MCLA Announces Modernity Lecture Series
NORTH ADAMS, Mass – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will sponsor a special year-long observance of the sesquicentennial of 1859 to reexamine critically the long-range impact on modern society.The first presentation will occur on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 3 p.m. in the Murdock Hall conference room 218, when a faculty panel will present an overview of the year’s events and offer some preliminary definitions of modernity. Panel participants include David Langston, Ellen Barber, Maureen Horak, Alla Kucher, Frances Jones-Sneed, Mark Miller, William Montgomery, Scott Nichols, Paul Nnodim and Matt Silliman.
This series of lectures, scholarly colloquia, panel discussions and athletic contests is designed to bring an appreciation and critical understanding of the impact of modernity. The series is free and open to the public.
Next year marks the 150th anniversary of an extraordinary array of landmark events that influenced the modernization of global society. Notable events of 1859 include the publication of Darwin’s “Origin of the Species,” the first commercial production of oil in Pennsylvania, a portent of the Civil War in John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry; the publication of Karl Marx’s first volume analyzing capitalism; digging began on the Suez Canal; George Eliot published her pioneering first novel; Billy the Kid was born, Charles Sanders Pierce launched his philosophical career; Horace Bushnell, a leading spokesman for religious liberalism, retired; and first ever intercollegiate baseball game – the opponents were Williams and Amherst – was played in Pittsfield.
In January 2009, there will be the second conference focused on the development of oil as the dominant energy source for modern societies. Williams College history professor Karen Merrill, an expert on the history of oil, will deliver a lecture on the consequences of oil dependence over 150 years of modernity. Following her talk, a there will be a panel discussion focused on alternative energy sources on which to build a sustainable future.
For more information, contact Langston, 413-662-5371, or via e-mail at David.Langston@mcla.edu.
