Tag: media

Brown Bag Talk: Vamp & Godmother? Contradictions of Theda Bara and Gendered War Work

What:

Abstract:

This talk focuses on the peculiar case of Theda Bara, a Hollywood actress who became famous for her ethnic-Other “vamp” movie character and public persona. In 1918, Bara was appointed “Godmother” to the 158th Infantry Regiment from Arizona. The practice of godmothering had started early in World War I but was prohibited in France and Britain after 1915 due to suspicions of sexual misconduct between women and their “godsons,” as well as fears about its potential for espionage. When the U.S. intervened in 1917, godmothering was discouraged by the Department of War, with exceptions made for female screen idols who offered government officials a useful mechanism by which to help promote troop morale and the will to fight. Bara’s promiscuous, even adulterous persona, however, ostensibly threatened conventional morality among men and women, and the “wholesome” model of “soldier-citizen” the camps aimed to cultivate among the men. Accordingly, her films were banned in the training camps. I explore the logic of Bara as godmother through an analysis of Hollywood’s star system in the 1910s and how its discursive construction of stardom intersects with Foucault’s discussion of discourse and sexuality.  

Who:

Presented by Sue Collins, Associate Professor of Communication, Culture, and Media.

All are welcome to attend!

When:

Friday, April 11 2025

Where:

Petersen Library, Walker Arts & Humanities Center

In Praise of Football: Poetics, Aesthetics, Politics, & Identities of the Ball with Guest Speaker Daniel Noemi Voionmaa

On Friday, April 4th at noon visiting Speaker Daniel Noemi Voionmaa will be giving a public talk titled “In Praise of Football: Poetics, Aesthetics, Politics, and Identities of the Ball” in EERC 103.

This event is free and open to all. Dr. Voionmaa is Professor of Cultures, Societies, and Global Studies at Northeastern University. He will be visiting Spanish classes throughout his visit in addition to the public talk.

Abstract:

On December 18, 2022, 1.5 billion people watched the penalty kicked by Gonzalo Montiel, at Lusali Stadium in Doha, that gave Argentina its third World Cup. Probably, many more heard about it in the following days. Indeed, Qatar’s World Cup was the epitome of global sports entertainment: the world was not only one, but it was also, literally, a globe, a foot-ball. The 2026 USA-Canada Mexico World Cup is expected to surpass those numbers.

Not a long time ago, in 1930, Argentina had played its first final (without so much success: Uruguay won 4 to 2). The Estadio Centenario was packed; perhaps a few thousands listen to it on the radio (we don’t have the exact numbers), nobody watched it on TV (that happened only in 1954, and just for a few Central European countries. Color came in 1970). Many things have changed in football since that evening in Montevideo, in 1930, no doubt. However, if we were able to hear a conversation of a group of friends after a football match in 1930 and in 2025, we would be surprised how similar they are. Like in life –a comparison many times drawn—change and continuity are simultaneously present. Like life, football can be thought and analyzed from many points of view: tactics and strategies on the field, attitudes of fans in the stands, the politics it involves, a never-ending market-oriented paraphernalia, nationalist discourses, philosophical discussions – postmodern takes, existentialist reverberations, post-structuralist analyses, psychoanalytical insights–, and a myriad of cultural and artistic artifacts and productions. Football, soccer, fútbol, calcio, futebol is, as Eduardo Archetti once said, a mirror of our societies (and ourselves), but also a mask that covers and hides who we are and who we want to be.

In these remarks, I will attempt to show, using specific examples, how football has not only created a vast and multilayered imaginary, one in which politics and economics play a key role; but also that it has produced an artistic and poetic corpus that, perhaps, is as attractive as the beautiful game itself.

Gaming and Social Advocacy Workshop

The Humanities Department will be hosting an afternoon, hands-on, workshop for Michigan Tech students on gaming and social advocacy. Students will play games, design aspects of a digital game, and discuss how gaming might be used to promote active participation in social issues and citizenship.

This event is Free and open to the public! Space is limited!
Register by October 31st at http://bit.ly/1NbMoK2

When: Friday, November 6 12:30-3:30pm
Where: Walker Arts and Humanities Center, 120C

Gaming and Social Advocacy Workshop