Academy of Seniors
1. NEW RESEARCH IN HISTORY: LOOKING BACK THROUGH A MODERN LENS
February 26, 28, March 5, 7
(Wednesdays/Fridays), 9:30-11:30 am
Retribution or Rehabilitation? U.S. Prison Systems in Historical Perspective
February 26
The United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other democracy in the world. To many people, this fact signals the retributive and repressive nature of our criminal justice system. Yet, modern prisons were conceived, some two hundred years ago, as institutions for criminal rehabilitation, and the US stood at the forefront of a global movement to integrate convicted criminals back into society. This lecture will look at the tensions between retributive justice and a rehabilitative ideal in the nineteenth century when our modern prison system came into formation.
Amy Louise Wood, Professor of History, ISU
Karl Marx in America
February 28
To read Karl Marx is to contemplate a world created by capitalism. People have long-viewed the US as the quintessential anti-Marxist nation, but Marx’s ideas have inspired a wide range of people to formulate a more precise sense of the stakes of the American Project. Historians have highlighted the imprint made on the US by Enlightenment thinkers such as Adam Smith, John Locke, and Thomas Paine, but Marx is rarely considered alongside these figures. In his forthcoming book Karl Marx in America, historian Andrew Hartman argues that even though Karl Marx never visited America, the country has been infused, shaped and transformed by him.
Andrew Hartman, Professor of History, ISU
The Patriot Atlantic: The Transnational Entanglements of the American Revolution
March 5
In the popular imagination, the American Revolution was a singular and predestined event that created the US. Yet during the mid to late eighteenth century, revolutionary movements in Ireland and the Dutch Republic emerged that were deeply interconnected and remarkably similar to the American Revolution. This lecture will discuss the American Revolution in this transatlantic context and will examine what made the American Revolution similar and exceptional compared to other Patriot revolutions in this period.
Matthijs Tieleman, Assistant Professor of History, ISU
Spiritualities and Histories in Africa and the Americas
March 7
From 1492 to 1900, fifteen million enslaved Africans were transported to the western hemisphere in slavery. They carried their spiritual beliefs and knowledge with them, and on arrival in the western hemisphere, acted to recreate the spiritual world known before slavery. Rather than dismissing these creations as voodoo, how do historians and others use their senses and the archives to understand this important aspect of African and African diaspora history? This lecture will focus on the U.S. Virgin Islands to examine the methods and evidence used to learn the history of African heritage spirituality in the western hemisphere.
Greg Carter, Instructional Assistant Professor of History, ISU
2. CHANGING SEASONS: THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON AGRICULTURE
March 19, 21, 26, 28 (Wednesdays/Fridays)
9:30-11:30 am
Session 1: An Evolving World: Rising Temperatures and Falling Water Tables
A growing amount of evidence exists that, regardless of cause, the earth’s climate is changing. What exactly does this look like both at home and abroad?
Session 2: Salvation in Alternative Proteins?
As the climate continues to change and populations continue to grow, some have presented the idea that new and alternatives to traditional protein sources are the answer. Could the future be one in which our food is manufactured in a lab?
Session 3: Finding Direction in the Rearview Mirror
As the agriculture industry continues to feed us, vastly different views exist on how exactly to do that as the climate continues to change. While some continue to push the envelope of technology, others look to our past for answers.
Session 4: Where Do We Go From Here?
Amidst the smoke of wildfires, we attempt to find a crystal ball as people, policy, and economics interact to manage an issue we can’t even agree exists. What does this changing landscape mean for the role of higher education in agriculture?
Bryon Wiegand, Professor of Meat Science and Director of the Division of Animal Science, University of Missouri-Columbia (Sessions 1 & 2)
Justin Rickard, Professor of Animal Science, Department of Agriculture, ISU (Sessions 1-4)
3. JAZZ AS PROTEST: STILL THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
March 25, April 1, 8, 15 (Tuesdays)
9:30-11:30 am
Jazz has a long history of being music of the people and the soundtrack for a social justice movement. This class will touch on some pivotal pieces and musicians who have taken a claim in the movement, which in recent years has grown in volume, intensity and urgency.
Artists will include:
- Nina Simone and Mississippi Goddamn
- Art Blakey and Lift Every Voice and Sing
- Charles Mingus and Fables of Faubus
- Jon Baptiste and We Are
Jenelle Orcherton, Artistic Director/Founder, Champaign-Urbana Jazz Festival
4. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: DEMON, ANGEL OR SOMETHING IN-BETWEEN?
April 14, 16, 21, 23 (Mondays/Wednesdays)
1:30-3:30 pm
More than any other form of contemporary technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has brought the Baby-Boomers’ sci-fi-fantasies (or nightmares) to reality. Originally coined in 1956, the term artificial intelligence has emerged as a headline grabber, tied to everything from drone warfare to intelligent, “living” art shows. In fact, AI has forced contemporary culture to reexamine ancient questions related to authenticity, authorship and “being” in both scientifically profound, and very personal ways. This class will examine whether we should love, run away from or simply learn to live with the new “un-reality” that is AI.
Tom McCulley, Associate Professor of Humanities, Heartland Community College