Faculty/Department

UCLA Announces New Digital Hub For Globalizing Japanese Studies

In 2013, the UCLA Department of Asian Languages and Cultures faced a troubling possibility: its entire program in Japanese literature and culture might collapse. Both its faculty members in this popular field of study were being courted by an Ivy League institution, jeopardizing its efforts to hire a third faculty member. In the years since, however, the Japanese humanities have emerged as one of the greatest success stories in UCLA’s Division of Humanities. In 2017 and 2019, the department succeeded in recruiting two additional scholars of Japanese film and kabuki, respectively, transforming its program into one of the most robust in…

Ph.D. student Oriah Amit serves as consultant on HBO show “The Nevers”

Oriah Amit, graduate student in the Department of English, is serving as a historical consultant on the science fiction drama TV HBO series The Nevers. Set in Victorian London, the series follows a group of women with supernatural abilities; Oriah, whose dissertation focuses on late Victorian and Edwardian speculative fiction, used her expertise to advise on integrating aspects of London’s history at the turn of the twentieth century into the world of the show. Oriah’s work as a historical consultant informed the creation of the show’s characters: she created biographies for characters that the writers wanted to base as closely…

UCLA’s David Kipen Catalyzes Bill in Congress to Revive Federal Writers’ Project

On the Works Progress Administration’s (WPA) 86th anniversary, an effort by journalist and UCLA lecturer David Kipen to revive a WPA program employing writers to preserve the country’s cultural history is on its way to succeeding, thanks to a bill introduced by Congressman Ted Lieu today. Today is the 86th anniversary of the Works Progress Administration, the federal Depression-era effort to get people employed again. Kipen, a UCLA Writing Programs lecturer, has been pushing for a year to revive the Federal Writers’ Project, part of the WPA that employed 6,600 writers at its peak and gave a lift or even a…

What Cinco de Mayo has to do with the French in Early L.A.

Professor of English and Chicano/a Studies, Marissa Lopez has published an article on KCET’s website called “What Cinco de Mayo has to do with the French in Early L.A.” The piece is part of Picturing Mexican America, a digital humanities project designed and run by Professor Marissa López that is committed to illuminating the long, Mexican history of Los Angeles that’s been systematically erased through centuries of white, cultural supremacy.

NELC Professor Michael Cooperson wins prestigious Sheikh Zayed Award for his latest book

The Division of Humanities is proud to announce that Near Eastern Languages and Culture Professor, Michael Cooperson, has just won the 2020/21 Sheikh Zayed Award Translation Prize for his Arabic to English translation of Impostures by Al-Hariri. The Sheikh Zayed Awards are the most prestigious and lucrative awards in Arabic literature: winners of the translation category each receive a gold medal, a certificate of merit, and a prize of AED 750,000. The award praises Impostures, published by Library of Arabic Literature in 2020, as “a bold, mature and innovative approach to translation [which] enabled Michael Cooperson to understand Maqamat Al-Hariri more intimately…

Classics Professor Adriana Vazquez Awarded 2021-22 Rome Prize

The Division of Humanities is delighted to announce that Professor Adriana Vazquez in the Department of Classics has been awarded the prestigious Rome Prize next year for her project “Window Reception: Brazilian Neoclassical Poetry and Lusophone Classics Across the Atlantic.” The American Academy in Rome annually selects Rome Prize winners by independent juries of distinguished artists and scholars through a national competition. The eleven disciplines supported by the Academy include: ancient studies, architecture, design, historic preservation and conservation, landscape architecture, literature, medieval studies, modern Italian studies, music composition, Renaissance and early modern studies, and visual arts. These highly competitive fellowships support…

Spanish, Community and Culture Major Highlighted for International Women’s Day

In honor of International Women’s Day 2021 on March 8, the UCLA International Institute is publishing a series of profiles of female Bruins who have overcome challenges in their quest to effect change in the world. UCLA Global, March 8, 2021 — Jazminne Rodriguez joined UCLA as a transfer student in fall 2020 as a Spanish, Community and Culture major. Her lovely smile and soft, calm voice give no indication of the obstacles she has overcome to become a Bruin, a goal she set over a decade ago after a high school field trip. “There was something about UCLA that made me feel…

Linguistics student fulfills dream at UCLA

In honor of International Women’s Day 2021 on March 8, the UCLA International Institute is publishing a series of profiles of female Bruins. Abeer Ali Abdullah Al-Abbas, a UCLA graduate student in linguistics who hails from Saudi Arabia, grew up in the Farasan Islands, a group of coral islands in the Red Sea. A star student throughout her school years, Abeer set her sights on a college education as a young girl with her mother’s strong support. After graduating from high school in 2007, Abeer had to move to mainland Saudi Arabia to attend college. She chose linguistics among the…

Professors hope their film changes immigration policy

When UCLA professor Maite Zubiaurre decided to make a documentary about volunteers who search for the remains of migrants in the desert between the U.S. and Mexico, she wanted people to see what she believes has become invisible: not just the deaths, but how ignoring them enables policies that lead to even more deaths. Now she’ll have an opportunity to help bring that hidden reality to light. Her 14-minute film “Águilas,” co-directed with Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, has been selected to screen at both the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival (Feb. 20–28) and SXSW…

UCLA establishes Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies

In a giant leap for our language studies programs, the departments of French and Francophone Studies, Germanic Languages, Italian, and Scandinavian have completed a merger resulting in the new Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies (ELTS). Chaired by Professor Dominic Thomas, ELTS strengthens our existing language offerings while providing a holistic approach to the future of the field. The merger also creates opportunities for interdisciplinary community-building among our faculty and graduate students, who have driven this transition from the ground up. At the UCLA Newsroom, you can learn more about this transition and the emerging vision and impact of…