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Animating Matter: Italian Puppetry as a Technology of Wonder (May 28, 2pm in SSMS 2303)
This talk explores Italian puppetry as a technology of wonder, a set of material practices through which inanimate matter is animated with significant impact on imagination across the arts. Beginning with a philosophical reflection on puppetry as crafted animation rather than illusion, the talk introduces major traditions of Italian puppetry—burattini, Pulcinella, opera dei pupi, and marionettes—noting their material nature and their migration into literature and cinema.
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Congratulations to Shanna Killeen and Solaire Denaud
Congratulations to Shanna Killeen and Solaire Denaud, who will be earning their PhD’s this year. After graduation Solaire will be moving on to a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in African American Studies at Princeton University and Shanna will be starting a position as Clinical Assistant Professor of Disability Studies at the University of Texas, Austin.
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New Minor in Childhood and Youth Studies
As Chair of the new Childhood and Youth Studies (CYS) Advisory Board, I am glad to announce that UC Santa Barbara recently approved our proposal to establish a Minor in Childhood and Youth Studies, effective as of 2026-2027. Interested students are welcome to register for the minor as of Fall 2026!
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Interdisciplinary Brown Bag Lunch Series- Humanity at the Center of Everything: A Brief Genealogy of Western Anthropocentrism
Please join us for our next brown bag talk with Prof. Renan Larue, which will take place on Wednesday March 4th, from 12 noon to 1:30pm, in 6206C Phelps Hall. Lunch will be provided. (Please RSVP here to indicate your lunch preferences).
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Interdisciplinary Brown Bag Lunch Series- Untimeliness, Emergency, Emergence
Nietzsche grounds his critique of the “consuming fever of history” upon the "untimely" character of Classical philology. The “untimely,” says Nietzsche, is what acts “counter to our time” and “on our time and, let us hope, for the benefit of a time to come.” In Contributions to Philosophy (of the Event), Martin Heidegger describes “the lack of a sense of emergency [Notlosigkeit] as the greatest emergency," pointing not to a call for immediate action, but instead, to a certain slowness of thinking.
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Interdisciplinary Brown Bag Lunch Series - Rebuilding St. Paul's Outside the Walls: Rome, Fire, Money, and the Catholic Church
In July 1823, the Early Christian basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, one of the most important churches in the Christian world, was destroyed by fire. A fierce debate about what to do with the ruins erupted, leading to a wholly unprecedented papal decision: the ruined basilica was to be reconstructed in pristinum, that is, exactly as it had been when first built in the fifth century. Church leadership pursued the reconstruction as a symbol and image of Catholic rebirth and popular renewal.
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New Director of GCLR: Prof. Juan Pablo Lupi
Prof. Juan Pablo Lupi has accepted the Directorship of the Graduate Center for Literary Research (GCLR).
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Han Hao Advances to Candidacy
We are pleased to announce that Han Hao has advanced to candidacy! The title of his prospectus exam and dissertation is “Poisonous Things and Hellenistic Poetry," with Dr. Francis Dunn (Chair), Dr. Dorota Dutsch, and Dr. Emilio Capettini serving on his committee. Congratulations and best of luck to Han!
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