‘Art of the Benshi’ tour will showcase century-old Japanese film tradition, April 5-26
Benshi performers — the term is derived from the phrase katsudō benshi, meaning “movie orator” — were the captivating narrators of Japan’s silent film era.
Faculty/Department
Oscar Wilde’s final hours: Joseph Bristow to correct the record in lecture at Clark Library
The Clark is a fitting venue for the talk — the library is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of Wildeiana.
In memoriam: David Kunzle, 87, a founder of comics scholarship with wide-ranging interests
David Kunzle, a UCLA professor emeritus who was widely recognized as one of the founders of contemporary comics scholarship, died Jan. 1 at the age of 87. The cause was amyloidosis. Kunzle’s scholarship was unusually wide-ranging, but perhaps his signature work was the multivolume “The History of the Comic Strip,” which first appeared in 1973 as “The Early Comic Strip,” published by the University of California Press. A second volume, focusing on the 19th century, was published in 1990. He was celebrated in particular for his study of 1800s European cartoonists, according to an obituary published by the Comics Journal….
UCLA-led project receives $1.3 million NSF grant to connect creativity and innovation
UCLA researchers from the humanities, arts and engineering aim to foster stronger ties between America’s vibrant creative sector and those involved in pioneering scientific research, technology innovation and workforce evolution. Funded by a $1.3 million award from the National Science Foundation, the yearlong project will include a series of activities exploring how to connect regional strengths in culture and technology, foster U.S. competitiveness in industries involved in the creative sector and strengthen workforce development at the nexus of creativity and technology in critical and emerging areas of innovation, such as artificial intelligence. UCLA has launched a project office supported by the NSF’s new…
In memoriam: Kirstie McClure, 72, brought interdisciplinary approach to study of political history
Political science chair Davide Panagia said she would be remembered for “her brilliance [and] her encyclopedic knowledge of the history of political thought.”
Why does William Blake’s work resonate today? A UCLA art historian offers perspective
For one thing, says Professor Zirwat Chowdhury, his work is grounded in the context of upheaval, which seems particularly relevant for modern viewers.
Newest issue of UCLA College Magazine celebrates a spectacular century
When UCLA was founded in 1919, it only offered a two-year undergraduate program, with no option for a bachelor’s degree. In 1923, the UC Board of Regents approved expansions that transformed what was then known as the Junior College into the UCLA College of Letters and Science. The latest issue of UCLA College Magazine celebrates 100 years of the UCLA College with a range of stories highlighting the people, events and achievements that defined the past century, as well as a fascinating look ahead to what the next 100 years might bring. Join in the celebration by diving into the…
$2 million gift to create endowed chair in the study of religion
With a gift of $2 million from an anonymous donor, UCLA plans to establish the Robert E. Archer Chair in the Study of Religion, the first endowed chair of its kind for the campus. Pending the approval of the UCLA Academic Senate, the permanent appointment chair will support a distinguished faculty member in UCLA’s interdepartmental degree program in the study of religion, founded a half-century ago within the Division of Humanities. “We are profoundly grateful to our anonymous donor for this generous and forward-thinking gift, which will advance the growth and continued impact of a vital UCLA program,” said Alexandra…
Exploring the sacred music of nuns in colonial Mexico and Latin America
In his first book, Cesar Favila book takes an imaginative approach to recounting the lives of nuns who sang devotional music in Catholic churches in 17th- and 18th-century Mexico and Latin America. Favila, an assistant professor of musicology at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, is a faculty affiliate of the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, the Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies, and the LGBTQ Studies Program in the UCLA Division of Humanities. “Immaculate Sounds: The Musical Lives of Nuns in New Spain,” published in November by Oxford University Press, examines rarely studied printed and manuscript sources…
New English course embraces the potential of AI
A new UCLA English class is built around the premise that the best way to understand artificial intelligence tools, including their biases and limitations, is to experiment with them. The class, “Algo-Lit: An Introduction to AI Literature,” is taught by Danny Snelson, an assistant professor of English. “I think that the use of generative AI — to be specific, the type of large-language models or image synthesis tools built on massive accumulations of data — presents real ethical and moral concerns,” Snelson said. “But these tools, and the new ways of making they present, are not going away. That box…