Stanford Humanities Center

This topic exposes ironies and offers a cautionary tale: During World War I the standard maps of Asia Minor by Heinrich Kiepert and his son Richard become a mainstay for the British General Staff. However, serious flaws lurk in the Germans’ work, and alertness to them can curb our temptation to fault classical cartography for its arrested growth.

As part of an international team, Dr Tony Freeth has been a central figure in an extraordinary voyage of discovery: every new revelation has reinforced a sense of shock about this highly sophisticated ancient Greek astronomical calculating machine. It is one of the true wonders of the ancient world.

Prof. Suzanne Marchand presents ‘The Great War and the Ancient World’. The First World War has been rightly called ‘the first modern war’—but Europeans came into it deeply and richly versed in the literature, history, imagery, and languages of the ancient world. This lecture treats the impact of the war on European classical ideals, imagery, and education, extending its inquiries into the interwar period. Relevant Links: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/classics/cgi-bin/web/eitner

The myth of Medea was not fixed or static, and in this lecture Prof. Taplin will show how Euripides made crucial innovations in his tragedy of 431 BCE. Then by scrutinizing vase-paintings, especially one first published in 1984, and papyrus fragments, especially one first published in 2006, he will reveal how her story was repeatedly varied and re-evaluated during the next 100 years in response to the challenge set by that sensational dramatization.

Rachel Donadio, European Culture Correspondent and former Rome Bureau Chief for the New York Times, discussed the impact of Berlusconi's rise and fall, and what's next for Italy and a Europe divided between technocrats and politicians.

The Stanford Humanities Center sponsors advanced research into the historical, philosophical, literary, artistic, and cultural dimensions of the human experience. Humanities scholars explore the many ways in which people, from every period of history and from every corner of the globe, encounter and address the challenges of our world. Humanities research preserves the great accomplishments of the past, helps us understand the world we live in, and gives us tools to imagine the future.

Recent Stanford Stegner fellows discuss the pleasures and pains of writing fiction at the Litquake literary festival.

The last ten years, in particular, have been dominated by discussions of cultural property--either its destruction in zones of military conflict or its involvement in litigation and claims for repatriation. This lecture reviews recent developments in the art and antiquities market, the shifting acquisition policies in museums, and cultural heritage training programs for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(April 20, 2013) Authors and Stanford scholars John Bender, Saikat Majumdar, and Joshua Landy read from their latest published books during the 10th annual “A Company of Authors” conference at Stanford University.

(April 20, 2013) Authors and Stanford scholars Ian Morris, Tanya Luhrmann, and John Perry read from their latest published books during the 10th annual “A Company of Authors” conference at Stanford University.

(February 11, 2013) Juan Gabriel Vasquez shares his experiences as a Latin American author and his personal writing process. In addition, he talks about the landscape of Latin American literature and how he thinks his work interacts with other prominent authors.

(November 8, 2012) Peter Meineck suggests new methods for approaching ancient drama using research drawn from the cognitive sciences.

Helen Vendler discusses Wallace Stevens, the poet. She dives into some of his work in order to show why he is one of the finest American poets to set ink to paper. (January 17, 2012)

Literary scholars share their thoughts about the novel as a literary form during the 2011 Litquake Festival. (October 10, 2011)

Lani Anderson questions the characters Socrates claim in Plato's Symposium that we only desire what we lack. The excerpt is from a lecture from "The Art of Living." (September 29, 2010)

Joshua Landy introduces his lecture on Friedrich Nietzche's The Gay Science from "The Art of Living," a first-year Introduction to Humanities course and examines the ways in which life can be transformed by art. (November 8, 2010)

Kenneth Taylor discusses the "Who Am I?" problem in the context of Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon during a lecture from "The Art of Living." (November 17, 2010)

Edith Sheffer discusses how she conducts research that examines social and cultural change in 20th century Germany. She examines the role that German citizens played in perpetuating the physical boundaries that separated them. (November 10, 2011)

Mary Beard, a well-renowned Classicist, discusses the difficulties of identifying old roman sculptures and what she believes this process tells us about ancient cultures. (September 29, 2011)

A panel of Stanford authors present their recently published books. Their respective books are titled Wandering Soul, An Invisible Rope, Myth of the Great Satan/The Shah, and Why the West Rules-For Now. (April 23, 2011)

Vivek Ranadive, Founder and CEO of TIBCO, has had incredible success in the business world and has a deep technology based skill set. He discusses how innovation in the 21st century will be driven by right brain thinking. (May 11, 2011)

Marissa Mayer discusses the ways in which Google incorporates the humanities in innovation. (May 11, 2011)

Dr. Damon Horowitz is a philosopher and entrepreneur, exploring what is possible at the intersection of technology and the humanities. He discusses the value of a humanities Ph.D. (May 11, 2011)

June Cohen looks at how she brought a lecture series with an attendance of a few hundred to over 150 million people across the world. She discusses how innovation and the spread of ideas is key to keeping TEDTalks a viable platform. (May 11, 2011)

Patrick Byrne, CEO and founder of Overstock.com, is deeply involved in the world market and the use of the internet as means of doing business. He explains how his diverse academic background has given him an incredibly unique skill set. (May 11, 2011)

John Ma discusses the Polis, the Greek for of a city-state, and how it was organized politically as well as socially for around twelve centuries. (April 14, 2011)

Leon Botstein talks about the relationship between music and architecture in a natural setting and how different periods show the different connections between the two seemingly distinct fields. (April 26, 2011)

In her most recent publication, "The Souls of Mixed Folk: Race, Politics, and Aesthetics in the New Millennium," Michele Elam examines how representations of mixed race in literature and the arts are redefining new millennial aesthetics. (April 15, 2011)

The deans of four Stanford graduate schools discuss the values of a liberal arts major and how that might impact a student who is interested in applying to professional school. (February 8, 2011)

Tim O'Brien discusses the ethical issues raised by war with author Tobias Wolff. The two authors delve deeply into the less discussed issues of war and how it is portrayed in writing. (January 24, 2011)

Tim O'Brien discusses the ethical issues raised by war with author Tobias Wolff. The two authors delve deeply into the less discussed issues of war and how it is portrayed in writing. (January 24, 2011)

Judith Jamison, Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, participates in a discussion with Harry Elam Jr. about the current world of dance and her experiences as a professional dancer. (January 10, 2011)

This wide-ranging panel discussion featured four Stanford University professors sharing examples of how they have observed race and ethnicity in art and literature and the impact these portrayals have had. (October 9, 2010)

Tzvetan Todorov talks about the life of Germain Tillion, a leading commander in the French Resistance during World War II who was betrayed by a priest and sent to a German concentration camp. (May 5, 2010)

Tzveton Todorov discusses communism as a religion that has been in the making since the Enlightenment period, and he reflects on the place of communism and its present substitutes since the fall of the Berlin wall. (May 3, 2010)

Daniel Dennett talks about free will and how this came to be an integral part of humanity. (January 12, 2009)

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and founder of Realizing Rights, discusses the work of her organization in areas of corporate responsibilites. (April 12, 2010)

A panel of poets: Tom Killion, John Felsitner, Robert Conquest, Peter N. Carroll, and Patrick Hunt share their recent work in the seventh annual spring book salon which features a rich variety of writers from Stanford University. (April 24, 2010)

A panel of writers: Kathryn Ma, Jean-Marie Apostolidies, and Shelley Fisher Fishkin, share their recent work in the seventh annual spring book salon which features a rich variety of writers from Stanford University. (April 24, 2010)

Frederick Cooper discusses "imperial citizenship" during the period of 1946, when all "subjects" in the French empire became citizens until the independence of French Africa in 1960. (February 1, 2010)

Frederick Cooper reflects on the place of 19th and 20th century colonization in the long-term history of empire and presents a skeptical view of notions of new imperialisms, second empires, and colonial modernity. (February 3, 2010)

Novelist and literary critic Andre Aciman shares his thoughts on his current work, inspiration and being a writer. (October 20, 2009)

A panel discussion exploring the past, present, and future of this important genre of writing with Stanford professors Andrea Lunsford, Dan Edelstein, Nicholas Jenkins and Robert Harrison. (October 11, 2009)

Professor Joshua Landy, co-director of the Literature and Philosophy Initiative at Stanford, talks about his current research on the role that fiction plays in the well-lived life. (May 4, 2009)

John Hatcher shares the challenges of writing and researching his book The Black Death: A Personal History. (January 27, 2009)

Adam Gopnik discusses literary criticism as a form of writing about characters that happen to be works of fiction, that literary criticism is essential to understand the state of being human. (May 13, 2009)

James McPherson, George Henry Davis '86 Professor of American History Emeritus at Princeton University, discusses the turmoil and violence of the Reconstruction era after the American Civil War. (April 13, 2009)

Felicity Nussbaum, Professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles, delivers the 17th annual Bliss Carnochan lecture at Stanford on the birth of celebrity in eighteenth century England. (April 3, 2009)

Professor of European Medieval History Caroline Walker Bynum discusses the importance of relics, particularly holy body parts, in medieval Christianity. (February 25, 2009)

Professor of European Medieval History Caroline Walker Bynum discusses the role of transformation miracles in medieval Christianity. (February 23, 2009)

Julian Bell, an English painter and art critic who contributes to The New York Review of Books, considers the current profiles of this branch of writing as seen from London. (March 5, 2009)