Humanities Lecture Series

The College of Humanities presents its Second Conversation of this new series, inviting the community to explore timely and often disconcerting issues with College of Humanities scholars.

“Offensive, Deliberately So”
Literary and Cultural Taboos, Then and Now.
Monday, December 7, at 6 p.m. at the University of Arizona Poetry Center

College of Humanities faculty will offer perspectives on how to approach modern incivility such as the cartoon caricaturing of the Prophet Mohammed, blasphemous lyrics in rock music, stand-up comedians capitalizing on stereotypes of race, gender or sexuality, and uncomfortable jokes.

Brief, informal chats on texts by Rabelais, Plato, Aristophanes, Handke, and on medieval Italian song and modern age jokes will set the stage for an understanding of the role of offensive literature and rhetoric, then and now. A Q & A is always an integral part of the Conversation.

Join us for a gratingly civilized evening with the following distinguished professors: Fabian Alfie, Department of French & Italian; Albrecht Classen, Department of German Studies; Michael Lippman, Department of Classics; Thomas Miller, Department of English; and Elizabeth Zegura, Department of French & Italian.

• This event is free and open to the public.
• All Unsettling Certainties events take place in the Dorothy Rubel Room of the Poetry Center’s Helen S. Schaefer Building, 1508 E. Helen Street.
• Parking is available in all Zone 1 lots surrounding the building (free after 5:00 p.m.) and at cost in the Highland Avenue Garage.
• Direct questions to Pat Brooks, College of Humanities: pbrooks@email.arizona.edu and 520-626-4319.

COH Dean Mary Wildner-Bassett on this New Community Series:

College of Humanities Dean, Mary Wildner-Bassett, says the Unsettling Certainties series “is exciting and emblematic as it expresses all that Humanities has to offer our communities – our sense of place and purpose here in Tucson and beyond. “We use ‘unsettling’ as both verb and adjective. We want to ‘unsettle’ what can, could or should be reconsidered as a certainty. We also want to explore, together, in community, why once held assumptions about our ties as humans that have become more ‘unsettling’ than certain, including our ideas about race, language, and art. What ties us together, what unsettles us, what is certain? Through this program, teachers, students, and lifelong learners in the Humanities share their knowledge and skills, ready to engage in conversation about real-world issues that face us daily. It is with certain pleasure and enthusiasm that I invite the Tucson community to participate in these ongoing conversations.”