Anthropologist Richard Pearson, who earned his doctorate at Yale in 1966, will deliver a talk titled "Archaeological Perspectives on the Rise of the Ryuku Kingdom, 1100-1600 A.D." as part of a spring colloquium series sponsored by the Council on East Asian Studies. His talk will be held on Monday, Jan. 27, at 4:30 p.m. in Rm. 203 of Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave.
A professor of anthropology and sociology at the University of British Columbia, Mr. Pearson is an expert in the prehistoric formation of societies in East Asia, with special interests in excavations in Hawaii, Okinawan castles, neolithic burial patterns in China and Korea, and early Japanese ceramics. He is a member of the Society for American Archaeology, the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, the American Anthropological Association and the Asian Studies Association. He chaired his academic department from 1991- 96 and was a visiting professor at Yale in 1983.
London art historian to present Paul Mellon Lectures
Lisa Tickner, professor of the history of art at Middlesex University in London, will present the Paul Mellon Lectures on Tuesday-Thursday, Jan. 28-30. Professor Tickner will analyze three artists' radical approach to the process of painting in her talks, which will take place each day at 4 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St. Admission is free, and the public is invited.
The titles of Professor Tickner's lectures are: Jan. 28 - "Walter Sickert, 'The Camden Town Murder' and Tabloid"; Jan. 29 - "Wyndham Lewis, Dance and the Popular Culture of 'Kermesse'"; and Jan. 30 - "Vanessa Bell, 'Studland Beach,' Domesticity and 'Significant Form."
Professor Tickner is the author of "The Spectacle of Women: Imagery of the Suffrage Campaign, 1907-1914" and of numerous articles on feminist art history and theory and on British modernism. She is currently coediting a series of art history books for Routledge Publishing. She serves on the editorial advisory boards for Modernism and Modernity and Women: A Cultural Review, as well as the Advisory Council of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London.
The Paul Mellon Lectures are held biennially on subjects relative to British art at the National Gallery in London and are supported by the Paul Mellon Centre. Professor Tickner originally presented her lectures at the National Gallery in November 1996.
Hebrew University scholar to talk about early rabbinic thought
"Universalism and Intolerance in Early Rabbinic Thought: The Biblical Exegesis of Rabbi Ishmael and His School" is the topic of a lecture being presented on Wednesday, Jan. 29, by Marc Hirshman, senior lecturer in the School of Education at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 4 p.m. in Rm. 208 of the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. It is presented by the Program in Judaic Studies through the David A. Oestreich Lecture Fund, and cosponsored by the department of religious studies. Mr. Hirshman is the author of "A Rivalry of Genius: Jewish and Christian Biblical Interpretation in Late Antiquity" and a forthcoming critical edition of "Midrash Qohelet Rabba." He has published many studies on ancient rabbinic and patristic preaching and biblical interpretation. He holds a doctoral degree in rabbinics from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and has been a visiting professor there and Columbia University. He also taught at the University of Haifa.
CIA historian to speak about one of 'founding fathers' of strategic intelligence
Donald P. Steury, a senior historian on the history staff of the Central Intelligence Agency's CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence, will deliver a lecture titled "Sherman Kent and the Board of National Estimates" on Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 4:30 p.m. in Rm. 103 Luce Hall, 34 Hillhouse Ave. The event, sponsored by International Security Studies, is free and open to the public. Mr. Steury, who has been a member of the CIA's history staff since 1992, is editor of a collection of essays by Sherman Kent, who is considered one of the "founding fathers" of strategic intelligence in the U.S. The collection, "Sherman Kent and the Board of National Estimates," was published in 1994. He also has edited and compiled two collections of documents, "Estimates on Soviet Military Power, 1954 to 1984," and "Intentions and Capabilities: Estimates on Soviet Strategic Forces, 1950-1983."
Mr. Steury joined the CIA as an intelligence analyst in the Office of Strategic Research in 1981 and became an analyst in the Office of Soviet Analysis SOVA when it was created in the same year. He remained in SOVA and its successor, the Office of Slavic and Eurasian Analysis, for the next 11 years, serving in turn as Soviet naval strategic forces analyst, naval program analyst and senior analyst in Soviet strategic planning and programs. During this time he published several articles on German naval operations during World War II. Since serving on the history staff, he has focused on the CIA's strategic and military-economic analysis of the Soviet Union. His current projects include a study of the London-based Economic Objectives Unit in World War Ii and an intelligence history of Berlin in the Cold War.
Earl of Rochester's 350th birthday celebrated in Beinecke event
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library will celebrate the 350th birthday of John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester 1647-80 and satirist, with a lecture, program of songs and exhibition on Wednesday, Jan. 29. All of the events are free and open to the public.
Harold Love, a professor at Monash University near Melborne, Australia, and a scholar of Rochester's works, will present a lecture at 5 p.m. at the library, 121 Wall St. Professor Love is the author of many articles and books, including studies of Rochester, Congreve and Restoration literature, as well as an edition of the works of Irish dramatist Thomas Southerne.
Following his talk, there will be a short program of songs from Rochester's plays, sung by tenor Chad Shelton to the accompaniment of harpsichordist Paul Cienniwa.
Two contemporary manuscripts of Rochester's works will be on display as part of the event. These are "Songs and Verses," a 17th- century manuscript miscellany acquired by the Beinecke Library 45 years ago that has been called "the most important single witness to the text of Rochester," and a manuscript acquired by Yale last year that is almost exclusively devoted to the works of Rochester, consisting of a play and numerous poems. Both manuscripts are part of the library's James Marshall and Marie-Louise Obsorn Collection.
The Earl of Rochester was notorious in his day for his rakish life of drinking, womanizing, atheistical raillery and general debauchery, but is today considered to have been one of the most talented satirists and poets in the court of Charles II. He was associated in his own lifetime with scurrilous and obscene lampoons, which circulated for the most part in manuscript copies. His deathbed conversion and repentance were celebrated when he died prematurely in his early thirties.
Emerson biographer to be guest at master's tea
Robert Dale Richardson Jr., author of an award-winning biography on Ralph Waldo Emerson, will discuss "Emerson, The Man on Fire" at a tea being held at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30, at the Calhoun College master's house use entrance at 189 Elm St. . The talk is free and open to the public.
An independent scholar who has held visiting posts at Yale and Wesleyan universities in recent years, Mr. Richardson is the author of the 1995 work "Emerson: The Mind on Fire." The book received the Francis Parkman and Melcher prizes, the Washington Irving Award for Literary Excellence, and the Dictionary of Literary Biography Award for a Distinguished Literary Biography. It was named as a "Notable Book of 1995" by the New York Times Book Review and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1995.
Mr. Richardson is also editor of a book of selected essays, lectures and poems by Emerson, and author of the prize-winning "Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind," "Myth and Literature in the American Renaissance" and with B. Feldman "The Rise of Modern Mythology, 1680-1860."
Nuremberg Code to be explored in medical school talk
"The Nuremberg Code 50 Years Later" is the title of a talk being presented on Thursday, Jan. 30, by David J. Rothman, the Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine at Columbia University. His talk, sponsored by the Program for Humanities in Medicine, will be held at 5 p.m. in the Beaumont Room of the School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St. The public is invited to attend, free of charge.
Professor Rothman will analyze the history of human experimentation in the pre-code era and then address the contributions of the Nuremberg Code, exploring such issues as what made the code novel, the reasons the code's provisions were ignored for so long in the United States and why it has since become celebrated.
For more information, call 785-5494.
Campus events will feature musician Mike Seeger
Celebrated performer Mike Seeger will be a featured guest at two campus events this week. On Thursday, Jan. 30, he will present "Music from True Vine," a program of folk and traditional American music, at 8 p.m. in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall, 470 College St. Tickets are $10; $5 for students. For more information on the concert, call 432-4158.
The following day, Mr. Seeger will present a program titled "Music from True Vine -- The home music made by American Southerners before the media age" at 4:30 p.m. in the Calhoun College master's house use entrance at 189 Elm St. . Seating is limited for the free event. For information, call 432-0742.
Beginning in the 1960s, as a founding member of the musical group the New Lost City Ramblers, Mr. Seeger has played an integral role in helping to revive interest in traditional music, most notably the bluegrass music that evolved from the blend of African and British musical traditions in the South. As a teenager, Mr. Seeger learned from such musicians as Elizabeth Cotten, Maybelle Carter, Dock Boggs, Cousin Emmy and Kilby Snow. He has since toured the world, performing in a variety of traditional styles and accompanying himself on an array of instruments, including banjo, fiddle, guitar, trump jaw harp , mouth harp harmonica , quills, lap dulcimer, mandolin and autoharp.
Mr. Seeger's love for traditional music inspired him to produce 25 field recordings and videos documenting the work of musicians and dancers in the field. During his career, he has recorded nearly 40 albums, both solo and with others, and received three Grammy nominations -- most recently in 1991 for "Solo: Oldtime Country Music" and in 1994 for "Third Annual Farewell Reunion." He has received numerous honors, awards and grants -- including one from the Guggenheim Foundation. He was most recently presented with the Rex Foundation's Ralph J. Gleason Lifetime Achievement Award.
Children's issues in campaigns are topic of Bush Center talk
Charlotte Koskoff, the 1996 Democratic challenger to Representative Nancy Johnson in Connecticut's 6th Congressional District, will give a talk titled "Children's Issues in a Congressional Campaign" on Friday, Jan. 31, at noon in Rm. 410 of Sheffield- Sterling-Strathcona Hall, corner of Grove and Prospect streets. The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy. Ms. Koskoff is a professor at Central Connecticut State University, where she teaches education, public school law and criminal justice. She has run for Congress twice against Ms. Johnson, in 1994 and 1996. In last November's election, she came within 1,600 votes of unseating the seven-term incumbent, who has chaired the House Ethics Committee for the past two years.
Ms. Koskoff's professional training includes a Ph.D. in elementary education from the University of Connecticut, a law degree from the University of Connecticut School of Law and a one- year fellowship at Yale's Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy 1979-1980 . She has remained involved in child and family issues, particularly child care, throughout her academic and political career.
For further information, call 432-9935.
Former member of Black Panthers to reflect on African American politics
Yale alumna Kathleen Cleaver will discuss the last 30 years of African American political activity in a talk titled "Looking Back Through the Heart of Dixie" on Monday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. A reception will follow at 8 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Yale Black Political Forum; the Afro-American Cultural Center; and the Center for Study of Race, Inequality and Politics, the lecture inaugurates the latter's "Public University" discussion series. The series is designed to give members of the Greater New Haven area an opportunity to discuss practical and policy implications of cultural, economic, political and social developments. For more information, contact Tamara Jones at 432-3255.
In her talk Ms. Cleaver, who a professor of law at Emory University, will examine the goals and consequences of black politics from the perspective of someone intricately involved in the Civil Rights Movement and black liberation struggles. In the mid 1960's Professor Cleaver left college and worked full-time in the New York office of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating committee. She then moved on to the organization's national office in Atlanta, where she served in its campus program. After marrying Black Panther Party leader Eldridge Cleaver, she moved to San Francisco and became communications secretary of the party. She also served as a member of the party's central committee. In 1969 she joined her by then exiled husband in Algiers, Algeria, where they founded the International Section of the Black Panther Party.
Following her return to the United States, Professor Cleaver decided to complete her education and enrolled in Yale College, from which she graduate summa cum laude in 1984, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She subsequently entered Yale Law School. After graduating from the law school in 1989, Professor Cleaver became an associate at the New York law firm of Cravath, Swaine and Moore. Later she returned to the law school as a research fellow in the Civil Liability Program, then spent a year clerking for the Honorable A. Leon Higginbotham, senior judge of the United States Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit.
Professor Cleaver has continued to participate in politics as a member of the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts and the Board of Directors of the Southern Center for Human Rights. She is currently on leave from Emory to serve as scholar-in-residence at New York City's Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture. She has garnered several honors for her work, including the Bill of Rights Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and the Bunting Fellowship from Radcliffe College. Her memoir is titled "Memories of Love and War."
Art historian to discuss "Walpole's Hogarth"
Two centenaries will be celebrated in the fifth annual Lewis Walpole Library Lecture, which will be presented by David Bindman, professor of the history of art at University College London, at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St. The event is free and open to the public; a reception will follow.
This year marks the bicentenary of the death of Horace Walpole 1717-1797 , the son of British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and a member of Parliament himself, whose observations on the political events of his day are preserved in his "Memoirs" and letters; and it is the tercentenary of the birth of British artist William Hogarth 1697-1764 , who is known for his satirical portraits of 18th-century English society.
In his talk, titled "Walpole's Hogarth," Professor Bindman will discuss the relations between the two men. Walpole knew Hogarth and collected his works, and the two discussed writing projects in 1761 to ensure that they did not conflict. Walpole was also acquainted with George Steevens 1736-1800 , whose renowned collection of Hogarth's prints is now housed at Yale's Lewis Walpole Library in Farmington, Connecticut.
One of the world's leading authorities on Hogarth, Professor Bindman is also the organizer, with students from his graduate seminar at Yale, of the exhibit "'Among the Whores and Thieves': William Hogarth and 'The Beggar's Opera,'" which is on view Feb. 1- April 6 at the British Art Center. The Lewis Walpole Library lent one painting and 19 prints from its collection for the exhibit.