CLA 135: Greek and Roman Mythology with Tedd Higgs
The Greek myths studied both from the standpoint of their meaning to the Greeks and Romans and from the standpoint of their use in later literature and in everyday life.
CLA 261: Masterpieces of Greek and Roman Literature with Ted Higgs
A survey of major Greek and Roman literary works. Attention will be focused on the various genres of Classical literature, and the course will include comparative analysis of Greek and Latin literary pieces.
Kentucky Foreign Language Conference
One of the scholarly highlights of campus life is around the corner: the 65th Annual Kentucky Foreign Language Conference, April 19-21.Take advantage of the speakers and panels, and exhibitions and energy, that the conference brings to campus. http://web.as.uky.edu/kflc/ for a full list http://web.as.uky.edu/kflc/mobile/schedule.html on a portable device.
Date:
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Location:
on campus
Event Series:
Ten UK Scholars Awarded Gaines Fellowships
The Gaines Center for the Humanities has selected 10 new UK scholars from a diverse group of studies for the Gaines Fellowship Program. 7 of 10 new Gaines Fellows are A&S students!
Classics Graduate Student Awarded Fellowship to Study in Athens, Greece
Congratulations are in order for graduate student Jonathan Meyer who has been awarded a fellowship to attend The American School of Classical Studies at Athens next year. Meyer, a Master’s student in the UK Classics Department, will spend the 2012-2013 school year in Greece studying the history and culture of ancient Greece and the Hellenic world.
Japanese Bluegrass Sound Comes to Kentucky
Tsugaru shamisen musicians Oyama x Nitta will present a concert at UK on April 1 as part of the Kentucky Cherry Blossom Festival. Yutaka Oyama and Masahiro Nitta are known for using the Tsugaru shamisen instrument to bring a modern sensibility to ancient, highly percussive folk music sometimes referred to as "Japanese bluegrass."
Ghost Stories and Humorous Anecdotes Told By Professional Kentucky Servants
WHAT: Ghost Stories adn Humorous Anecdotes Told by Professional Kentucky Servants (Doctors, lawyers, School Teachers, Sheriffs)
WHO: Lynwood Montell
WHEN: Tuesday, March 27, 2:00p.m. - 3:30p.m.
WHERE: Student Center Room 230
Open to the public, refreshments will be served. Sponsored by the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
About the Lynwood Montell:
Professor Montell appears courtesy of the Kentucky Humanities Council.
William Lynwood Montell taught at Western Kentucky University from 1969 to 1999. He is the author of 27 books, including Saga of Coe Ridge, Ghosts Along the Cumberlands, Don't Go Up Kettle Creek, and Singing the Glory Down. He no longer teaches university classes, but continues writing books and doing lectures and storytelling presentations. For many years he has been featured as one of the statewide speakers sponsored by the Kentucky Humanities Council. Since his retirement he has published Ghosts Across Kentucky (2000), Haunted Houses and Family Ghosts of Kentucky (2001), Tales From Kentucky Lawyers (2003); Tales From Tennessee Lawyers (2005); Reminisces and Reflections: African American in the Kentucky-Tennessee Upper Cumberland Since the Civil War (with Wali Kharif, 2005); Grassroots Music in the Upper Cumberland (2006); Tales from Kentucky Doctors (2008); Civil War in the Kentucky-Tennessee Upper Cumberland (2008) and Tales from Kentucky Funeral Directors (2008).
In the summer of 2001, Professor Montell was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, located in Renfro Valley, Kentucky, and in March 2003, he received the Governor's Arts Award in the folk Heritage category, an award based on the books he has written that focus on local life and culture. In his words, 'As I tell people, I could care less writing about kings, queens, and presidents, I write about local culture, life, and times as described by persons whom I interview during the research/writing process.'
Date:
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Location:
Student Center 230
A Question of Time: Apollonius' Argonautica and the Jubilee of Ptolemy III and Euergetes I
The Division of Classics of the Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures, & Cultures presents "A Questions of Time: Apollonius' Argonautica and the Jubilee of Ptolemy III and Euergetes I", a lecture by Jackie Murray, Assistant Professor of Classics at Skidmore College.
WHEN: Monday April 9, noon
Download the flyer
About the speaker
Prof. Murray's current research focuses on the 3rd-century BCE author Apollonius Rhodius of Alexandria. Apollonius' epic poem, Argonautica, traces the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the golden fleece. In the course of the poem, Apollonius is careful to let his readers know how much time has passed, by references to astronomical bodies taken from the skies of the time of his writing. With this information and the aid of records of ancient astronomical observations and modern planetarium software, it is possible to find a year matching the astronomical events described in the poem. The year turns out to be 238 BCE, the jubilee year of the Egyptian king Ptolemy Euergetes, and the year he introduced the first official 365.25 day calendar. With its detailed attention to time and the study of the heavens, Apollonius’ poem, can be seen as a tribute to Ptolemy’s calendar and the astronomical science required to create it.
Prof. Murray attended the University of Guelph, the University of Western Ontario, and holds her Ph.D. from the University of Washington. She currently holds the Andrew Heiskell/National Endowment for the Humanities Post-Doctoral Rome Prize at the American Academy in Rome. She has also held an NEH Fellowship in the Institute for Enabling Geospatial Scholarship and at the UCLA Summer Instituteon Models of Ancient Rome, and participated in the Mellon Faculty Seminar and University of Venice Advanced Seminar in Ancient Mediterranean Literature. She is the author of numerous articles on Hellenistic literature, and is currently completing a book entitled Anchoring Apollonius’ Argonautica in Time.
Date:
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Location:
Student Center Room 211
Oyama and NItta Japanese Shamisen Performance
The Oyama and Nitta duo, known for their exquisite and powerful music performance with Tsugaru Shamisen (a banjo-like Japanese instrument), will come to the University of Kentucky’s Memorial Hall from Japan to hold a concert at 3 pm on Sunday, April 1. This is a kick-off event to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the gift of cherry blossom trees from Japan to the US. Tickets for this concert are now available at the Student Center ticket office: http://getinvolved.uky.edu/TicketOffice/ticketInfo.html Tickets are $10 for the general audience and $5 for students. You can buy them by phone or in person at the student center.
You can watch their sample performance here. Download the flyer.
About the Artists
The Oyama x Nitta Duo is comprised of two of Japan’s foremost shamisen performers, Yutaka Oyama and Masahiro Nitta. Using a creative and innovative approach to the traditional sounds of the shamisen, the duo performs classic and original scores with virtuosic improvisations that display the versatility of the instrument. With roots in Aomori and Hokkaido respectively, Oyama and Nitta both began studying the shamisen at an early age and have won numerous tsugaru shamisen contests in Japan. Oyama x Nitta Duo performs regularly in Japan and abroad, delivering its unique sound to audiences throughout the world.
Yutaka Oyama, a third generation Tsugaru shamisen player of the Oyama school, hails from Aomori—the epicenter of rich folkloric music. Oyama is a two-time winner (2001, 2002) of the National Folkloric Music Association’s Tsugaru Shamisen Contest in Japan, and has visited many countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia as part of cultural exchange programs of the Japan Foundation which contribute to the popularization of Japanese culture. In addition to live performances, he has recorded albums, commercials, and video game software. In 2003, he formed the group Soothe for Tsugaru shamisen, Japanese taiko, guitar, bass, and drum. The ensemble has released three albums: Soothing (2004), Habitual (2006), and Bolinho De Arroz (2009).
Masahiro Nitta is a second-generation Tsugaru shamisen player of the Nitta school who began his studies at the age of 14 with the encouragement of his father Hiroshi Nitta. Nitta won the Tokyo National Tsugaru Shamisen Championship, Junior and Senior High School Division, and went on to win the Kanagi National Tsugaru Shamisen Championship twice (2000, 2001), as well as the National Tsugaru Shamisen Contest (2002). He has recorded several albums, including Shamisen Kid, which he released in 2000 while still in high school. Nitta has performed with a number of celebrated musicians including his father, Minneapolis-based guitarist Dean Magraw, the Monsters of Shamisen with Californian shamisen players Kevin Kmetz and Mike Penny, and the Esoragoto Band, which includes Japanese taiko, bass and saxophone. Nitta has toured extensively throughout Asia, Europe, and the US.
Date:
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Location:
Memorial Hall
Lecture to Discuss Arab World Revolutions
The revolutions throughout Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other nations in the Arab world have inspired earnest debate among experts. UK experts will discuss related topics this Friday.