Forum on the Humanities and the Public World

The Townsend Center’s Forum on the Humanities and the Public World presents eminent artists, political leaders, writers and scholars, each representing a unique discipline, viewpoint, and medium. The series brings the humanities into dialogue with the critical issues at play in the public sphere. The Townsend Center at UC Berkeley has a long and distinguished tradition of humanistic scholarship, open dialogue, and pioneering innovation in the humanities. It is in this spirit that the Forum on the Humanities and the Public World presents leading figures from the academic and public worlds in settings designed for scholars and for the public at large.

2009-2010 Forum 

Richard Sennett, Sociologist
“The Decline of the Skills Society”

Friday, December 4, 2009
4:00 pm | Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall

A renowned social critic known best for his studies of class and urban society, Richard Sennett is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, the Bemis Adjunct Professor of Sociology at MIT, and Professor of the Humanities at New York University. His scholarship focuses on social inequality, the effects of urban growth on the individual, and the interconnection between authority, modernism and public life. Professor Sennett has been described as “one of the great urban enthusiasts of our age.”

Click here for more information about Richard Sennett.

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Phillip Lopate, Essayist
"Notes on Sontag"

Thursday, March 4, 2010
5:00 pm | Location TBD

Widely considered one of the foremost American essayists and a central figure in the recent revival of interest in memoir writing, Phillip Lopate is best known for his supple and surprising essays, which have been collected most recently in Getting Personal: Selected Writings. Lopate’s work has also been included in The Best American Essays and The Pushcart Prize series.

Click here for more information about Phillip Lopate.

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Terry Eagleton, Literary Critic
"The Death of Criticism?"

Monday, April 5, 2010

One of Britain’s most influential literary critics, Terry Eagleton is Distinguished Professor of English Literature at the University of Lancaster, and a Visiting Professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway. In addition to his widely known Literary Theory: An Introduction, Professor Eagleton is the author of over forty books, including The Ideology of the Aesthetic, and The Illusions of Postmodernism.

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Kelly Oliver, Philosopher
"Women: Secret Weapons of Modern Warfare?"

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
5:00 pm | Maude Fife Room, 315 Wheeler Hall

Kelly Oliver is W. Alton Jones Chair of Philosophy and Professor of Women's Studies at Vanderbilt University. Her latest book, Women as Weapons of War: Iraq, Sex and the Media analyzes how women and their bodies (from the female soldiers involved in Abu Ghraib to Palestinian women suicide bombers) have become powerful weapons in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Professor Oliver is also the author of a number of other books, including, Noir Anxiety: Race, Sex and Maternity in Film Noir, Subjectivity Without Subjects, and Womanizing Nietzsche: Philosophy's Relation to the "Feminine."

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Garrick Ohlsson, Pianist

Monday, May 10, 2010

Winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson is regarded as one of the world’s leading performers of the music of Frédéric Chopin. He is also noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. In his 2009-2010 season, Mr. Ohlsson will perform with the New York Philharmonic, the BBC Scottish Symphony, and the St. Petersburg Philarmonic, as well as the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Vancouver, Indianapolis, San Diego, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Baltimore.