Category: Humanities

Brown Bag Talk: “Beauty, Excess, and the Grotesque in the Late-Capitalism Critique of Lauren Greenfield”, Emma Johnson

What:

Abstract:

Embracing slow cinema and focusing on women are both underappreciated approaches to filmmaking when it comes to representing the financial crisis. One filmmaker who explores the financial crisis through these underused techniques is Lauren Greenfield. In this paper, I will explore three of Greenfield’s films through the lens of theorists Jill Godmilow and Nicholas Mirzoeff to show how alternative ways of looking provide a new critique of capitalism. Typically, films on financial crises are fast paced. Juliette Feyel and Clémence Fourton’s 2019 article “Post-2008 Films: The Financial Crisis in Fictions and Documentaries” argues that 2008-crisis films are represented in specific structures and patterns. Clichéd quick cuts show phone calls, graphs, and skyscrapers. These visual depictions are limiting, often excluding how crisis affects daily life and women. An alternative approach is found in the work of Greenfield, including the films The Queen of Versailles (2012), Generation Wealth (2018), and The Kingmaker (2019). I argue that Greenfield uses beauty, excess, and the grotesque to critique late capitalism. Greenfield favors mundane daily life with long shots of mansions with neglected pools, motivational posters in a vacated office, and dog poop left on the carpet after the nannies are laid off. She pays attention to women in a sub-genre where women are largely absent and uses slow-cinema techniques in a sub-genre that mostly embraces fast-paced narratives. Interviewees who would typically be depicted in quick clips are given screen time to humanize themselves. Greenfield juxtaposes excess with relatable reasons for its pursuit, drawing attention away from subjects and toward the system that creates it, coming close to accomplishing what Godmilow terms postreal filmmaking and Mirzoeff Visuality 2. Ultimately, Greenfield invites the audience to sit with her subjects, identify with them, and begin to imagine an alternative world.

Who:

Presented by RTC PhD student Emma Johnson.

All are welcome to attend!

When:

Friday, March 28 2025

Where:

Petersen Library, Walker Arts & Humanities Center

2025 Modern Languages Film Series Announced

Modern Languages at Michigan Tech is proud to present our Spring 2025 Film Series!

The films this year, under the theme “Dystopian Futures” will screen on consecutive Wednesdays at 7pm in Fisher 135, and are free and open to the public.

Still from "We Might As Well Be Dead showing a woman in a security uniform laying on the floor of a cramped apartment. Next to her another woman's head can be seen through the mail slot of a closed door with her hair hanging through.

We Might As Well Be Dead

Screening March 12, 2025

Sinelnikova 2022 | Germany

Security officer Anna lives with her 16-year-old daughter in a remote high-rise on the edge of a forest. The building provides its occupants a safe haven until the caretaker’s dog disappears and irrational fear spreads.

Still from the film showing a gray, dystopian landscape with a small doorway to an elevator shaft in the middle of the frame. A figure in a full-face oxygen mask walks to the left.

Aire: Just Breathe

Screening March 19, 2025

Tonos 2024 | Dominican Republic

In the year 2147, a virus as a result of a Great Chemical War has left all men on the planet sterile, bringing humanity to the brink of extinction. Biologist and scientist Tania tries to inseminate herself to ensure the survival of the human species, assisted by an artificial intelligence system called VIDA. However, everything changes when Azarias appears, a traveler with a dark past and possibly one of the last men on the planet.

An attractive young woman lays in a rectangular black tub filled with black liquid below a large half-circle window with washed-out white light shining through.

The Beast

Screening March 26, 2025

Bonello 2023 | France

In the near future the rise of AI has led to humans being deemed useless because their emotions compromise their decision-making. Gabrielle undergoes a procedure that will purify her and get rid of her emotions, a procedure which involves delving into their past lives.

Please join us for this great lineup of films from around the world!

For more information about Modern Languages minors at Michigan Tech, visit https://www.mtu.edu/humanities/undergraduate/modern-languages/

Brown Bag: Great Lakes Romanticism, Mark Lounibos

What:

Humanities’ Brown Bag talks kick off again on Friday, January 31 at 12pm in the Petersen Library with “Great Lakes Romanticism” a talk by Assistant Teaching Professor of English, Mark Lounibos.

Abstract: This emerging project aims to link the historical and cultural period of British Romanticism (1789-1832) to the Great Lakes region of North America, using digital mapping methods to identify locations, actors and events in the Great Lakes area which have influenced British Romantic culture.  In particular, the project’s goal is to emphasize and perhaps also recover the influence of Indigenous culture and thought on British Romanticism.   Although much work has been done on Transatlantic Romanticism, and some important contributions focus explicitly on indigeneity in this context, few have focused primarily on the Great Lakes region.  This waterway was a critical trade/exploration route, and therefore one of the most significant channels for contact with indigenous tribes in the interior of North America. The long-term goals of this project include the production of a digital resource for both scholars and the public, and the development of a Digital Humanities course.  

Who:

Presented by Mark Lounibos, Assistant Teaching Professor of English

Co-Hosted by the Department of Humanities and the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture

All are welcome to attend!

When:

Friday, Jan. 31, 2025 at 12:00 p.m.

Where:

The Peterson Library, Walker 318

Faculty Research Highlight: The Big Ride Project

Assistant Professor of Communication, Culture, and Media Richard Canevez has big plans for the summer of 2025, when he will take on what he has titled “The Big Ride Project.” Richard has received a seed grant from the university’s Research Excellence Fund, as well as funding from the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture with which he is both funding this project, and hopes to publish a book documenting his experiences.

Assistant Professor Richard Canevez is collaborating with Studio 13 in Houghton to generate media for his upcoming research endeavor- The Big Ride Project.

From Richard:

The rise of American right-wing populism has been enabled in part by the politicization and targeting of institutions construed as left-leaning with harassment, hostile policy efforts, and in some cases outright violence. The range of institutions is broad, ranging from women’s healthcare to diversity-supporting organizations and even federal agencies tasked with environmental stewardship. This targeting has reduced these institutions to political footballs, exploiting an aggrieved and politically divided constituency for political gain.

But who are these institutions in reality? They reflect the people who are “where the rubber meets the road”: the professionals and volunteers. But what are their stories? How do their experiences and values shape these institutions and their mission? And how are they going to navigate the political divide in the upcoming years? And what can other institutions and their people learn from them?

In the summer of 2025, Rich Canevez (Asst. Professor of Communication, Culture, and Media at the Department of Humanities) will ride a bicycle from Houghton, MI to Chicago, IL and back on a route that covers over 900 miles by road, trail, and everything in between. In this time, he will gather the stories of professionals who staff these institutions, including libraries, institutions of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), reproductive rights, transgender affirming care, and environmental stewardship, dotted across one of the most politically divided and diverse sections of America. These stories and accounts will be layered with his own experiences, by covering the distance and connecting stories with notions of spatial divide and connection, as well as his own memories of being a ethnic minority raised in this curious section of America, with a personal relationship with many of the issues these institutions, and its people, face or continue to struggle with to this day.

You can visit the project’s website at thebigrideproject.carrd.co to follow along on his journey!

The Big Ride Project on Facebook | The Big Ride Project on Bluesky

Presentation Focuses on User Experience Collaborations In the Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory

Timothy Keirnan, Assistant Teaching Professor of Humanities
Timothy Keirnan, assistant teaching professor of humanities
Liz Miller, 
Director of The Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory (ACMAL)
Liz Miller,
ACMAL director

Presented by the RTC Brown Bag Program
November 8th, 2024, noon–1:00 p.m.
Petersen Library, Walker 318

Timothy Keirnan, assistant teaching professor in the Humanities Department, and Applied Chemical and Morphological Analysis Laboratory (ACMAL) Director Liz Miller will present a case study of collaboration between Humanities and Material Science at the next Brown Bag Program presentation. ACMAL is a facility serving both Michigan Tech and external researchers that houses an extensive array of electron microanalytical and X-ray instruments. Services are available for user training, sample preparation, and sample analysis. The collaboration with ACMAL focuses on the piloting of a new software application, Facility Online Manager (FOM), to help facilities across Michigan Tech manage their equipment and lab spaces to better serve students, faculty, and staff.

In cooperation with Assistant Teaching Professor Jenni Nance and her HU3121 students, Keirnan wrote FOM user guides for both students and lab supervisors. Nance and her students will be on hand for the presentation to lend their perspectives on the combination of service work and student projects for Michigan Tech’s Scientific and Technical Communication program. Keirnan and Miller are currently collaborating on the navigation and UX (user experience design) writing of the new FOM website, which will be rolled out to the university in the near future. They’ll also discuss future collaborations to measure and enhance the ACMAL customer experience.

Groundbreaking Documentary ENO at 41 North Film Festival

Eno and director Gary Hustwit at the 41 North Film Festival

The 41 North Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary, November 7-10, at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. Headlining this year on Saturday, November 9th, is the groundbreaking generative documentary Eno about visionary musician and artist Brian Eno, directed by Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Rams, Objectified) who will be in attendance at the festival.

A pioneer at the intersection of technology and art and a self-proclaimed “sonic landscaper,” Brian Eno has been an innovative and highly influential figure, shaping the sounds of artists such as David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, and Coldplay. Drawing inspiration from its subject, the film Eno also blends art and technology through its use of a bespoke generative software developed by Hustwit and creative technologist Brendan Dawes. The software uniquely sequences scenes from Hustwit’s interviews and footage, along with Eno’s own archive of hundreds of hours of never-before-seen footage and unreleased music. No two screenings are alike, each one offering different scenes, order, transitions, and music.

Hustwit has been presenting the film live around the country and the world since its premiere at the 2024 Sundance film festival and will present two unique iterations of the film at 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The 3:30 p.m. screening will include a Q&A with Hustwit and Brendan Dawes (via Zoom) following the film. This event is co-sponsored by the College of Computing and the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems. Look for announcements about other featured events and the full festival program in the coming days. 

The 41 North Film Festival is sponsored by the Department of Humanities, the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, and the College of Sciences and Arts.

Richard Canevez Awarded 2024 REF Seed Grant

Richard Canevez and Kette Thomas, Humanities, participate in a panel at the 2023 41 North Film Festival.
Richard Canevez, assistant professor of communication, culture, and media, has been awarded a 2024 REF Seed Grant.

Richard Canevez, assistant professor of communication, culture, and media in humanities, has been awarded a 2023 seed grant from the Vice President for Research Office Research Excellence Fund.

In its evaluation of the proposal the committee wrote: “The project will use narrative inquiry to gather and analyze information on the experiences of Ukrainian refugees, and thus is both timely and supportive of strategic goals of Michigan Tech related to global issues and those of the Humanities department.”

From the VPR web page, “REF-RS grants are designed to provide research faculty (including research scientists, engineers, and research assistant professors) and untenured, tenure-track academic faculty who have been in their current position with Michigan Tech for less than six years with additional resources to develop an externally supported research program.”

Canevez joined the humanities roster in spring 2023. His research focuses on social informatics, peace and conflict, social justice, and social movements and resistance, with a current focus on the war in Ukraine. He also teaches in communication, culture, and media, and will be teaching a course specifically in Power, Activism, & Technology next fall.

Congratulations, Dr. Canevez!

Lindsay Hiltunen Appointed to Ottawa National Forest Resource Advisory Committee

RTC PhD student and archivist in the University Archives, Lindsay Hiltunen, has been appointed to the advisory committee for the Ottawa National Forest.


University Archivist Lindsay Hiltunen (VPOL) has been appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to the new Ottawa National Forest Resource Advisory Committee (RAC). Members of the RAC are vetted and designated by the secretary of agriculture and meet under Federal Advisory Committee Act regulations. All meetings are open to the public.

A Secure Rural Schools RAC provides recommendations to the U.S. Forest Service on the development and implementation of special projects on federal lands as authorized under the Secure Rural Schools Act and Community Self-Determination Act in Public Law 110-343. This act was most recently reauthorized for two years by section 41202 of Public Law 117-58 (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Nov. 15, 2021.

Vilsack appointed Hiltunen, along with 14 others, to serve four-year terms on the Ottawa National Forest RAC. The inaugural meeting will be called in summer 2024.

Hernandez-Ramos Inducted into STC Student Honorary Society

Scientific and Technical Communication major Aracely Hernandez-Ramos was inducted into the Society for Technical Communication’s student honorary society Sigma Tau Chi.

Aracely Hernandez-Ramos was inducted into the Society for Technical Communication’s student honorary society Sigma Tau Chi in a ceremony at the society’s annual conference on May 18th. Membership into the society is an honor awarded to students enrolled in a technical communication program who “[…] have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above, are exemplary in participation in STC, and demonstrate a potential for significant contribution to the profession. In 2024, only two STC student members were awarded this distinction.”

Hernandez-Ramos is an undergraduate in humanities’ scientific and technical communication program, as well as the president of MTU’s student chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. She is also a coach at the Michigan Tech writing center, and can commonly be seen around the department.

Our heartfelt congratulations to Aracely!

Brown Bag Talk: Bridging Knowledges and Expertise in Community-Engaged Research Partnerships

What:

Abstract:

Community-engaged research requires creating and navigating the pathway to equitable, inclusive partnerships. With the realization that a diversity of stakeholders, rights holders, and research sponsors require more than can be accomplished by the solo investigator, how might one engage in this work in a good way? This talk illustrates ‘bridging’ as an adaptable/adoptable concept and practice between Western and Indigenous knowledges and expertise systems. Gagnon will share the “Seasons of Research” framework, created in partnership with the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Lake Superior Band of Ojibwa, and concludes by proposing future directions and good relations for strengthening research partnerships as a shared priority commitment.

Who:

Presented by Affiliated Assistant Professor in the Humanities, Valoree Gagnon.

All are welcome to attend!

When:

Friday, February 2 2024

Where:

Petersen Library, Walker Arts & Humanities Center