IAP 2013 Activities by Sponsor - History

Hiromu Nagahara

Jan/09

Wed

02:00PM-03:30PM

Meet at Museum

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/10
Limited to 20 participants

Did you know that Boston is home to the largest collection of Japanese art outside of Japan? Join MIT Japan historian, Hiromu Nagahara, on a tour of the fascinating collection at MFA, including famous woodblock prints, Buddhist sculptures, and samurai swords. The tour will include a discussion of the artworks' significance as well as how they got to Boston in the first place.  *Meet at 2pm inside MFA's Huntington Ave. entrance. 
Students with MIT ID get in museum for free. 

Sponsor(s): History
Contact: Hiromu Nagahara, E51-255G, (617) 324-4977, nagahara@mit.edu

Anne McCants

Jan/08

Tue

12:00PM-04:00PM

Burton Conner

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 20 participants
Prereq: Stomach and sense of humor

Interested in gnawing on greasy lamb shanks? Perhaps you prefer vetches, oats and spelt-cakes? How about fermented fish sauce? Come join us for an afternoon of good old--and we mean REALLY old--fashioned ancient & medieval cookery. We will prepare, cook, and eat medieval foods from both sides of the Mediterranean Sea. Preparations will involve the use of authentic period recipe-books. You are invited to join us for this afternoon of fun and feasting. For those with more academic interests we will have sources available for your reading pleasure--or horror. If you plan to arrive later than the start time, please indicate this when registering.

Sponsor(s): History
Contact: Anne McCants, E51-291, x8-6669, amccants@mit.edu

Christopher Leighton

Feb/01

Fri

05:30PM-07:30PM

E51-095

Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/29
Prereq: None

China's recent economic and social transformations have drawn international interest, but what has it felt like to live them? We will consider the particular case of women, and follow their changing place in China over the last thirty years through ethnographic films. How have changing politics, economic growth, or evolvinging social norms affected their lives? Do urban and rural women share similar key concerns, or are their most important problems defined by something other than their sex--their class, for example? To what extent are the tensions and changes we see particular and "Chinese" and to what extent are they universal?

Participants will watch documentary film clips, share a meal of Chinese food, and discuss these questions. No prerequisites, all welcome.

Sponsor(s): History
Contact: Christopher Leighton, E51-288, 617 324-0541, cleight@MIT.EDU

Margo Collett, Anne McCants

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/10
Limited to 15 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

This course explores an aspect of medieval textile and clothing production technologies, offering students hands on experience. We will work with a raw fleece; card and spin the wool; make skeins of yarn which can be used for weaving or knitting. Sitting wheels, large walking wheels and all materials will be provided. This course will question typical characterization of medieval textile work as unskilled, as well as consider distinctions usually made between activities labeled as crafts versus those labeled as art.

Sponsor(s): History
Contact: Anne E. C. McCants, E51-291, 2586669, amccants@mit.edu

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The Distaff Arts: Pre-Industrial textile

	Jan/17	Thu	10:00AM-04:00PM	E51-095
	Jan/18	Fri	10:00AM-04:00PM	E51-095