other applications too; it can denote a change of state, and “beyond-ness.” It tells the story within the story.

Meta, as a mode of inquiry, hovers (giving a bird’s eye view); it transcends; it gives us a framework where we ask the bigger questions about the universe, about us, and about our place in it. Along these lines, meta guides us into deeper and, as our Harman Fellow mentions above, more holistic stories of ourselves and the world around us, teaching us that everything is more than the sum of its parts. Meta, in its truest meaning, is quantum; it is a companion to polymathy.

For this year’s Polymathic Pizza series, we will apply meta to all sorts of inquiries: from metaphysics to the metaverse; from metanarrative to metamorphosis. To broaden our meta-exploration, we invite students and faculty from every corner of the university, to bring their expertise and curiosities to the conversation. The fields of physics and metaphysics tell us that the universe is ever expanding; join us as we expand our own explorations in infinite and quantum ways.

Current Semester

Fall 2026

Sep 13 2016

Community

When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

“To be capable of seeing things from multiple points of view, to be capable of being sympathetic, not just with our friends but with our enemies, is perhaps not enough to prevent wars or to change the world, but it is certainly necessary if we want those things to happen.” Viet Thanh Nguyen

How might the idea of community be understood within an integrative framework, or even as a viable feature of the polymathic life? Professor Viet Thanh Nguyen helps us explore community as polymathic through a discussion of his recent Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Sympathizer....

Dec 2 2015

Playing

When: 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

As small children, play is often the first way we express ourselves imaginatively. We create fantastic imagined stories for ourselves, our family, our friends, even our stuffed animals. The recent rise in video games suggests a passionate desire to continue to play and express ourselves imaginatively in new worlds and through expanded narratives. Video games routinely outsell films, and Grand Theft Auto 5 was the fastest selling property across all forms of entertainment upon its release. Gaming gives participants a narrative agency more akin to childhood play than any other form of...

Nov 4 2015

Moving

When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

Songwriters from George Harrison to the Zombies have written odes to how a person moves. From our gait to the lightest flickering of our fingers, our movements convey truths about our lives—our state of being, our cultural contexts, our likes and dislikes. Taken to a presentational level, dance can serve as a tool to explore invisible histories, community building, and cultural vernaculars. Since the way we move provides us with a powerful tool to create, question, and disrupt, how can dance provide a structural framework to address topics such as the construction of gender or race in America...

Oct 22 2015

Hearing/Listening

When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

How do we really hear others—listen to, absorb, and consider the thoughts of the person in front of us? Our ideologies and moral values shape our identity and behavior, and they also possess the power to unite or drive us apart. In this fractured world, we could all benefit from listening with a sense of openness and empathy to the beliefs and narratives of those with opposing views, without compromising our own core values. Jesse Graham will help us explore the art of listening in these ideologically diverse and divisive times.

Sep 30 2015

Wasting

When: 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Where: Special Location: USC Fisher Museum of Art
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

A staggering amount of plastic trash circles the world’s oceans, propelled by gyres, or currents. The USC Fisher Museum puts this environmentally-damaging waste to thoughtprovoking use in their exhibit Gyre: The Plastic Ocean, in which twenty-five artists created works of art from refuse collected from beaches around the world. As the museum describes it, “a flip-flop discarded in Thailand finds its way to Hawaii, and a bottle cast off from a tsunami in Japan becomes Alaska’s beach litter. In a culture dependent upon the modern convenience of plastic, throwaway products of...

Sep 16 2015

Eating

When: 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

You are what you eat! Eating and food are an integral part of our daily lives, whether we’re grabbing a quick meal on the run, sitting down for fine dining, or having a family meal. There has been an explosion of interest in food in the media—from books to reality TV competitions to travel documentaries to blogs and apps. But food is not just a basic human need; it’s also a social and cultural means of expression and interaction as well as a pressing environmental issue. Karen Tongson teaches a popular May-mester module on food culture and food politics. Join her to explore...

Apr 23 2014

Clash of Civilizations

When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

Historians, political scientists, and economists such as Samuel Huntington and Niall Ferguson see clashes between civilizations emerging as the central issue of the 21st century. Americans, meanwhile, are increasingly seeing in diversity an energizing good. As our planet becomes more unified through technology, dissenting localisms are gaining strength. These have emerged in dialectical opposition to globalization and the forces leading to technological unification. Under the guidance of Professor of History Peter Mancall, students will explore past epic encounters in world history, and...

Apr 2 2014

Aesthetic Diplomacy

When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

Using theatre and aesthetics to advance diplomacy with China may be the most polymathic approach to international relations to date. In this Polymathic Pizza session, discover with University Professor Geoffrey Cowan how his life and work as academician, as playwright, and his position as a foundation president have intersected to engage China's leadership and its citizenry politically and culturally. The aesthetic dynamic of this polymathic equation will launch the discussion naturally into the political and academic aspects of Professor Cowan’s diverse life/work and will inspire...

Mar 26 2014

Urban Systems

When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

For the first time in human history the urban population outnumbers the rural. While cities represent prominent centers of trade, finance, innovation, and education, there are wide-ranging social and ecological tradeoffs associated with these concentrations of people and power. Local air, climate, and water systems are degraded as a result of the transformation of native landscapes into urban environments, which, in turn, pose increasing threats to human health and quality of life among residents. Cities are now pursuing alternative development strategies aimed at minimizing adverse impacts...

Feb 26 2014

Food

When: 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Where: Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, DML 241
Event Type: Polymathic Pizza

You are what you eat. So runs a time-tested folkloric observation. The past four decades have witnessed a mounting concern with good nutrition as the basis of health. The nation, meanwhile, seems caught in an epidemic of obesity. Hunger, famine, and starvation seem permanently established in certain areas of the planet. Should we accept such disjunctions as part of a pattern of Malthusian necessity? Or will the ambition to feed the Planet be a signature accomplishment of the 21st century? Professor Alison Dundes Renteln has spent a lifetime seeking answers to these questions and will lead an...

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