Events

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...

Our 21st-century view of romance is often shaped by media and popular culture; from The Bachelor to rom coms, Austen adaptations to eHarmony ads, we are inundated with images of, rules about, and expectations for relationships. Given this, has our perception and experience of love changed over time—or is there something uniquely pure and unchangeable to the workings of the human heart, particularly when we look outside the media’s narrow definition of it? Furthermore, why is romance in popular culture so strictly associated with the female and culturally diminished by reductive...

“Give to Nature praise and honor, blithe of heart and sound of eye, knowing for the world of colour, where its broad foundations lie.”                                                 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"All nature,” wrote Goethe, “manifests by means of colours to the sense of sight.”   Moving away from the conventional mechanistic approach to science, Goethe approached the natural world as phenomenological, focusing...

USC Sidney Harman Academy for Polymathic Study, USC Libraries, USC’s Max Kade Institute for Austrian-German-Swiss Studies, and Villa Aurora present:


Gerhard Falkner

POETRY. ENTRANCES AND EXITS

In a conversation with Robert von Hallberg, Professor of Literature at Claremont McKenna College, Falkner will discuss the entrances into and exits from poetry, addressing such topics as the selection of style of language for specific contexts and how the language of poetry makes it possible to say more with less, and the various media outlets, for example film and the performing arts...

In September 2012, Hobby Lobby, a chain of arts and crafts stores, filed a lawsuit against the United States over a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) which mandated that health insurance provided by employers must include access to emergency contra-ceptives. Hobby Lobby stated that this provision violated their religious beliefs, and argued that they were protected by the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Supreme Court eventually ruled in their favor. This panel will seek to discuss the various ethical issues associated with...

“Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners.”—William Shakespeare

As modern medicine has permitted a greater understanding of how our bodies function, our perception of them has changed as well. Individuals in the early modern era, like Shakespeare, thought the body was composed of the “four humours,” and that achieving a balance between the senses and passions was tied to one’s well-being. This session will probe what it was like to live in an early modern body and ask whether we could—and still can—rely on our senses as a...

What is the soul? Humans have devoted thousands of years seeking to understand it. Is it a collection of particles? An immortal, spiritual entity distinct from our corporeal form? Or perhaps a complex mechanism originating in the left brain, a function of neurons and circuits? Can these two epistemological approaches to understanding the soul ever speak to one another, or are they so diametric that an interface is futile? If one narrative triumphs, what might be the consequences? Whether mechanistic and/or metaphysical, what is the soul’s purpose, its role in our human existence? Varun Soni,...

From Modern Family to car commercials, the media regularly displays and exploits the familial unit in various iterations to appeal to viewers and consumers. But what truly is the “modern family” and how is it shaped by—or in opposition to—its representation in media? Do we feel a pressure to create a family that supports popular visions, or are we comfortable with the notion of family in its range of diverse forms? The composition and definition of the family is continually evolving and varies between cultures, but what are the implications of this rapidly shifting...

Humans are social animals and have survived as a species through the construction of community. Community in our digital age now has multiple forms and meanings. From Facebook to Twitter to Tumblr, we are continually finding new ways to construct and extend communities in the cyber world. Facebook primarily allows you to maintain and strengthen connections and communities you have formed offline, but social media like Twitter and Tumblr allow you to build a community with those you’ve never met. Since we can now easily carry on conversations and build relationships with individuals...

The planet faces many challenges both old and new—poverty, educational access, healthcare, and environmental degradation. But how can we approach these problems in a sustainable format that will allow for real progress and change? Surely a key aspect of being human is finding ways to preserve and better not only humanity but also the environment. While there are those committed to finding solutions, we also see the income disparity gap rise and our natural resources become increasingly squandered. Currently, the world is divided between the public/nonprofit sector that focuses energy on...