MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2015 Activities by Sponsor - Literature

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Beyonce: Black Feminist Thought in Popular Culture

Sandy Alexandre, Professor of Literature

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

This course explores Beyoncé’s songs, music videos, and photographs as a way to reflect on issues of black feminism, womanism, and intersectionality. What do those terms even mean? How exactly does race and feminism intersect, and why is that particular intersection important, especially in the case of this singer? How successful or forced are efforts to view Beyoncé as a paragon of black feminism? What does a practice of womanism in action actually look like, and how might a performance of it on a music video, for example, invite someone to emulate it (or tailor it for feasible, productive, and pleasurable use) in the real world? How can we use popular entertainment as a foray into deeper examinations of race, gender, class, and sexuality? Is palatable, and entertaining black feminism any different from—a diluted version of—the black feminism we read about in scholarly books? This course will include in-class discussions of Black Feminist Thought (1990) by Patricia Hill Collins, along with supplemental essays, which we will read over the course of one week.

Sponsor(s): Literature, Women's and Gender Studies
Contact: Sandy Alexandre, 14N-422, 617-253-4450, alexandy@mit.edu


Beyonce: Black Feminist Thought

Add to Calendar Jan/20 Tue 02:30PM-04:30PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/21 Wed 02:30PM-04:30PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/22 Thu 02:30PM-04:30PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/23 Fri 02:30PM-04:00PM 14E-304

Sandy Alexandre - Professor of Literature


Kevin Pilkington: New Poems

David Thorburn, Professor

Add to Calendar Jan/15 Thu 02:30PM-04:00PM 14E-304

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

Award-winning poet Kevin Pilkington will read from his forthcoming book, Where You Want To Be.

Kevin Pilkington ​​​​​​​​​​teaches writing at Sarah Lawrence College and is the author of six books of poetry, including Spare Change (La Jolla Poets Press National Book Award winner), Ready to Eat the Sky (Independent Publishers Books Award finalist) and In the Eyes of a Dog  (2011 New York Book Festival Award winner). His poems and reviews have appeared in many magazines including The Harvard Review, Boston Review, and North American Review.  His first novel, Summer Shares, was published in 2012.

Sponsor(s): Literature
Contact: David Thorburn, 14N-335, 617-253-6950, thorburn@mit.edu


Mobile Marathon: Arabian Nights

Diana Henderson, Professor

Add to Calendar Jan/28 Wed 09:00AM-11:00AM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/28 Wed 11:00AM-02:30PM Spofford Room
Add to Calendar Jan/28 Wed 02:30PM-04:00PM Stella Room
Add to Calendar Jan/28 Wed 04:00PM-05:00PM TBD

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session

Once upon a time there was an IAP event in which members and friends of the MIT community took turns reading selections aloud from The Arabian Nights over the course of an entire day. Hard copies of the selections were aplenty and made available to those in attendance. They traveled far and wide to various locations on the MIT campus to simulate the different settings where the many stories of that text occur. Some trudged. Some even skipped (to my Lou, but also skipped some of the venues altogether, since everyone was welcome but not obligated to stay the whole day)! But I digress. During the first few minutes at the first venue, a wonderfully charming and eloquent professor placed the text in historical and cultural context while also debunking some myths about the stories popularly--yet incorrectly--associated with and allegedly included in The Arabian Nights. After the brief lesson, everyone in the room clapped with delight and appreciation. They were all the wiser for listening. Overall, the event was a tremendous success, and when they reached their final destination of the day, they were all happily surprised to discover that…

Don't let the suspense kill you! Let it keep you wanting more! Join us to hear and to make how the story ends!

When:  Wednesday, 28 January 2015; 10am-5pm

Where: See above times and places.

How: Come! Bring a friend!

Tweet as you participate: #TheArabianNights

Sponsor(s): Literature
Contact: Sandy Alexandre, 14N-422, 617-253-4450, alexandy@mit.edu


On the Screen - activity

Eugenie Brinkema, Literature Professor

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Examines works of film, television or other screen-based media, with emphasis on texts that are related by genre, time period, style, or director. Listeners are welcome to attend individual sessions.
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We will explore various elements of cinematic texts to determine what makes a film an instance or version of a film of a particular kind, members of which all offer versions of the same underlying story. Discerning its kind (or genre) is implicit in understanding any film narrative--why the action makes sense and what it means in relation to lived experience. Genres to be examined will include: Westerns, Detective Films, Musicals, Screwball Comedies, Fantasy, Vampires, Gangster movies, Samurai movies, and a nameless genre: films about the relation of the medium to reality. In addition to viewing sixteen films, we will also read some literary or dramatic texts or portions thereof to compare the treatment of similar narrative patterns in two different media.


Sponsor(s): Literature
Contact: Eugenie Brinkema, 14N-408, 617-253-3068, brinkema@mit.edu


The Lodger (1927)

Add to Calendar Jan/05 Mon 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Blackmail (1929)

Add to Calendar Jan/06 Tue 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

The 39 Steps (1935)

Add to Calendar Jan/07 Wed 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Suspicion (1941)

Add to Calendar Jan/08 Thu 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Add to Calendar Jan/12 Mon 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Spellbound (1945)

Add to Calendar Jan/13 Tue 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

The Trouble with Harry (1955)

Add to Calendar Jan/14 Wed 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Strangers on a Train (1951)

Add to Calendar Jan/15 Thu 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Rear Window (1954)

Add to Calendar Jan/20 Tue 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Notorious (1946)

Add to Calendar Jan/21 Wed 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Rope (1948)

Add to Calendar Jan/22 Thu 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

North by Northwest

Add to Calendar Jan/26 Mon 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Vertigo (1958)

Add to Calendar Jan/27 Tue 03:00PM-05:00PM 1-390

Psycho (1960)

Add to Calendar Jan/28 Wed 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

The Birds (1963)

Add to Calendar Jan/29 Thu 03:00PM-05:00PM 3-270

Pleasures of Poetry 2015

David Thorburn

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

This popular activity –- which aims to reach all lovers of poetry -- has been offered every IAP for the last fifteen years.  Each one-hour session is devoted to a single poet, usually a single poem.  The goal is discussion and shared pleasure.  No lectures or professorial arrogance allowed. Some participants attend every session, but many others attend only once or twice to read and discuss a favorite poet or poem.  The roster of poets is always immensely diverse: from ancient Chinese masters to contemporary American poets laureate, from such famous Greats as Shakespeare, Keats and Auden to Dr. Seuss and Bob Dylan.  Discussion and collaborative close reading are the aim and ideal of each hour.  A packet of all the chosen texts will be posted online (lit.mit.edu) and will be available in hardcopy from the Literature Office.

Sponsor(s): Literature
Contact: David Thorburn, 14N-335, 3-6950, thorburn@mit.edu


Pleasures of Poetry

Add to Calendar Jan/05 Mon 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/06 Tue 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/07 Wed 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/08 Thu 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/09 Fri 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/12 Mon 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/13 Tue 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/14 Wed 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/15 Thu 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/16 Fri 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/20 Tue 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/21 Wed 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/22 Thu 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/23 Fri 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/26 Mon 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/27 Tue 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/29 Thu 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304
Add to Calendar Jan/30 Fri 01:00PM-02:00PM 14E-304

Each session a moderator will discuss poem(s) from a poet. Packets of poems and a schedule will be available on-line at http://lit.mit.edu/ or in Literature HQ. Copies of poems will be brought to each session.

David Thorburn