Zak Faith (MLLI) and Melissa Kutner (Ancient Studies)
CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now Spring 2019
Monday, March 4, 2019 · 11:30 AM - 1 PM
CURRENTS: Humanities Work Now lunchtime series showcases exciting new faculty work in the humanities in a dynamic and inter-disciplinary setting with short, informal presentations and time for discussion (Lunch will be served at 11:30am)
Zak Fatih
Associate Professor, Modern Languages, Linguistics, and Intercultural Communication, UMBC
20th-century French Historiography between the 'Event' and the Longue Durée"
The issue of alterity in France has often been framed using the republican ideal of universalism. No one has yet looked at the potential of a historiographical interpretation of this issue by contrasting the longue durée to the "event." The inimical attitude toward Otherness would stem from a misconception about "the event," a minority, as "deceptive" and "capricious."
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Melissa Kutner
Assistant Professor, Ancient Studies, UMBC
Between Cloth and Skin: Carrying Objects in Ancient Rome
Melissa Kutner will discuss the kinds of small objects habitually carried by Romans and the meanings of the space in which these objects were carried (purses, folds of cloth). In later periods, this space would be characterized by pockets, but it had distinctive associations for Romans despite the lack of pockets. This talk will focus on questions such as whether a category of "personal" and/or "private" can be defined in relation to objects; the usefulness of the concept of the body as a normative social ideal produced through practice; and some problems that emerge from combining textual and material evidence.