Humanities News, Features, and Other Updates

Author: Heather Powers

RTC PhD Candidate attends Europe Games Research Summer School

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Over the summer of 2019, RTC PhD Candidate, Lyz Renshaw, participated in the Higher Education Video Game Alliance (HEVGA) Europe Games Research Summer School held in The University of Skövde, Sweden from August 21 to 23. The school was attended by PhD students and graduate students who are working in areas connected to digital games — Renshaw’s dissertation falls within this research area.

Lyz shared her experience:

The experience was great, working alongside other graduate students from schools such as University of California Irvine, Wisconsin-Stout, IT Copenhagen and Uppsala University. We had speakers from all over Scandinavia attend, including scholars from University of Skovde, Uppsala, and Gothenburg. I was given the opportunity to present a chapter of my dissertation and receive feedback from senior researchers and peers, including a graduate student who works directly with many of the scholars I base my work on.

Outside of the intended goals of the program, it was also enlightening to see how higher education is different internationally, how curriculum is designed, courses run, expectations of graduate students.

I also left the program with a collaboration project in the works, taking a previous paper I had present at the e-sports conference at UCI last year (and at an RTC colloquium last year) and pairing up with a graduate student from that university who had seen my earlier work.

 

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Book Discussion: Jacob Riis’s “How the Other Half Lives”

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Allison Neely
Black and white photo of three children sleeping on the street.

Stephanie Carpenter (HU) and Allison Neely (Michigan Tech Archives) will lead a discussion of “How the Other Half Lives” (1890) by Jacob Riis. The event will be held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday (Sept. 12) at the Copper Country Community Arts Center in Hancock.

This program is in conjunction with the National Endowment for the Humanities On the Road exhibit “Jacob A. Riis: How the Other Half Lives,” on display at the Keweenaw National Historical Park’s Calumet Visitor Center (98 5th Street, Calumet) now through Oct. 20.

The discussion will focus on Riis’s verbal and photographic imagery. Questions to be considered include:

Black and white photo of three children sleeping on the street.How does the book depict “the other half”—and who is included (and excluded) from that category.

How does Riis encourage us to see the subjects of his book
What parallels can we draw between Riis’s presentation of new immigrants and urban poverty and depictions that we see today,

Participants are encouraged to view the exhibit prior to the discussion—and to read the book. Copies of “How the Other Half Lives” can be purchased from the Calumet Visitor Center. Scanned excerpts are available by emailing Carpenter.

The event is free and open to all. RSVP by calling 482-2333 by tomorrow (Sept. 11). The Copper Country Community Arts Center is located at 126 Quincy Street in Hancock.

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Growing Up In East Germany

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Dr. Thomas Werner, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences, presented his story to about growing up in East Germany and living a political double life in a socialist country at an event hosted by Modern Languages on April 10th. Werner talked about what it was like for him to have a personal spy who tried to send his parents to prison, and how his home country dropped out of existence overnight.

After the Berlin wall fell, Thomas studied Biology in Jena, Germany, and then moved to Umeå, Sweden, where he did his PhD in cell and molecular biology. He moved to Madison, Wisconsin as a postdoctoral fellow studying the evolution and development of color patterns in fruit flies. Thomas is now a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Michigan Tech. He lives in Houghton with his wife Megan, daughter Natalia, and sons Oliver and Oscar

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World War I and The Copper Country Trench Webcam

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American soldiers in trenches during World War OneAs part of World War I & The Copper Country, a full-scale reconstruction of a section of WWI firing trench on the front line can be viewed through our webcam! This webcam will be available until November 11.

Still Image | Streaming | Time Lapse

An immersive outdoor trench exhibit invites the public to imagine how soldiers experienced life in the trenches, including “going over the top.” This project is headed by Drs. Stanley Vitton and Kris Mattila (Civil and Environmental Engineering), and it involves student and faculty participants from across campus. The exhibit showcases an actual winding trench dug several feet into the ground and spanning several yards on the campus green. The exhibit is multifaceted featuring an acoustical installation simulating the sounds of battle designed by Christopher Plummer and Sound Design students (Visual & Performing Arts); looped recordings of memorial poetry and selections from soldier memoirs; and informative signage conveying historical facts about trench structure and trench warfare. Prospective plans include a commemorative ceremony to fill in the trench on November 11, 2018 with the participation of local VFW and American Legion groups, ROTC, and JROTC.

Image: Figure 20, Lubin 2015. American Soldiers in trenches, France (near Verdun). 1918 Library of Congress

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