The Suppressed Desires of Mabel Dodge Luhan: Sex, Syphilis, and Psychoanalysis in the Making of Modern American Culture
Lois Rudnick
Lois Rudnick is professor emerita of American Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, where she taught American literature and culture for 36 years, 26 of which she chaired the American Studies Department. She has published numerous books and articles on modern American culture, and the artists and writers colonies of Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, including her multiple award winning Utopian Vistas: The Mabel Dodge Luhan House and the American Counterculture (1996).
This talk is sponsored by the American Studies Program and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program
We invite you to a very special theatrical event sponsored by the American Studies Program: a full-scale performance of a wonderful documentary play written last spring by the students of Professor Joyce Antler’s Theater As History class, entitled When Rebellion Becomes Revolution: A Play of Protest, Murder, Denial and Atonement. It will be performed again this month as part of ‘DEIS/Impact week: Exploring Social Justice on Campus, in Waltham, and Around the World.
Admission is free, but a full house is expected.
Here are the details:
When Rebellion Becomes Revolution: A Play of Protest, Murder, Denial and Atonement
8 pm, Friday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb.9
3 pm, Sunday, Feb.10 TALK-BACK FOLLOWING THE PERFORMANCE
Schwartz Hall Auditorium
Brandeis Campus, 1970: Students Susan Saxe and Kathy Power catapult to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List through their anti-Vietnam War actions. Fifteen actors portray 53-plus historical characters in this original documentary play about a critical moment in Brandeis history. The play was written by Brandeis students in Professor Joyce Antler’s “History as Theater” class in 2012.
Sponsored by Free Play Theatre Cooperative, American Studies Program
For more information: Julian Seltzer (julianseltzer@gmail.com)
Some comments on last spring’s reading:
*I was dazzled. Thank you for a magnificent, powerful, intense, unforgettable experience. The play made me even prouder of Brandeis, with all its complexities.
*SPECTACULAR!!! An amazing accomplishment.
*It was one of my favorite Brandeis events ever. A perfect night. So moving and meaningful.
In Spring 2012 Joyce Antler’s History as Theater class wrote the play “When Rebellion Becomes Revolution” and gave a dramatic reading in the International Room, with more than 70 people in attendance and rave reviews. The play lives on and will be part of ‘DEISImpact in February 2013; performance dates are February 8 and 9 and 8 p.m. and February 10 at 3 p.m..
Auditions for roles will be held on Wednesday, 11/28 and Thursday, 11/29 in Luria from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. For more information, please email julianseltzer@gmail.com
When Rebellion Becomes Revolution is presented by the Free Play Theatre Cooperative, the American Studies Program, and ‘DEISImpact.
The American Studies Program invites you to “Heroes, With and Without Capes: The Creators of Superman and Batman” with Marc Tyler Nobleman ’94, author of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman and Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman
As seen in Forbes and USA Today, and heard on MTV, TED and NPR’s All Things Considered.
Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster co-created Superman and writer Bill Finger was the main mind behind Batman. Yet Siegel and Shuster lived in poverty and anonymity for almost 30 years while Finger died poor and nearly forgotten.
Author Marc Tyler Nobleman (Brandeis ’94) reveals the startling tragedies behind the creators of two worldwide icons.
Thursday, November 8, 4 p.m.
Mandel Reading Room, 303
Light refreshments will be served.
This event has been sponsored by the Martin Weiner Lecture Series.
President Lawrence and Provost Goldstein hosted a luncheon on October 10 to honor faculty who have given 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 years of service to Brandeis University.
The following are new courses from the social sciences at Brandeis for Spring 2013:
AMST 123B — Interfaith, Interethnic, Interracial America
Focuses on how religion, ethnicity, and race contributed to maintaining group separatism at some early points in American history and intersected to create a unified national identity at others. Special one-time offering, spring 2013.
Ms. McGinity
ECON 173A — Central Banking: Theory and Policy
Studies the purposes and functions of central banks over time and the challenges they confront. Examines central banks’ roles in the recent financial crisis and explores current debates over the policies that central banks are following in its aftermath.
Ms. Browne
ED 150A — Politics of Education
This course examines key policy debates in the field of education with implications on social inequities and democratic participation at the federal, state and district levels through the use of sociological and political science theories, and public policy models. Special one-time offering, spring 2013.
Mr. Tamir.
ED 163B — Creativity and Caring
Explores “creativity” and “caring,” significant human capacities, and their relationship. Drawing on developmental and social psychology, we ask: How do they develop? What affects our being creative and caring? How can educators promote these?
Mr. Reimer
HIST 136B — Project Colony
Takes students through the role of English investors trying to establish an early American colony. Periodic “dispatches” from the field, supplemented by research into other colonial projects, will give students an insider’s perspective on the dawn of American colonization. Special one-time offering, spring 2013.
Mr. DeCoster
HIST 143B — European Imperialism, 1870-1914
Explores the imperial sentiments and actions that increasingly colored the political, economic, social, and cultural dynamics of Europe before WWI, and which left a lasting legacy not only for Europe but for the wider world. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Hopper
HIST 167b American Indian History
Students will learn about broad patterns of continuity and change in American Indian history over the past 500 years. They will also conduct in-depth research into several significant encounters between Indians and Euro-Americans. Special one-time offering, spring 2013.
Mr. DeCoster
IGS 170A — The Rise of Brazil
Examines how Brazil now wields global influence in energy, South-South politics, culture and environmental affairs. This course looks at key elements – from the favela to high finance, carnvial to Candomblé – that make up one of the world’s most dynamic societies. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Lino e Silva
LGLS 123B — Immigration and Human Rights
Examines American immigration policy in the context of international human rights treaties and global practices. Practical exercises highlight social and cultural controversies surrounding refugee status and asylum seeking. Explores tensions between domestic politics and international law in guiding immigration reform. Usually offered every second year.
Mr. Smith
LGLS 142B — Law and Psychology
Examines a psychological perspective on the behavior of key players in the legal system, focusing on the trial process–both criminal and civil (personal injury). Explores the tension between human behavior and legal ideals of objectivity, based on current research, emphasizing biases leading to miscarriages of justice. Includes video analysis of jury behavior and courtroom advocacy. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Kabrhel
POL 135b Politics of Islamic Resurgence
Studies the impact of Islamic resurgence on international and intra-national politics. Islamic movements in comparative perspective with special emphasis on cases of Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Britain and France.
Ms. Bellin
PSYC 142A — Sport Psychology: A Health Psychology Perspective
Applies health psychology to topics central to sport psychology and relevant to athletes, athletes’ performance, such as optimal arousal levels, team cohesion, injury rehabilitation, imagery, burnout, and goal setting. Usually offered every second year.
Ms. Wolf
SOC 124A — Gender and Human Rights
Examines the challenges and opportunities posed by framing women’s rights within an international human rights discourse. Utilizes global case studies to explore how gender shapes major social structures, including education, work, the economy, the state and religion. Special one-time offering, spring 2013.
Ms. Clevenger
SOC 199B — Senior Capstone Seminar: Sociology in the World
Enrollment limited to senior Sociology majors.
Provides an opportunity for senior Sociology majors to consider in depth how sociologists engage with the research process to inform both academic and public debate over pressing social issues. Usually offered every year.
Mr. Cunningham
On Thursday, October 11 at 5 p.m. in Shiffman 219 Michael Nava will read from his forthcoming novel, The City of Palaces.
Attorney and writer Michael Nava is the author of a series of seven novels involving lawyer Henry Rios and as the co-author of Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to America. For 15 years, from 1986 to 2001, the Henry Rios novels used the mystery genre to explore timely social and political issues involving ethnicity and sexuality.
The City of Palaces is set before and during the Mexican Revolution, and is Nava’s first novel in more than a decade.
Brandeis was one of six finalists for a live broadcast on The Today Show, and senior Rachel Nelson, an American Studies and Business and Journalism minor, and Reed Zukerman, an Economics and Business major, were the driving forces behind the push. Seniors Nelson and Zukerman produced this video for a Today-Show sponsored contest to bring Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Clark, the show’s co-hosts, to Brandeis for a live, one-hour broadcast.
The push to catapult Brandeis in the lead generated emails, tweets and Facebook postings generated by students and senior administration officials to Boston.com articles chronicling the drive.
The Today Show announces the winner today on their live broadcast and while Brandeis did not win (that honor goes to the University of Tennessee), Rachel Nelson and Reed Zukerman showed the impact of student-driven social media initiatives.
American Studies Professor Tom Doherty writes from Singapore, where he’s been since January 2012, teaching at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information and traveling:
I had the pleasure of spending a week in the Kingdom of Cambodia earlier this month—landing in the bustling capital city of Phnom Penh , cruising into the city in a “tuk tuk,” a kind of open-air moto-car, and a couple of days later taking a bus up to Siem Reap, home of the legendary temple sites at Angkor Wat and a prime location for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
Though Phnom Pehn has a spectacular royal palace, an array of gorgeous golden-domed temples, and a menu of delicious French-flavored and local cuisine, the obligatory site visit here is a grim one: a tour of S-21, officially the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the notorious prison camp where over 20,000 people were processed for execution, victims of the Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror between 1975 and 1979, during which some 1.7 million Cambodia—20% of the population– were systematically slaughtered by their countrymen.
For a nominal fee, you can hire a guide to take you through the cell blocks and explain the background. All the guides at S-21 had family murdered by the Khmer Rouge; almost everyone from that generation does. From the camp, the prisoners, tied and blindfolded, were transported by truck a few miles outside of town to one of the many “killing fields” that pock-mark the country. The executions were performed club, hammer, and machete. An especially moving and informative audio guide will walk you through the terrain. Brandeis students, who tend to know the history of European genocide, may be especially sensitive to this tragic passage in human history. At the museum shop, you can purchase a pair of searing documentaries on the topic, The Prisoner of S-21 and Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia (1979). The story is also told in Roland Joffe’s The Killing Fields (1984).
From the bracing experience of S-21, we were grateful to take in a sublime part of part of Cambodian history, the ancient temples at Angkor Wat. It’s an easy six-hour bus trip north through rice fields, still plowed by farmers using ox carts.
American Studies students will be proud to know that the DVD featured on the video monitor on the bus was Fast Five (2011), the third installment of The Fast and the Furious series, followed by a selection of music videos of vintage 60s tunes like “The Sounds of Silence” and “San Francisco.” Though originally designed and constructed as a Hindu site in the 12th century, Angkor Wat has long been re-fitted for Buddhism. The scale of the place is jaw-dropping, as is the delicacy and variety of the stone carvings on the temple walls. It is simply one of the great wonders of the world, and a real bucket-list essential. You can top off the day—and get some relief from the blazing heat—with a “fish massage,” wherein you dunk your feet in a fish tank and schools of little fish nimble the calluses off your feet.
