Compositions by University Carillonist Jeff Davis and former University Carillonist Ronald Barnes were played for the thousands who flooded Washington National Cathedral for a service celebrating the life of Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old whose murder 20 years ago in Wyoming became a potent symbol of anti-gay bigotry.
In the 1940s and 50s, actors in major American films spoke with a kind of faux British accent as a way to sound “upper class.” But this way of talking left out nearly all actual American voices, says Tom McEnaney, a UC Berkeley professor who teaches a class called “Sounding American.” While the class talks about the generational differences of sound, they also discuss how today’s filmmakers are pushing back against the racial norms concealed in what we might say sounds American.
Comparative literature professor Tom McEnaney, who teaches a class called “Sounding American,” says the U.S. has a long history of men criticizing the way women speak. Sound technologies, starting with the gramophone and phonograph, he says, were developed for men’s voices — and distort women’s.
In a new episode of the Peabody Award-winning TV series “Art in the Twenty-First Century,” Stephanie Syjuco, a UC Berkeley assistant professor of art practice, invites viewers into her studio to see firsthand how she embeds politics in her work, and hear her talk about her interest in “how objects reflect cultural moments.”
The College of Letters & Science supports an impressive array of learning opportunities, evident in the departments, programs, centers, majors, minors, and instructional support units below.
The Humanities Research Fellowship (HRF) program supplements the sabbatical salaries of assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors at UC Berkeley who are engaged in humanistic disciplines or who work in the creative arts. Funded by the McEnerney Endowment in the Division of Arts & Humanities, the HRF program enables faculty members to take research leaves ahead of the normal sabbatical-leave schedule.
Gregory Devine, a senior neurobiology and music double major, worked through the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF) program to study music as a form of emotion regulation with an eye to developing new forms of therapy. Devine was one of two recipients of a fellowship sponsored by the Leadership Fund, a donor-supported resource also responsible for student services such as Big Ideas courses and the On the Same Page program for incoming freshmen.
From ancient times to the present day, people around the globe have raised fundamental questions about life through the arts, literature and philosophy. In the Arts & Humanities Division, faculty and students explore the human experience across an exceptionally broad range of subjects.
UC Berkeley’s celebrated bells will be rung more than usual this weekend at the Eighth Berkeley Carillon Festival. On Saturday and Sunday, campus musicians will perform 45-minute recitals twice daily — on Saturday at noon and 1 p.m. and on Sunday at 2 and 3 p.m. The event, free and open to the public, will honor the Class of 1928, which in 1978 raised funds to turn the tower’s 12-bell chime into a 48-bell concert carillon.
From ancient times to the present day, people around the globe have raised fundamental questions about life through the arts, literature and philosophy. In the Arts & Humanities Division, faculty and students explore the human experience across an exceptionally broad range of subjects.