UCLA Humanities

Lucinda Dirven: Zoroastrianism in the Religious Context of the Arsacid Empire
2025-11-05 16:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | 306 Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
November 5, 2025
Royce Hall 306, 4:00 p.m.
Download Event Flyer Here
Zoom link for online attendance: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/94920554065
RSVP link: https://forms.gle/2BmZz73crt582bJJ8
Zoroastrianism in the Religious Context of the Arsacid Empire
Unlike the tendency to emphasize the multifaceted and diverse aspects of religious life in the Parthian Empire, this talk aims to identify shared characteristics by focusing on the religious preferences of the Arsacid rulers. Although Zoroastrianism was not yet clearly defined at this time, evidence suggests that Zoroastrian ideas influenced the ideology of Arsacid kingship. Conversely, the ideology of the King of Kings influenced the practices of families and rulers who reigned under their suzerainty, including those who were otherwise unaffected by Zoroastrianism. Although such practices were rare, they still had repercussions for the religious lives of the populace in the Arsacid Empire.

Lucinda Dirven
University of Nijmegen

Lucinda Dirven is a professor of ancient religions at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She studied art history and theology (history of religions and comparative religion) at Leiden University, where she obtained her PhD, which was published in 1999. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the archaeology department at the University of Amsterdam, she taught in the history departments at the universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam. Since completing her PhD, her research has focused on the Roman and Parthian Near East, particularly Dura, Hatra and Palmyra, and the influence of these regions on the Roman West. Her research combines material culture and written sources, primarily focusing on religion. One recent topic has been religious continuity and change in Syria and Mesopotamia, particularly during the Roman and Parthian periods. She is currently a Getty Scholar working on a project focusing on the cult of Mithras in Dura-Europos.

Careers in Nonprofit: Explore, Learn, and Make an Impact!
2025-11-04 16:00 - 17:00 | Zoom
Have you ever thought about working in the nonprofit world? Curious about what it’s really like to build a career that’s all about creating change and making a difference? This is your chance to find out!
To register, go to: Careers in Nonprofit
Meet our panelists:
Humzah Farrukh

Humzah Farrukh is a Pakistani-American author, social impact founder, and UCLA graduate. His debut poetry collection explores migration, family rupture, and inherited silence. His writing has been published in Sonder Literary, Santa Barbara Literary Journal and others. He is the CEO and co-founder of Farrukh Foundation, a non-profit building schools in Pakistan, supporting boarding houses for girls in Morocco, and building libraries and literacy programs in Colombia and West Africa. Humzah leads lifecycle marketing efforts at Candidly, a financial wellness startup geared towards providing student debt solutions as a benefit to employees. He is also a 2025 UCLA Anderson Riordan MBA Fellow, 2024 Yale Writing Fellow, and 2024 Western Union Global Fellow.
Chanell Gore

Chanell Gore is the Scholarship and Foundation Programming Manager at Clark College Foundation (Vancouver, WA), where she oversees initiatives that award over $2 million in scholarship funding annually to Clark College students. With a career rooted in access, equity, and public service, Chanell’s work has centered on nonprofit operations management, strategic program design, and business administration. A proud double Bruin, Chanell earned her BA in Psychology with a minor in Public Affairs in 2006 and returned to UCLA to complete her Master of Public Policy in 2011. She is passionate about expanding educational opportunities, especially for historically underserved students, and building pathways that enable people to thrive through higher education.
Jeff King

Jeffrey King is a vice president with Netzel Grigsby Associates who specializes in helping nonprofits achieve ambitious visions through integration of fundraising into their strategic goals. He has developed and executed strategic plans for nonprofit management; capital and annual fund campaigns; and executive leadership transitions for universities, liberal arts institutions, independent schools, social services nonprofits, and arts and culture organizations. Jeffrey received his Bachelor of Arts in English and Education from Vassar College and his Master of Education in Higher Education Administration with a specialization in External Relations from Vanderbilt University. He also received a Secondary Education English Teaching License from the State of New York.

Día de los Muertos: Mourning and Remembering through Ecological Change
2025-11-01 11:00 | UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden
Día de los Muertos: Mourning and Remembering through Ecological Change will explore cross-cultural grief in the context of environmental and species loss. Join us on November 1 from 11am-1pm at the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden (707 Tiverton Drive) for ofrendas, art, and talks on topics such as deforestation, extinction, and environmental colonialism and imperialism. Come early for a guided Garden tour at 10am (provided by the Botanical Garden). We’ll have snacks and drinks including champurrado and a variety of pan dulces.
This event is free and open to the public; it is hosted by the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies (LENS), Environmental Humanities Reading Group (EHRG), and Radical Imagination Coalition (RIC), and is co-sponsored by the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden and Center for Developing Leadership in Science (CDLS).
If you are interested in contributing an ofrenda, art, or your time to this event, please email Elijah Catalan (elijahcatalan@g.ucla.edu) and Olivia Simon (oliviameyers@g.ucla.edu) with a short description of how you would like to be involved and “Día de los Muertos: Request to Participate” in the subject line.

Literary Studies, Professionalization, and the Public Sphere
2025-10-30 16:00 | Lydeen Library, Rolfe 4302, 345 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90024, United States
Speaker: Gabriela Adamo
Date: October 30, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Rolfe Hall, Lydeen Library

Speaker’s statement:
The publishing industry offers one of the most diverse and rewarding career paths for graduates in the Humanities. In this presentation, I’ll outline the wide range of roles available—from scouting and scriptwriting to organizing literary festivals. Drawing on thirty years of experience in the field, I will explore the key steps and practical tools needed to enter the profession and highlight the growing international opportunities within the industry.

About the speaker:
Gabriela Adamo has worked as an editor for several of the most prominent publishing houses in Latin America. She served as executive director of both the Buenos Aires Book Fair and the International Literature Festival, and also led the Literature Department at the TyPA Foundation. She currently works as a consultant for various literary projects, including FILNYC (the Spanish Book Fair in New York City). She teaches in the Master’s program in Cultural Management at Universidad de San Andrés.

For more information, visit the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese website.

Webs of Life: Domestic Jewish Worlds in Early Modern Venice – Federica Francesconi
2025-10-28 14:00 - 15:30 | Royce Hall, 314, 314 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
This lecture explores domestic life in the Venetian ghetto as both a site of physical segregation, housing scarcity, and oppression, and a space of cultural negotiation and transformation. Drawing on unpublished archival sources, surviving material culture, and the built environment, it traces how Venetian Jews actively shaped their living spaces through engagement with objects, furnishings, and architectural features. From the central portego (the central space in Venetian houses) to repurposed Islamic carpets and gilt leather panels, the home emerged as a site of transculturation where Jewish, Islamic, and Renaissance aesthetics intersected. These material choices reveal not only practical adaptation but also enduring ties to memory, mobility, and diasporic identity. By examining the interplay of people, objects, and spaces, the lecture foregrounds the Jewish home in the ghetto as a dynamic meshwork—extending both vertically and horizontally, and connecting domestic life to the broader urban fabric, natural surroundings, and the wider Mediterranean world.
Federica Francesconi is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at the University at Albany, SUNY. Her research and publications focus on the social, religious, and cultural dimensions of early modern Jewish life in Italy, with particular attention to the politics and dynamics of the ghetto. She has held fellowships in Europe, Israel, and the United States. Her recent book, Invisible Enlighteners: The Jewish Merchants of Modena, from the Renaissance to the Emancipation (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021), won the 2022 Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize from the American Historical Association and was the finalist for the 2021 National Jewish Book Awards’ JDC-Herbert Katzki Award for Writing Based on Archival Material. She is currently working on a new monograph, The Jewish Home in Early Modern Venice: Cosmopolitan Intimacy, Global Networks, and Diasporic Material Culture, which examines the Jewish home in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Venice as a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nexus of individuals, communities, and objects in motion. This project has been supported by the Gladys Krieble Delmas, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Renaissance Studies in Florence.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 • 314 Royce Hall • 2 PM
Webs of Life: Domestic Jewish Worlds in Early Modern Venice
Federica Francesconi (University at Albany)
Moderator: Stefania Tutino (UCLA)
Viterbi Program in Mediterranean Jewish Studies
RSVP

Practice and Theory: Next Steps in Kantian Practical Philosophy
2025-10-24 12:00 - 2025-10-25 17:30 | Hershey Hall Salon (Room 158)
October 24 – 25, 2025
Hershey Hall Salon (Room 158)
RSVP HERE

Please join us for Practice and Theory: Next Steps in Kantian Practical Philosophy, a workshop at UCLA from Friday & Saturday, October 24-25, 2025.

Workshop Program

Friday, October 24th
12:00 – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 – 3:00 PM: Nataliya Palatnik (Milwaukee) “‘Not So Completely an Animal’: Kant on Moral Sensibility and Moral Constraint”
3:00 – 3:30 PM: Break
3:30 – 5:30 PM: Thomas Pendlebury (Chicago) “The Will and the Good”
5:30 PM: Reception in Hershey Hall Salon

Saturday, October 25th
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Jordan Pascoe (Binghamton) “Kant, Structural Injustice, and Universalism”
12:00 – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 – 3:00 PM: Japa Pallikkathayil (Pittsburgh) “Constitutional Constraints in the Kantian State”
3:00 – 3:30 PM: Break
3:30 – 5:30 PM: Rafeeq Hasan (Amherst) “What’s the Point of Kantian Independence?”

RSVP HERE

Directions to Hershey Hall: head toward the Terasaki Life Sciences Building just south of Parking Structure 2, go down the steps or the nearby ramp and through the building’s underpass, and you’ll see the entrance to Mira Hershey Hall on your left. Look for the signs that direct you to “Practice and Theory: Next Steps in Kantian Practical Philosophy.”

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A Conversation with Author and Professor Catherine Conybeare
2025-10-21 17:00 - 18:30 | 247 Dodd Hall, CA, United States
Please join us for a book event featuring author and professor Catherine Conybeare. Professor Michele Salzman (UC Riverside) will facilitate a conversation with the author about her new book. Augustine the African is an extraordinary work of revisionist history that centers Africa in the life of one of the greatest philosophers.
All are welcome!

Careers in Publishing: A Humanities Career Panel Series event
2025-10-21 16:00 | Zoom
Discover what it’s really like to work in the fast-changing world of digital and print publishing whether you’re passionate about classic paperbacks or all-in on e-readers. Join us for an inside look at the industry, and hear from Humanities alumni who’ve turned their degrees into exciting careers in publishing, publicity, editing, digital media and more.

To register, go to Careers in Publishing

Meet our moderator: Laura Hartenberger

Laura Hartenberger is a Continuing Lecturer in UCLA’s Writing Programs, where she teaches courses in the Professional Writing Minor and Writing I program, and works on projects related to writing assessment. She has been a freelance editor and a writer in the tech field, and her fiction and essays have been published in various magazines and literary journals, including Noema, CRAFT Literary, Ninth Letter, Redivider, Massachusetts Review, and others. Laura has a B.A. in English from Yale University and an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from the University of Toronto.

Meet our panelists:James Faccinto

James Faccinto is the founder and principal at Full Complement Communications, an independent, Los Angeles-based company specializing in literary publicity & publishing strategy. James combines his background in creative writing with extensive experience representing bestselling literary titles across all genres for both “Big Five” and independent publishers. He approaches every project or campaign with a storyteller’s sense of creativity, detail, and energy.

Irene Yoon

Irene Yoon is the Executive Director of LARB, where she oversees the day-to-day operations and broader strategic vision and planning for the organization. For the last four years, Irene has also served as Director of the LARB Publishing Workshop. She earned her doctorate in English from UC Berkeley, where she also managed an interdisciplinary writing program and trained new teachers as the English Department’s Assistant Pedagogy Chair. Irene has worked with several authors to prepare books and articles for publication, and her own writing has appeared in journals such as Twentieth Century Literature, Transition Magazine, and Los Angeles Review of Books.
Andy Etzkorn

Andy Etzkorn is currently Lead Marketing Manager at the University of California Press where he oversees the implementation of marketing plans for all upcoming books and also serves on committees for DEI and FirstGen Scholars. For nearly twenty years, he has served in various marketing roles for “Big Five” publishers as well as academic and university book publishers. Andy has a B.A. in English from UCLA and an M.A. in English Literature from Fordham University.

The Scapegoat by Sophia Nikolaidou
2025-10-18 10:00 - 11:00 | Zoom
Design by: Christopher King
Gefyra Book Club:
The Scapegoat by Sophia Nikolaidou, trans. Karen Emmerich
(Melville House, 2015)
Discussion led by Professor Sharon Gerstel, Director, UCLA SNF Hellenic Center
and Dr. Eirini Kotsovili, Senior Lecturer, Global Humanities at Simon Fraser University
Saturday, October 18, 2025
10 A.M. Los Angeles / 8 P.M. Greece
Via Zoom
RSVP Here
From the Publisher:
In 1948, the body of an American journalist is found floating in the bay off Thessaloniki. A small-time Greek journalist is tried and convicted for the murder… but when he’s released twelve years later, he claims his confession was the result of torture.
Flash forward to contemporary Greece, where a rebellious young high school student is given an assignment for a school project: find the truth. And as he begrudgingly takes it on, he begins to make a startling series of gripping discoveries–about history, love, and even his own family’s involvement.
Based on the real story of famed CBS reporter George Polk—journalism’s prestigious Polk Awards were named after him—The Scapegoat is a sweeping saga that brings together the Greece of the post-World War II era with the Greece of today, a country facing dangerous times once again.
As told by key players in the story—the dashing journalist’s Greek widow; the mother and sisters of the convicted man; the brutal Thessaloniki Chief of Police; a U.S. Foreign Office investigator, and, finally, the modern-day student, in the novel’s most stirring narration of all–The Scapegoat confronts questions of truth, justice, and sacrifice…and how the past is always with us.
About the Author:
Sophia Nikolaidou was born in Thessaloniki in 1968. She teaches literature and creative writing and writes criticism for various newspapers, including Ta Nea. She has published two collections of short stories and three novels, all of which have been translated into eight languages. Her last novel, Tonight We Have Friends, won the 2011 Athens Prize for Literature, and The Scapegoat was shortlisted for the 2012 Greek State Prize for Fiction.
Karen Emmerich’s translations include Rien ne va plus by Margarita Karapanou, Landscape with Dog and Other Stories by Ersi Sotiropoulos, I’d Like by Amanda Michalopoulou, and Poems (1945-1971) by Miltos Sachtouris. She received the 2013 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for her translation, with Edmund Keeley, of Yannis Ritsos’ Diaries of Exile.
This program is made possible thanks to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).
Link to purchase book:
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=1612193846&clickid=SNaQmzT01xyKTPw2A70VbTfEUksWhC2WzTQ7zI0&cm_mmc=aff-_-ir-_-64613-_-77416&ref=imprad64613&afn_sr=impact&ref_=aff_ir_64613_77416
https://livebrary.overdrive.com/media/1903986

Modern French Thought and the History of Philosophy
2025-10-17 - 2025-10-18 | Kaplan 348
In person attendance is encouraged but Zoom attendance also available. Your advance registration will help determine the event catering order. The Zoom meeting link will be sent EOD on October 15. For any questions or concerns, please contact Lisset at lisset@humnet.ucla.edu.

October 17: 4 – 7 p.m. PST
October 18: 10:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST

Kaplan Hall Room 348
In person and Zoom hybrid

Post-Classical Libraries Conference
2025-10-17 - 2025-10-18 | Royce 306 & 314
Libraries occupied a central place in the organization and reproduction of pre-modern knowledge cultures.
Texts had been assembled in archives of various kinds from the Bronze Age, but most were of only ephemeral interest. Only when writing was deployed to create works intended to have lasting value – as literature, as contributions to science, or as records of historical investigations or sacred revelations – did it become necessary to actively curate them. In a world before printing, the risk that any given book – on papyrus or parchment, clay tablets or wooden ones, on rolls or in codices –would simply perish was a real one. Libraries became places where textual communities studied, catalogued, repaired, and recopied works of this kind. Recent studies have investigated the libraries of the Bronze Age Near East and of the Classical Mediterranean. These were royal or civic, private or public, based in temples, villas, or educational establishments. A few, like the Library of Alexandria, have been mythologized.
Most of these studies end in the third century CE, yet libraries also played a crucial role in the passages from antiquity to the Middle Ages. This will be the subject of our conference.
Speaker Abstracts and Titles

Day 1

10:15
Coffee, fresh fruit, pastries (Royce, 314)

10:30
Welcome Remarks

11:00
The “Library of Caesarea” between Gaza and Berytus – Jeremiah Coogan (Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University)

11:50
Break

12:00
The Library on the Page: Booklists from Antiquity to the Latin West – Thomas Hendrickson (Stanford)

1:00
Lunch

2:30
‘The Fortress of Writing was Burned…’: Archives and Institutions of Learning in Sasanian and Post-Sasanian Iran – Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina (University of Oxford)

3:20
Break

3:30
New Approaches to the Early Arabic Library – Michael Cooperson (NELC, UCLA)

4:30
Reception

6:00
Dinner (Plateia – participants only)

Day 2

10:00
Coffee, fresh fruit, pastries

10:30
Irish Libraries in the Early Middle Ages: Home and Abroad – Viktoriia Krivoshchekova (School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies)

11:20
Strategies of Preservation at Monastic Libraries and Archives in Medieval Italy – Maya Maskarinec (USC)

12:10
Break

12:20
Books and libraries in Byzantium (8th–10th centuries) – Daniele Bianconi (University of Rome, La Sapienza)

1:15
Lunch

3:00
Closing Round Table

Organizers: Stefania Tutino and Greg Woolf

Edible Entanglements: Race, Environment and Ethics
2025-10-14 09:30 - 19:00 | 314 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Full schedule is available here. Free healthy lunch is provided for all attendees. Event is organized by UCLA English Professor Arvind Thomas and sponsored by the University of California Humanities Research Institute.
Come and hear international leaders in food justice, including:
Kathy Freston (New York Times best-selling author)
Gwenna Hunter (Founder of Planetary Unity)
Lisa Bloom (Civil rights attorney)
Julieanna Hever (Dietitian)
Jennifer Jay (Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UCLA)
David Cleveland (Professor of Sustainable Food and Agriculture, UC Santa Barbara)
Questions about the event?
Contact: Arvind Thomas, arvindthomas@ucla.edu

Celebrating 40 Years with the Greek Heritage Society: Exploring and Preserving Our Hellenic Identity
2025-10-11 09:30 - 16:30 | Royce Hall, 314, 314 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Celebrating 40 Years with the Greek Heritage Society: Exploring and Preserving Our Hellenic Identity
October 11, 2025
9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Main Event
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. – Genealogy Workshop (Special Event – Optional)
314 Royce Hall, UCLA campus

Register Here: https://forms.gle/QrzdvXYGyMi3R9oT6

Become a Sponsor: https://forms.gle/eA8Maddp4dWuqN11A

Join the Greek Heritage Society (GHS) of Southern California for a very special celebration of their 40th Anniversary with a unique informational, interactive, and invigorating multigenerational event filled with presentations, exhibits, and inspirational discussions, as well as the opportunity to explore genealogy through a personalized expert workshop. The event will explore understanding the identity of Greeks in Southern California, and methods to share and preserve stories and heritage. The GHS seeks to open the door to new ideas and ways of embracing Hellenism to keep the love alive for generations to come. This is an event you won’t want to miss!
PART I: EXPLORING WHO WE ARE: THE GREEKS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND BEYOND
Presentations

Bessie Karras-Lazaris, Greek Heritage Society
George I. Paganelis, Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection
Dr. Katherine Kelaidis, National Hellenic Museum
Gregory Kontos, GreekAncestry.net

Lunch and Exhibits
PART II: A CELEBRATION OF CULTURE INTO THE FUTURE
Panel Discussions
Young Greek professionals in comedy, filmmaking, music, dance, sports and more
Finale
Musical tribute and reception
Optional
Genealogy workshop
This is a ticketed event:
Main event: $50 per person
Genealogy workshop: $50 per person
For inquiries, email greekheritage@hotmail.com
Presented by:

Sponsored by:

Under the Auspices of:

Aire Libre film screening + open house for community engaged humanities scholars
2025-10-09 16:00 - 18:00 | 314 Royce Hall, 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Thursday, October 9, 2025
4 – 6 p.m. | 314 Royce Hall
All community- and publicly engaged scholars and students in the humanities are invited to a community event with a screening of the film AIRE LIBRE. The event is cosponsored by the Division of Humanities, the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies, and the Center for Community Engagement.
Admission is free; visit this page to register.
Visit this page to read more about the film.
AIRE LIBRE is a dance-based film that examines the disproportionate effects of toxic air and soil pollution on lower-income communities of color in LA County who live amid the heavy industry, infrastructure, and polluting facilities that underpin our fossil-fuel-based economy. AIRE LIBRE is a collaborative project led by artist Erin Cooney, bringing together East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Company, L.A.-based poet Rocío Carlos, and vocalists Carmina Escobar and Joung-A Monica Yum.
AIRE LIBRE features the stories of East Yard members and CONTRA-TIEMPO dancers, whose movement materializes the interconnectedness of our bodies with the air we breathe and the ground we tread. The footage documents a range of environments—from transportation hubs along the I-710 Corridor, including ports, freeways, and rail yards, to industrial zones comprising warehouse complexes, refineries, and oil derricks—as well as the residential areas and parks situated within these industrial and manufacturing landscapes. Exide Technologies, which has contaminated the soil with arsenic and lead and is associated with higher rates of cancer in nearby communities, figures prominently in the piece.
Find out more about AIRE LIBRE and the team behind its creation at erincooney.com/airelibre.
Screening duration: 30 minutes, followed by a panel discussion. Panel features Erin Cooney, assistant adjunct professor in the Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies and visual artist; East Yard’s Honey Bizarro and Guadalupe Valdovinos; and Ana María Álvarez, director of CONTRA TIEMPO Activist Dance Company and associate professor in theater and dance at UC San Diego.
Reception to follow.

American Literary History Now
2025-10-03 - 2025-10-04 | Kaplan Hall 193
Join us for a conference on American literary history to discuss origins, paradigms, and future directions of the field. The conference explores how the study of American literature has evolved in relation to its Cold War origins, its reinvention in response to the social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and its reinvigoration through cultural studies. Leading figures present research on American literature from its inception to the present, staging a lively discussion about current critical challenges, approaches, and methods.
The conference is organized by Yogita Goyal, professor of English and African American studies at UCLA, and generously supported by the Luskin Endowment for Thought Leadership in the UCLA College.
Schedule
October 3
10-10.30
Welcome and Introductions
Dean Alexandra Minna Stern
Russ Castronovo and Yogita Goyal
Session 1
10.30-12.30
Chair: Nancy Martinez
10.30: Sean Teuton, “Primal Returns: Tribal Storytelling, Deep Reading, and the Rise of Native American Literature”
11.30: Sakiru Adebayo, “The Americanization of African Literature: A History”
Session 2
2-4
Chair: Uri McMillan
2: Sampada Aranke, “The Hammons Effect”
3: Lee Edelman, “The Hole in the Everything Bagel: Queerness, Blackness, and Other Catachreses of Multiversal Non-Singularity”
Reception
4-5.30
Faculty Lounge, 2nd floor, Kaplan Hall
October 4

Session 3
10.30-12.30
Chair: Aditya Bahl
10.30: Patricia Stuelke, “Dark Academia and the New Cultural Front”
11.30 : Francisco Robles, “Poetic Forms, Desert Time, and Desert Movements”
Session 4:
2-4
Chair: Jonathan Grossman
2: Sri Basu McCall, “Revolution’s Racial Masques”
3: Travis Foster, “Too Good to Live: Trans Feminine Children and the Sentimental Death Trap”
4-5.30
Closing Roundtable, led by American Literary History co-editors Russ Castronovo and Yogita Goyal; Assistant Editor Noah Terrell and Managing Editor Elijah Levine

On Land and Across the Sea: Boccaccio’s Other Wor(l)ds. Junctions and Interweavings Conference
2025-10-03 - 2025-10-04 | Royce 314, 10745 Dickson Ct, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
To mark 650 years since Boccaccio’s death, a conference on Boccaccio’s Other Wor(l)ds invites exploration of Boccaccio’s “Other Words” and “Other Worlds.” Boccaccio’s narratives—not limited to the Decameron—vividly depict cultural and intellectual exchanges, emphasizing human behavior, morality, and societal complexities across the Mediterranean and beyond, including Cathay. In the Decameron, the Levant serves as a crucial geographical and cultural reference, highlighting its role as a crossroads of commerce, religion, and cultural interaction. For instance, Nathan’s house in Decameron X.3 is described as being situated at the crossroads “from the West eastward, or from the East westward.” Similarly, in Genealogy of the Pagan Gods, Boccaccio extols the invention of the boat and maritime navigation, celebrating their benefits for humanity. He reflects on the immense advantages of trade and cultural exchanges and how they foster trust and friendships. Boccaccio notes that such interactions enable mutual teaching and learning of languages, bridging geographical distances and overcoming estrangement.
Inspired by Boccaccio’s fascination with other worlds and words, the Conference encourages geocritical approaches to Boccaccio’s works and explores this “hybrid point of connectivity” across society, politics, gender, religion, and economics. It aims to further investigate labor conditions and slavery in the medieval Mediterranean, with particular attention to the art and commerce of textiles and textual weaves. The focus extends from the silent labor of women weaving baskets across the Mediterranean basin to female textile workers in Florence, highlighting references to women’s labor both within and beyond the sea.

Philosophy First-Gen Welcome Party
2025-09-29 17:30 - 19:00 | Royce Hall – Room 306
Monday, September 29, 2025
5:30 – 7:00 PM
Royce Hall 306
RSVP HERE

Come and meet other first-generation Philosophy students, faculty, and staff! Food and beverages will be served.

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Sign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date with future UCLA Philosophy events, conferences, and colloquia!
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ELTS 2025 Fall Open House
2025-09-24 13:00 - 14:00 | CA
Join us to explore all that ELTS has to offer—connect with faculty, your academic counselor, and fellow students, and discover meaningful ways to engage with our vibrant community.

Wednesday, September 24th | 1pm – 2pm | Royce Hall 236

2025-26 Philosophy Department Open House
2025-09-24 12:00 - 14:00 | Hershey Hall Salon (Room 158)
Wednesday, September 24, 2025
12:00 – 2:00 PM
Hershey Hall Salon (Room 158) & Courtyard
RSVP HERE

Please join us on Wednesday, September 24, 2025 from 12:00 – 2:00 PM for the Philosophy Department’s Annual Open House. It will take place at the Hershey Hall Salon (Room 158) & Courtyard. This event is open to current and incoming students.

Enjoy pizza and refreshments as you meet philosophy faculty, staff, and graduate students and learn more about the philosophy department in an informal setting. Students interested in learning more about the philosophy major/minor, philosophy student clubs/organizations, and philosophy courses in general are encouraged to attend!

Join our mailing list!
Sign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date with future UCLA Philosophy events, conferences, and colloquia!
SIGN UP HERE

SLIME 4 (Studies in Language, Information, Meaning and Expression)
2025-09-19 - 2025-09-20 | Royce Hall 314
September 19-20, 2025
Royce Hall 314
RSVP HERE

Please join us for SLIME 4 (Studies in Language, Information, Meaning and Expression), a workshop at UCLA from September 19-20, 2025.

The conference is “pre-view”: recorded talks will be available ahead of time. Discussion is led by a commentator (20 min), followed by replies from the speaker (20 min) and Q+A (60 min). We ask that all attendees view or read the talks prior to the day when they are being discussed.

The most up-to-date schedule and information will be available on the workshop website HERE.

Speakers

Alan Fiske, UCLA Anthropology
Allison (Ari) Koslow, UC Irvine Philosophy
Ellen Lau, University of Maryland Linguistics
Karen Lewis, Barnard/Columbia Philosophy
Thi Nguyen, University of Utah Philosophy, & Ethan Nowak, Stanford Philosophy
Matthew Stone, Rutgers Computer Science

Commentators

Eric Acton, Eastern Michigan English Language & Literature
Idan Asher Blank, UCLA Psychology
Rosa Cao, Stanford Philosophy
Daniel Harris, Hunter College Philosophy/CUNY Graduate Center
Rachel Rudolph, UC San Diego Philosophy
Evan Westra, Purdue Philosophy

Faculty organizers: Joshua Armstrong, Sam Cumming, and Gabriel Greenberg
Events coordinator: Ashna Madni

Workshop Program

Friday, September 19th
10:00 AM – 11:40 AM: Matthew Stone & Una Stojnic, “Meaning in Chatbots: A Critical Approach” / Commentator: Rosa Cao
11:40 AM – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:40 PM: Alan Fiske, “Representations of Social Relationships: Modes of Thought, Means of Coordination” / Commentator: Evan Westra
3:00 PM – 4:40 PM: Karen Lewis, “Gamified Language Games” / Commentator: Dan Harris

Saturday, September 20th
10:00 AM – 11:40 AM: Ellen Lau, “New directions for neurobiology of semantics: mental particulars and long-term knowledge” / Commentator: Idan Asher Blank
11:40 AM – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:40 PM: Ari Koslow, “What conceptual amelioration is good for” / Commentator: Rachel Rudolph
3:00 PM – 4:40 PM: Thi Nguyen & Ethan Nowak, “Slang is better” / Commentator: Eric Acton

RSVP HERE

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Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival: Mozart and Fauré Piano Quartets
2025-08-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Lani Hall, Schoenberg Music Building
The Henry J. Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival is held in Lani Hall, a 133-seat auditorium located in the Schoenberg Music Building on the UCLA campus. All concerts are free of charge, and no reservations are required. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lot 2 is the closest campus parking lot; click here for full details on UCLA visitor parking, including campus parking maps and rates.
This year’s Festival will be livestreamed on the Center’s YouTube Channel. Please subscribe to our channel to be notified when the concerts go live.
Mozart and Fauré Piano Quartets
Zachary Deak, piano
Ambroise Aubrun, violin
Virginie D’Avezac, viola
Sophie Chauvenet, cello
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91)
Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K.493
I. Allegro
II. Larghetto
III. Allegretto
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, op. 15
I. Allegro molto moderato
II. Scherzo, Allegro vivo
III. Adagio
IV. Allegro molto

Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival: From Provence to Florence
2025-08-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Lani Hall, Schoenberg Music Building
The Henry J. Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival is held in Lani Hall, a 133-seat auditorium located in the Schoenberg Music Building on the UCLA campus. All concerts are free of charge, and no reservations are required. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lot 2 is the closest campus parking lot; click here for full details on UCLA visitor parking, including campus parking maps and rates.
This year’s Festival will be livestreamed on the Center’s YouTube Channel. Please subscribe to our channel to be notified when the concerts go live.
Southern Notes: From Provence to Florence
Martin Chalifour, violin
Ambroise Aubrun, violin
Paul Coletti, viola
Kate Hamilton, viola
Charlie Tyler, cello
Gregory Hamilton, cello
Program
Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953)
Sonata for Two Violins in C Major, op. 56
I. Andante cantabile
II. Allegro
III. Commodo (quasi allegretto)
IV. Allegro con brio
Martin Chalifour, Ambroise Aubrun, violins
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–93)
String Sextet in D Minor, op. 70 (“Souvenir de Florence”)
I. Allegro con spirito
II. Adagio cantabile e con moto
III. Allegretto moderato
IV. Allegro con brio e vivace

New Directions in Philosophy of Social Science
2025-08-01 - 2025-08-02 | Royce Hall – Room 306
August 1-2, 2025
Royce Hall 306
RSVP HERE

Please join us on August 1-2, 2025 in Royce Hall 306 for a workshop on New Directions in Philosophy of Social Science.

In recent years, the philosophy of social science has undergone significant transformations, spurred by advances in interdisciplinary research, the growing complexity of social phenomena, and evolving methodologies. This conference seeks to explore these emerging frontiers and chart new directions for the philosophy of social science. By bringing together a diverse group of leading scholars in the field, we aim to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and cultivate innovative approaches to understanding the nature, methods, and aims of social inquiry.

Conference Program
Click to view talk abstracts.

Friday, August 1st
9:00 – 9:30 AM: Coffee & Light Breakfast
9:30 – 10:15 AM: Kareem Khalifa, UCLA: “Philosophy of Social Science: Setting the Agenda”
10:15 – 11:30 AM: Ron Mallon, Washington University in St. Louis: “The Resilience of Social Forms”
11:30 – 11:45 AM: Break
11:45 AM – 1:00 PM: Cailin O’Connor, UC Irvine: “When is a Science not Really a Science?”
1:00 – 2:00 PM: Lunch
2:00 – 3:15 PM: Jennifer Jhun, Duke University: “Revisiting the Question of Reduction in Economics”
3:15 – 3:30 PM: Break
3:30 – 4:45 PM: Paul A. Roth, UC Santa Cruz: “Curbing Narrative Anxiety: Analytical Philosophy of History and the Norming of Narrative”

Saturday, August 2nd
9:30 – 10:00 AM: Coffee & Light Breakfast
10:00 – 11:15 AM: Jonathan Y. Tsou, University of Texas at Dallas: “Cross-Cultural Human Kinds and the Naturalness of Social Categories”
11:15 – 11:30 AM: Break
11:30 AM – 12:45 PM: David Henderson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln: “Doing the Same Thing? Beating around the Bush.”
12:45 – 2:00 PM: Lunch
2:00 – 3:15 PM: Mark Risjord, Emory University: “Closing the Gap of Inductive Risk: An Argument for Inquisitive Impartiality”
3:15 – 3:30 PM: Break
3:30 – 4:45 PM: Armin Schulz, University of Kansas: “Agency: The Case for an Eliminative Pluralism”

Download Conference Program

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Sign up for our mailing list to stay up-to-date with future UCLA Philosophy events, conferences, and colloquia!
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Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival: Strings and Keys
2025-07-31 12:00 - 13:00 | Lani Hall, Schoenberg Music Building
The Henry J. Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival is held in Lani Hall, a 133-seat auditorium located in the Schoenberg Music Building on the UCLA campus. All concerts are free of charge, and no reservations are required. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lot 2 is the closest campus parking lot; click here for full details on UCLA visitor parking, including campus parking maps and rates.
This year’s Festival will be livestreamed on the Center’s YouTube Channel. Please subscribe to our channel to be notified when the concerts go live.
Strings and Keys: A University of Utah Faculty Recital
Michael Kaufmann, cello
Steven Vanhauwaert, piano
Program
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Sonata for Cello and Piano, L. 135
I. Prologue
II. Sérénade
III. Finale
Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979)
Trois Pièces for Cello and Piano
I. Modéré
II. Sans vitesse et à l’aise
III. Vite et nerveusement rythmé
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924)
Élégie, op. 24
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Pièce en Forme de Habañera, M. 51
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, op. 32
I. Allegro
II. Andante tranquillo e sostenuto
III. Allegro moderato

Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival: Webern Quartet
2025-07-29 12:00 - 13:00 | Lani Hall, Schoenberg Music Building
The Henry J. Bruman Summer Chamber Music Festival is held in Lani Hall, a 133-seat auditorium located in the Schoenberg Music Building on the UCLA campus. All concerts are free of charge, and no reservations are required. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lot 2 is the closest campus parking lot; click here for full details on UCLA visitor parking, including campus parking maps and rates.
This year’s Festival will be livestreamed on the Center’s YouTube Channel. Please subscribe to our channel to be notified when the concerts go live.

Founded in Los Angeles in 2022, the Webern Quartet has been featured in The New Yorker, where they were praised as having “found the through line of Schoenberg’s personality.”
The Webern Quartet chose the name of Anton Webern, former student of Arnold Schoenberg, whose important string quartet oeuvre has been the starting point of the quartet. Next to their dedication to the works of the composers from the Second Viennese School, the Webern Quartet is known for its committed and intimate interpretations of works from the classical repertoire to newly written music.
In 2023, the Webern Quartet held an extensive residency at the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna where they performed the complete Schoenberg quartets at two concerts on the same day. Through their work in Vienna with Henk Guittart of the Schoenberg Quartet (which in its time coached with Eugene Lehner of the renowned Kolisch Quartet, Schoenberg’s preferred performers), the Webern Quartet is privileged to honor and continue an interpretive tradition of these quartets.
The quartet’s members are from Italy, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S.
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–91)
Quartet in F Major No. 23, K. 590
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante/Allegretto
III. Menuetto: Allegretto – Trio
IV. Allegro
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
String Quartet in F Major
I. Allegro moderato – très doux
II. Assez vif – très rythmé
III. Très lent
IV. Vif et agité
Webern Quartet
Benjamin Hoffman, violin
Chiai Tajima, violin
Alex Granger, viola
Stella Cho, cello

AI Ethics for Humanities and Social Science
2025-07-07 10:00 - 12:00 | CA
Monday, July 7, 2025, 10 a.m. – 12 noon, Hybrid Event
This follow-up to the previous “Introduction to AI/ML/LLM for Humanities and Social Science” workshop builds upon the skills and techniques of using and implementing AI to discuss the technology’s social, ethical, and political ramifications, along with guidelines to using AI for research and teaching.
The workshop will address critical ethical concerns surrounding AI, including bias, the network effects of dis- and misinformation, and the authenticity of historical records and provide illustrative use case examples. Discussions will highlight issues of fairness, intellectual property, and academic integrity, drawing from key scholarship in algorithmic ethics and data justice.
By the end of the session, participants will gain a foundational understanding of AI’s role in the humanities, along with practical tools and frameworks for critically engaging with these technologies in their own research and teaching. The workshop will devote significant time to group discussion, where participants’ specific concerns and questions about the ethical and practical use of AI can be addressed.
Participants are also encouraged to reach out to the workshop organizers in advance with any questions or topics of interest, which will be integrated into the workshop.
Hybrid Workshop (OARC Portal and Zoom):

In-person: Math Sciences 5628
Zoom: Link will be emailed to you

Follow this link to register.

Humanities Division Commencement
2025-06-14 13:00 - 14:30 | Royce Hall, 10945 Dickson Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, United States
Saturday, June 14, 2025, 1 p.m., Royce Hall
Join us in historic Royce Hall as we celebrate this year’s graduating students from across the Humanities Division.
Our distinguished commencement speaker be Carribean Fragoza, award-winning author, journalist, editor, artist and teacher. Fragoza earned degrees in comparative literature and Chicana and Chicano studies from UCLA in 2003. She is the author of the short story collection “Eat the Mouth That Feeds You” (2021) and “Writing Home: New Terrains of California” (2024) a collection of essays. (Read more about Carribean Fragoza here.)
The Humanities Division ceremony is for 2025 graduates in the following departments and programs: Art History; Asian Languages and Cultures; Classics; Comparative Literature; Digital Humanities; European Languages and Transcultural Studies; Near Eastern Languages and Cultures; Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures; the Study of Religion IDP; and Spanish & Portuguese.
Please note that the English Department (Sunday, June 15, 2025, 2 p.m., Dickson Court North), Linguistics Department (Sunday, June 15, 2025, 5:30 p.m., Royce Hall) and Philosophy Department (Saturday, June 14, 2025, 3:30 p.m., Royce Hall) each have their own departmental ceremonies.
For complete information about the Humanities Commencement, including ticket information, event guidelines and eligibility, please visit the Humanities Division Commencement page.
For information about UCLA College Commencement, visit the College Commencement page.

Clark Library Nature and Garden Festival
2025-05-31 11:00 - 14:00 | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90018, United States
The Clark Library preserves and provides access to over 130,000 books, manuscripts, and artworks dating from the 15th century to the present. But there is a library of living things on the five acres outside the library’s building, too, and this event will celebrate the urban nature and green spaces at the Clark – and across LA!
Attendees can get garden advice from an expert UC Master Gardener, go on bird walks with experienced guides from UCLA’s Bruin Birding Club, and learn more about how people thought and learned about gardens and wild creatures in the 1700s through rare books on display inside the historic library building. Attendees will also be able to make their own field notebooks, participate in a Clark Library Biodiversity survey on iNaturalist to help expand our knowledge of the library’s outdoor collections, plant seeds to take home from our heirloom seed library, trade plant cuttings and seeds with other attendees – and more!
All ages are welcome! Registration is free, but limited; please fill out the form below. Guests are welcome to bring a lunch and picnic on the Clark grounds, and to explore all of the day’s activities at their own pace. The Clark can be reached via LA Metro and LADOT Dash public transit, and free parking and bike racks are available on site; please see here for more information and directions.

Writing Your Future: Careers and Pathways for Writers
2025-05-28 14:00 - 15:30 | CA
Join us for a conversation with professionals from diverse fields who will share their career journeys—from the challenges and rewards of making a living as a writer to finding fulfilling work that keeps writing at the center. Whether you’re on a traditional career path or wondering how to build a life around writing, this discussion will offer valuable insights into the many professional opportunities available to strong communicators. Bring your questions and learn how to turn your writing skills into a rewarding career after graduation.
Panelists:
LaShea Delaney, Freelance Writer, Theatermaker, Wine Pro
Jeffrey Janis, UCLA Peace Corps Campus Recruiter and Returned Volunteer (Ukraine)
Willa Needham, Communications Specialist, UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (and UCLA alumna, class of 2024)
Carolyn Nelson Rowan, J.D., Editor-in-Chief & Practicing Attorney, Miller Starr Regalia
Week 9, Wednesday
May 28, 2025
2:00 – 3:30 pm
193 Kaplan Hall
This event is free and open to Professional Writing minors and other interested students.
Organized by UCLA Writing Programs’ Sp25 ECM185 instructors with grant support from the Teaching & Learning Center; for more information: wpinfo@humnet.ucla.edu.

Works-in-Progress Session: Earth and Exchange: Tapia and the Construction of Early Modern Iberia
2025-05-28 11:00 - 12:00 | CA
Presented by Rachel Schloss, Doctoral Candidate, University of California, Los Angeles

Hosted by the Early Modern Research Group
Online event via Zoom
To register, please visit: https://ucla.zoom.us/meeting/register/qHytTYlcTiiINu5XzDQiew

Earthen materials have played a critical role in political and social development on the Iberian Peninsula. The unique geology of the Peninsula harbors rich soils, minerals, and clays that have featured in the built environment and material culture of diverse peoples and practices across the region up to the present: Spain and Portugal together are two of the world’s largest exporters of ceramics. Iberian earthen architectural traditions are part of this suite of practices, but their deep importance to cultural and political realities is underexplored.
In this presentation, Rachel Schloss analyzes the social, cultural, and technological history of tapia, a system of rammed-earth building utilized on the Iberian Peninsula from the 11th to 17th centuries CE, from which impressive large-scale structures were built, including the Alhambra in Granada. In particular, Schloss considers how the shifts and changes in the material and construction technology over time were underwritten by political developments and exchange of knowledge as well as shifting relationships with the environment and the earth. As tapia originated in the Near East, Schloss reflects on the question: Is there such a thing as Iberian tapia? Finally, by understanding tapia as a means to sculpt the Iberian built landscape out of earth, Schloss demonstrates how the technology tells a story of the construction of Early Modern Iberian identity into the age of conquest, where Iberians exported earthen practices and values to new places.
Rachel Schloss is a doctoral candidate in the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, where she studies early modern Andean and Iberian earthen practices, and their roles in shaping built environments and the construction of Inca history. In her doctoral research, Schloss combines methods from Archaeology, Art and Architectural History, Indigenous Studies, and Geology. Additionally, Schloss co-coordinates the Architecture Lab and Architecture Working Group at UCLA. Her research has been supported by UCLA’s Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies, Latin American Institute, Cotsen Institute, and the Division of Graduate Education, and by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Vernacular Architecture Forum.
