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4th MIT Global Humanities Forum on “Recovering Agency through Visual Arts amid Political Uncertainty and Exile” on August 28 (online)

Virtual

Dear colleagues, students, and friends, Join us for the 2026 GHI 4th Forum, rescheduled to August 28! This session introduces the GHI Pillar Heritage, Memory & Identity, and its project: Relocating Agency amid Political Uncertainty and Exile 4th GHI Forum Title: Recovering Agency through Visual Arts amid Political Uncertainty and Exile Date: August 28, 2026 Where: Online (Zoom Registration LINK)  Speakers: Alicia Stevens, Bart Was Not Here (a.k.a. Kyaw Moe Khine), Nathalie Johnston, Maung Day, Sana Aiyar     【Abstract】 The Heritage, Memory, and Identity pillar of MIT’s Global Humanities investigates how the legacies of the past continue to structure contemporary societies and future imaginaries. It views heritage not as a static collection of monuments, but as a dynamic process of meaning construction through which communities negotiate belonging, power, and identity. By engaging with the political, ethical, and creative dimensions of memory, the pillar seeks to illuminate how cultural legacies can both reproduce inequities and inspire new forms of resilience and repair. Our ongoing project demonstrates this approach. Relocating Agency amid Political Uncertainty and Exile brings  Burmese visual artists that are dealing with exile and uncertainty into dialogue with MIT and international audiences through workshops, exhibitions, and publications that explore […]

Event Series Sept 24-25 | SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium

Sept 24-25 | SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium

MIT Thomas Tull Concert Hall, Edward & Joyce Linde Music Building, W18 201 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA, United States +1 more

Since 1950, SHASS has advanced a human-centered approach to research, teaching, and innovation. The SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium is a two-day celebration Sept. 24-25, 2026 in the Thomas Tull Concert Hall in MIT’s Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building. The symposium will feature faculty panel thematic sessions, student performances, and alumni talks. Between sessions, attendees will have opportunities for connecting and networking. The event will conclude with a closing reception and party at the MIT Museum evening of Sept. 25. Learn more about our history: https://shass.mit.edu/about-the-school/shass-timeline/ Learn more about the symposium and full schedule here: https://shass.mit.edu/news-events/shass-75th-anniversary-symposium/ Below are events we have highlighted, featuring Literature faculty! 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.: Session 2 – Teaching and Learning Innovations (panel discussion) Register here: https://luma.com/dbq24p53 Panelists: Takako Aikawa, Senior Lecturer in Japanese, Global Languages Suzanne Berger, Institute Professor, Department of Political Science Sara Ellison, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics Stephanie Seed, Associate Professor, Literature Eric Klopfer, Professor, Comparative Media Studies/Writing; Director, Scheller Teacher Education Program Norvin Richards, the Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Linguistics Moderator Will Broadhead, Associate Professor of History 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Session 7 – Perception, Cognition, Expression (panel discussion) Register here: https://luma.com/g84s43it Panelists: Sandy Alexandre, Associate Professor, Literature Elise Newman, Assistant Professor, Department […]

Event Series Sept 24-25 | SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium

Sept 24-25 | SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium

MIT Thomas Tull Concert Hall, Edward & Joyce Linde Music Building, W18 201 Amherst Street, Cambridge, MA, United States +1 more

Since 1950, SHASS has advanced a human-centered approach to research, teaching, and innovation. The SHASS 75th Anniversary Symposium is a two-day celebration Sept. 24-25, 2026 in the Thomas Tull Concert Hall in MIT’s Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building. The symposium will feature faculty panel thematic sessions, student performances, and alumni talks. Between sessions, attendees will have opportunities for connecting and networking. The event will conclude with a closing reception and party at the MIT Museum evening of Sept. 25. Learn more about our history: https://shass.mit.edu/about-the-school/shass-timeline/ Learn more about the symposium and full schedule here: https://shass.mit.edu/news-events/shass-75th-anniversary-symposium/ Below are events we have highlighted, featuring Literature faculty! 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.: Session 2 – Teaching and Learning Innovations (panel discussion) Register here: https://luma.com/dbq24p53 Panelists: Takako Aikawa, Senior Lecturer in Japanese, Global Languages Suzanne Berger, Institute Professor, Department of Political Science Sara Ellison, Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics Stephanie Seed, Associate Professor, Literature Eric Klopfer, Professor, Comparative Media Studies/Writing; Director, Scheller Teacher Education Program Norvin Richards, the Dean’s Distinguished Professor of Linguistics Moderator Will Broadhead, Associate Professor of History 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Session 7 – Perception, Cognition, Expression (panel discussion) Register here: https://luma.com/g84s43it Panelists: Sandy Alexandre, Associate Professor, Literature Elise Newman, Assistant Professor, Department […]

Global France Seminar presents, Doyle Calhoun “The Suicide Archive: Reading for resistance from the time of slavery to the ‘Arab Spring'”

MIT Building 14E-304 160 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA, United States

Presented by Doyle Calhoun, Assistant Professor of Francophone Postcolonial Studies in the Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge   When: Monday, September 28 @ 5:15 PM Where: Building 14, 14E-304 (map)* *Directions: From the Lewis Music Library stairs, take the third floor of Building 14, through the CMS/W doors. Alternatively, take the elevator to the 3rd floor, navigate to the opposite end of the 3rd floor hallway, and enter through the CMS/W doors.   Abstract: From the time of slavery to the Algerian war for independence to the "Arab Spring," people have responded to enslavement, colonisation and oppression through acts of suicide. While often occluded from or obscured in colonial archives, self-killing has long been at the centre of African and Caribbean engagements with the colonial past. Reading across literature, film, oral history, archival documents, legal history, and scientific texts, The Suicide Archive (2024) shows how aesthetic forms (literature, film, visual art, performance) preserve powerful histories of resistance and loss. In so doing, the book offers an innovative reading of African, Caribbean, French and global literary history Please note: this talk will involve discussion of suicide as well as colonial and state violence. Bio: Doyle D. Calhoun is University Assistant Professor of Francophone […]

Ancient & Medieval Studies Colloquium presents, David S. Bachrach “Knighthood and the Realities of War in Medieval Germany”

MIT Building E51-275 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA, United States

Presented by David S. Bachrach, Professor of Medieval European History, University of New Hampshire   When: Tuesday, October 6 @ 5:15 PM Where: Tang Center - Building E51, Room E51-275 (map)   Abstract: Military history as a subfield within medieval studies has suffered considerably from the fact that both medieval authors and modern scholars have seen warfare as a nasty element of the human experience, that is better condemned or even ignored than studied. As a consequence, the examination of warfare is often treated as an adjunct to other areas of inquiry, with the result that many well-meaning historians continue to pass along shibboleths long-since discarded by the relatively small number of specialists in medieval military history. This is particularly true with regard to scholarship dealing with the German kingdom because very few non-German speaking historians do much work on Germany, and German-speaking historians, with some notable exceptions, particularly in Switzerland and Austria, have eschewed the study of military matters in the period since the Second World War. One particularly important shibboleth, which still permeates studies of the German kingdom, is the notion that warfare was dominated by small numbers of warrior aristocrats who fought on horseback. In this paper, I will be addressing four […]

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