Daniel Caner, associate professor in the departments of history and literatures, cultures, and languages

During a 300-year period that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the first truly complex Christian society emerged in the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, that claimed much of Southeastern Europe, the Near East, and the northern coast of Africa, according to Associate Professor of History and Literatures, Cultures, and Languages Daniel Caner.

“This was first time that the state became so intertwined with a totalizing religion like Christianity,” says Caner, whose work specializes in the social and cultural history of Late Antiquity. “Starting in the 4th century, you see the state starting to fund churches and monasteries and encouraging laypeople to give to these institutions as a way to salvation.”

This new use of religious gifts by the state to promote social order, though very different from today’s secular concept of philanthropy, laid the foundation for many modern charitable practices. But while Caner says that early Christian philanthropy was part of an earnest attempt to produce a utopian society, he also emphasizes that it raises complex ethical questions that people still grapple with about wealth scarcity, acquisition, and distribution.

“The post-classical period is a fascinating study of how wealth is held onto by few people,” says Caner. “In the previous era, wealth was controlled by Roman senators and aristocracy; here you see the system challenged, broken up [with the fall of the Western Roman Empire], and reformed with another set of elites.”

UConn has been selected as a host site for a national traveling exhibition in 2016 for “First Folio! The Book That Gave Us Shakespeare.”

The “First Folio” is the first collected edition of William Shakespeare’s plays published in 1623 by two of his fellow actors, seven years after the Bard’s death. The collection includes 18 plays that would otherwise have been lost, including “Macbeth,” Julius Caesar,” “Twelfth Night,” “The Tempest,” “Antony and Cleopatra,” “The Comedy of Errors” and As You Like It.” The exhibition will take place in the Gilman Gallery at the William Benton Museum of Art in Storrs.

The tour is a partnership between The Folger Shakespeare Library, Cincinnati Museum Center and the American Library Association and will be hosted by one institution in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s passing. Specific dates for the tour host sites will be announced in April.

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Feb 10th 2015

11:00 am – 12:30 pm,  438 Oak Hall

A chat with graduate students from political science and sociology—but seriously, everyone is welcome

The second is a public talk,

“Making Sense of Latino Conservatives”:

3:30 pm,  Class of 1947 Room, Homer Babbidge Library

Please contact Fred Lee at fred.lee@uconn.edu for more information.

Monday, February 9th , 4:00 PM Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Konover Auditorium

“Let me Bang Your Box: The Erotic Life of the Blues”
LECTURE BY DR. MARK ANTHONY NEAL (DUKE UNIVERSITY)

Monday, February 9th , 4:00 PM
Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, Konover Auditorium

MODERATED BY RAHNI SONG Grammy-Nominated & Platinum-Selling Producer, Performer and Songwriter
UConn Scholar-in-Residence

Free and Open to the Public!
Reception and Refreshments to Follow

Talks organized by the Pan-African Baraza & Thought Works to mark the 90th anniversary of the birth of Frantz Fanon. A lecture by Professor Lewis Gordon, Nelson Mandela Visiting Professor at Rhodes University, South Africa, and Professor of Philosophy and African American Studies, with affiliation in Judaic Studies, at the University of Connecticut, USA.

 

 

Mike Byram is an international superstar in the area of intercultural communication and language and culture acquisition. In Europe, this area has much evolved into including civic discourse, citizenship and cultural identity/affiliation.

The presenter: “In this presentation – which I hope will develop into a discussion – I shall focus on different notions of ‘critical cultural awareness’ and ‘criticality’ and their place in foreign language education. I will do so with an eye to the chronological evolution of the ideas involved, providing a sketch rather than a full chronicle of events. I shall also relate the notions to education theory beyond foreign language education, including education for citizenship, and the current research at the Council of Europe on Competences for Democratic Culture and Intercultural Dialogue. The most recent developments in language teaching and intercultural citizenship will be illustrated with an example of work from an international network of researchers and curriculum developers, including colleagues at UCONN, with the hope that this too will stimulate discussion of the relationship of this work with theory of education for ‘social justice’”.

Biography

Michael Byram is Professor Emeritus at Durham University since October 2008.
His work comprised initial teacher education and being Director of Research Degrees with supervision of research students. He began his career teaching French and German at secondary school level and in adult education in an English comprehensive community school. After being appointed to a post in teacher education at the University of Durham in 1980, he carried out research into the education of linguistic minorities, foreign language education and student residence abroad.
He supervised doctoral students in intercultural studies, language teaching and comparative education.
He has published many books and articles including, most recently, Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence; Language Teachers, Politics and Cultures (with Karen Risager); From Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship; and is the editor of the Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning.

NEW BOOK: The Common European Framework of Reference. The globalisation of language education policy.

Grant Writing Seminars
Arts & Humanities *** NIH *** NSF
NIH Career Development *** NSF Career Award

Registration Deadline: February 13, 2015

Partnering with schools and colleges, the Office of the Vice President for Research will be sponsoring five grant writing seminars to be conducted by Grants Writers’ Seminars and Workshops, LLC.    Faculty interested in attending any of the seminar(s) must first obtain approval from the Dean of their respective school/college prior to registering.

The success of a society depends – at least in part – on the civility of its members. Mutual respect, openness to different viewpoints…civil conversation is what we try to promote here on our show…….

Listen to the program  http://wnpr.org/post/how-important-civility-protest

GUESTS:

• Michael Lynch is a professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut and the author of “In Praise of Reason: Why Rationality Matters for Democracy” 
• Lewis Gordon is a professor of Philosophy, Africana Studies, and Judaic Studies at the University of Connecticut, Europhilosophy Visiting Chair, Toulouse University, France, and the Mandela Professor, Rhodes University, South Africa.
• Hua Hsu  is an associate professor of English at Vassar College and a Ford academic fellow for the New America Foundation. He recently wrote an article on civility for The New Yorker
• Todd Gitlin is Professor of Journalism and Sociology and Chair of the Ph.D Program in Communications Columbia University. He’s the author of several books including, “The Sixties: Years of Hope, Years of Rage” and “Occupy Nation: The Roots, The Spirit, The Promise of Occupy Wall Street.”

We fool people all the time. Whether with bad intent or not, deception has become a common practice in today’s society. Listen to the program http://wnpr.org/post/unraveling-web-deception#.VKw-zkMUvko.facebook

GUESTS:

• Michael Lynch – Professor of Philosophy and Director of The Humanities Institute at The University of Connecticut. Author of The Knowledge Machine: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data
• Sam Harris – Author of Lying and The Moral Landscape. He holds a Ph.D in neuroscience from U.C.L.A. and a degree in philosophy from Stanford.
• Ralph Keyes– A lecturer, essayist and author of many books including The Post-Truth Era: Dishonesty and Deception in Contemporary Life
• Luke McNally – Ph.D student and researcher at Trinity College Dublin studying behavioral evolution and Biodiversity. He’s the co-author of the article Cooperation Creates Selection For Tactical Deception

 

The conference was held at the UConn School of Law from November 21st-23rd. Our Keynote Speakers are Jason Stanley (Yale), Ishani Maitra (Michigan), and Richard Wilson (UConn).

 

Sponsered by the Humanities Institute at UCONN the Human Rights Institute,  the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean’s office, and the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.