Humanities

New Book Salon Book Talk by Roberta Morosini

What does a flying bull with a half moon on its belly in Filippino Lippi’s 1502 painting, the Adoration of the Golden Calf, have in common with Muhammad, as a character of Dante’s Comedy? This is the question that Roberta Morosini tries to answer by following the journey of a legend traveling in the Oriental Mediterranean. She argues that what Lippis’s painting and Dante’s Muhammad have in common is a legend of a celestial delivery of the “bull law,” the Qur’an and Moses’s Tablets of the Law. Just as Moses received the Tablets of the Law from God on Mount…

William and Lois Matthews Samuel Pepys Lecture by Carla Pestana

Striving for Expertise Guest Speaker: Carla Pestana (UCLA) Scholars often refer to Samuel Pepys as an early example of a state bureaucrat, his career as a civil servant in the burgeoning Restoration bureaucracy offering documentation of an important shift in governance. Of equal note—and perhaps greater interest—is the way Pepys himself aimed for expertise. Not content to serve as a cog in a larger bureaucratic machine, Pepys sought to educate himself about the workings of the navy and of sailing ships, going beyond the demands of his own office to achieve a deeper understanding. In doing so, he once again…

Richard & Mary Rouse History of the Book Lecture by Kristina Richardson

“Between Two Worlds: The Roma and Early Global Print Cultures” Guest Speaker: Kristina Richardson (University of Virginia) Richardson will show that Roma and other traveling people not only utilized block printing between 800 and 1450 in North Africa and West Asia but also introduced print technology in their new homes when they migrated to Central Europe in the 1410s. Traveling people were the links bridging the early print cultures of North Africa, West Asia, and Central Europe. Kristina Richardson is the John L. Nau Professor of History at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on premodern non-elite Arab history,…

Bilingual Lecture Series: Film Screening and Director Q&A

Bilingual Lecture Series: Film Screening and Director Q&A with Mohammad Ehsani Alternate live stream on Zoom: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/95549537236 The Water Will Take Us (2022) (Persian with English subtitles) In the spring of 2019 Iran experienced a near apocalypse event that went by almost unnoticed by the world. Widespread flash flooding affected large parts of the country over the course of one month, leading to major damages countrywide and leaving the already impoverished population in utter disarray. The film is a look at how years of mismanagement, poor spatial planning and climate change are impacting civil society in Iran. Lady Urmia (2013)…

USC-UCLA Graduate Conference in Philosophy

April 5, 2025 USC Join us for the 2025 USC-UCLA Graduate Student Conference in Philosophy happening on April 5, 2025 at USC! The USC-UCLA Graduate Student Conference began in 2006. Each year, the graduate students of the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles solicit high-quality papers in all areas of philosophy from graduate students studying at other departments to be presented at the annual conference. For more information, please visit the Conference Home Page. Conference program coming soon. For any questions, please contact the conference organizers at <uscucla.conference@gmail.com>

What is this thing called Mau Mau? The “Storm in Kenya” in Global Perspectives

A Talk by Christian David Alvarado Kaplan Hall Room #348 5:00-8:00 PM var gform;gform||(document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),document.addEventListener(“gform/theme/scripts_loaded”,function(){gform.themeScriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,themeScriptsLoaded:!1,isFormEditor:()=>”function”==typeof InitializeEditor,callIfLoaded:function(o){return!(!gform.domLoaded||!gform.scriptsLoaded||!gform.themeScriptsLoaded&&!gform.isFormEditor()||(gform.isFormEditor()&&console.warn(“The use of gform.initializeOnLoaded() is deprecated in the form editor context and will be removed in Gravity Forms 3.1.”),o(),0))},initializeOnLoaded:function(o){gform.callIfLoaded(o)||(document.addEventListener(“gform_main_scripts_loaded”,()=>{gform.scriptsLoaded=!0,gform.callIfLoaded(o)}),document.addEventListener(“gform/theme/scripts_loaded”,()=>{gform.themeScriptsLoaded=!0,gform.callIfLoaded(o)}),window.addEventListener(“DOMContentLoaded”,()=>{gform.domLoaded=!0,gform.callIfLoaded(o)}))},hooks:{action:{},filter:{}},addAction:function(o,r,e,t){gform.addHook(“action”,o,r,e,t)},addFilter:function(o,r,e,t){gform.addHook(“filter”,o,r,e,t)},doAction:function(o){gform.doHook(“action”,o,arguments)},applyFilters:function(o){return gform.doHook(“filter”,o,arguments)},removeAction:function(o,r){gform.removeHook(“action”,o,r)},removeFilter:function(o,r,e){gform.removeHook(“filter”,o,r,e)},addHook:function(o,r,e,t,n){null==gform.hooks[o][r]&&(gform.hooks[o][r]=[]);var d=gform.hooks[o][r];null==n&&(n=r+”_”+d.length),gform.hooks[o][r].push({tag:n,callable:e,priority:t=null==t?10:t})},doHook:function(r,o,e){var t;if(e=Array.prototype.slice.call(e,1),null!=gform.hooks[r][o]&&((o=gform.hooks[r][o]).sort(function(o,r){return o.priority-r.priority}),o.forEach(function(o){“function”!=typeof(t=o.callable)&&(t=window[t]),”action”==r?t.apply(null,e):e[0]=t.apply(null,e)})),”filter”==r)return e[0]},removeHook:function(o,r,t,n){var e;null!=gform.hooks[o][r]&&(e=(e=gform.hooks[o][r]).filter(function(o,r,e){return!!(null!=n&&n!=o.tag||null!=t&&t!=o.priority)}),gform.hooks[o][r]=e)}}); RSVP Name(Required) First Last Email(Required) Enter Email Confirm Email Affiliation(Required) UCLA Comparative Literature undergraduate studentUCLA undergraduate student elsewhereUCLA Comparative Literature graduate studentUCLA graduate student elsewhereUCLA facultyUCLA staffcampus visitor /* = 0;if(!is_postback){return;}var form_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_wrapper_25’);var is_confirmation = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_confirmation_wrapper_25’).length > 0;var is_redirect = contents.indexOf(‘gformRedirect(){‘) >= 0;var is_form = form_content.length > 0 && ! is_redirect && ! is_confirmation;var mt = parseInt(jQuery(‘html’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + parseInt(jQuery(‘body’).css(‘margin-top’),…

“The Same Frame of Mind, but a Different Villain”: Conspiracist Narratology and the Decolonization of Africa

A workshop with Christian David Alvarado KAPLAN HALL ROOM #348 1:00-2:30pm Workshop 2:30-3:00pm Reception This workshop is open to UCLA Comparative Literature graduate students, UCLA English graduate students, and UCLA African Studies Center students. RSVP Name(Required) First Last Email(Required) Enter Email Confirm Email Affiliation(Required) UCLA Comparative Literature graduate studentUCLA English graduate studentUCLA African Studies Center studentUCLA facultyUCLA staff /* = 0;if(!is_postback){return;}var form_content = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_wrapper_26’);var is_confirmation = jQuery(this).contents().find(‘#gform_confirmation_wrapper_26’).length > 0;var is_redirect = contents.indexOf(‘gformRedirect(){‘) >= 0;var is_form = form_content.length > 0 && ! is_redirect && ! is_confirmation;var mt = parseInt(jQuery(‘html’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + parseInt(jQuery(‘body’).css(‘margin-top’), 10) + 100;if(is_form){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_26’).html(form_content.html());if(form_content.hasClass(‘gform_validation_error’)){jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_26’).addClass(‘gform_validation_error’);} else {jQuery(‘#gform_wrapper_26’).removeClass(‘gform_validation_error’);}setTimeout( function() { /*…

HPASS: Kathleen Creel, Northeastern University

February 26, 2025 | 5:00PM – 7:00PM Dodd Hall 248 & Zoom RSVP HERE Join us on Wednesday, February 26, 2025 in Dodd Hall 248 for a talk by Kathleen Creel, Northeastern University, as part of the History, Philosophy, and Science of Science (HPASS) speaker series. Talk title, abstract, and speaker bio coming soon. RSVP HERE 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

The Bible in Its Ancient Iranian Context

March 13-14, 2025 | 306 & 314 Royce Hall UCLA An International Conference Convened by: M. Rahim Shayegan, UCLA William Schniedewind, UCLA Catherine Bonesho, UCLA Co-sponsored by: The Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World The Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies Zoom Webinar Link Download the Conference Program Although there has been renewed interest in the Persian period in biblical scholarship, the profound impact of the ancient Iranian world on the biblical books of Esther and Daniel has often been taken for granted. From their dynamic portraits of foreign kings and Jewish communities in the imperial…

Fighting Antisemitism and Preserving the Memory of the Holocaust: Advances in Greece and Europe? By Leon Saltiel

Fighting Antisemitism and Preserving the Memory of the Holocaust: Advances in Greece and Europe? Lecture by Leon Saltiel, Director of Diplomacy, Representative at UN Geneva and UNESCO, and Coordinator on Countering Antisemitism for the World Jewish Congress Sunday, February 2, 2025 4:00 p.m. The Harry and Yvonne Lenart Auditorium, The Fowler Museum at UCLA Reception to follow Introductory remarks by The Honorable Christina Valassopoulou, Consul General of Greece in Los Angeles Event is free but advanced registration is requested. RSVP: https://forms.gle/qeSd5APvr7EewWAG6 If you are unable to attend but would like to watch the lecture via livestream on our YouTube channel, the link is…