IAP 2015 Activities by Sponsor - History

Christopher Leighton, Assistant Professor, History

Jan/29

Thu

06:00PM-08:15PM

E51-275

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/27
Limited to 25 participants
Prereq: None

Over the last three decades, China's rapid growth has propelled millions out of poverty and captured the world's interest. Are there darker sides to this economic miracle?

Jia Zhangke, a director known for his documentary realism, takes up this topic in Touch of Sin (2013), which tells four interwined tales--all drawn from actual events--of China's contemporary gilded age. Censored in China, the bleak and ultra-violent movie shows a different vision of the "Chinese Dream" of prosperity recently invoked by President Xi.

Participants will watch and discuss the film over a shared Chinese meal. No prerequisites; all welcome.

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

Christopher Capozzola, Professor of History

Jan/29

Thu

12:00PM-01:30PM

E51-315, Bring a lunch; coffee and snacks provided.

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

From concussion policies to stadium construction, economic opportunity to off-field violence, football captured the headlines in 2014. Get ready for Super Bowl Sunday by joining an open discussion on the place of football in America’s past and present. The session draws its title from an essay by Steve Almond published in the New York Times on January 24, 2014, available online or through the MIT Libraries. Participants should read that in advance, and are also encouraged to read Almond’s Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto. Bring a lunch; coffee and snacks provided.

Sponsor(s): History
Contact: Christopher Capozzola, E51-284, 617 452-4960, capozzol@mit.edu