Megan Fossa

Alberto Aguilera Valadez, known as Juan Gabriel, is one of the most prolific and successful Mexican songwriters and performers of the last 40 years and an icon of contemporary Mexican popular culture. His effeminate public persona has prompted fans and critics alike to question his masculinity. Alejandro Madrid, professor of musicology at Cornell, will discuss […]

Colby Professor of Science, Technology, and Society Jim Fleming has written extensively on the social, cultural, and intellectual history of weather, climate, technology, and the environment. In this talk he will consider the neologism "anthropocene" (age of humans), which has struck a cultural nerve, pointing to what may be the decisive epoch of our planet. […]

Colby Professor of Art Veronique Plesch, author and editor of eight books, will consider how the Renaissance, traditionally conceived of as a rebirth of ancient ideas and ideals, could be seen as concerned with the creation of a convincing depiction of reality. As part of Colby 2015-16 annual humanities theme, Human/Nature, special attention will be […]

Geoff Manaugh explains the 2012 Landscape Futures exhibition concerning humans' dependency on machines and other intermediaries to interpret their surrounding landscape. Manaugh will also present on artificial replacements for natural phenomena, including patents for new forms of artificial snow, trees, and geology, as well as unexpected side effects.

Since its beginning, futurism, the first of the historical avant-garde movements, strived to establish a radically new way of representing the world. Violence was its preferred mode of interacting with reality and the key to unlocking a new sense of aesthetics, as well as the path to creation of the new man. What, if anything, […]

Charles H. Traub, photographer of the real world, will talk about his long involvement with the delights of the street, particularly those of Italy. Drawing from his two recent books, Dolce Via and Lunchtime — monographs of his color works from the ’70s and ’80s — he will talk about change and the realities of then […]

In conjunction with the Human/Nature humanities theme, a screening of Christian Marclay's Telephones (1995) and Bollywood Goes to Gstaad (2013). Steve Wurtzler, associate professor of cinema studies, will introduce Marclay's works and lead a post-screening discussion. Cosponsored by the Center for the Arts and Humanities, Colby's Cinema Studies Program, and the Colby Museum of Art.

Body is Earth, our bones breath and blood are the minerals, air and water inside us, not separate but same. And dance — movement — is an essential way to experience this interconnectedness. In this lecture/performance, Andrea Olsen, professor of dance at Middlebury College, will explore somatic movement practices and the process of "changing lenses" […]

No different from people in our times, the Greeks and Romans exhibited a wide range of behavior vis-à-vis the natural world: awe at its majesty, greed for its resources, and fear of its secrets. The witches of antiquity, however, laid claim to special status because they said that they could control, dominate, and destroy nature. […]

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, and especially in the ’60s and ’70s, Italian poets attempted a radical renovation of traditional literary institutions and conventions. What had begun as an effort to reconsider literature soon turned into a political experiment aimed at re-writing the world itself. Beppe Cavatorta, associate professor of Italian at the University […]

Theresa Secord, founding member of the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance, will share a 200-year tribal history and her story as a Penobscot Indian basket maker and longtime advocate for the art. Secord also fast-forwards to a new generation of young Wabanaki basket makers to look into their world, their challenges, and the exciting new directions […]

The themes of anthropocentrism, the intrinsic value of nature, and an ecological worldview have preoccupied environmental philosophers for decades. How have philosophers considered these topics, and which of their conclusions are relevant today? Assistant Professor of Philosophy Keith Peterson will consider whether anthropocentrism motivates the concept of the Anthropocene and ask whether an ecological worldview is […]

Theater of War presents dramatic readings of Sophocles’ Ajax—a Greek tragedy about the suicide of a great, respected warrior—to engage communities about the visible and invisible wounds of war. This event is aimed at fostering understanding and compassion while mobilizing citizens to help improve the lives of service members, veterans, and their families. Cosponsored by the Center […]

Jen Casad’s meticulous graphite drawings capture the working culture of Maine’s fishing industry. In a conversation between Casad and the museum’s Student Advisory Board, she will address her art and livelihood and the close connection to nature that informs the lives of Maine’s fishermen. Cosponsored by the Center for the Arts and Humanities, the Museum of […]

Tim Clorius, a.k.a. Subone, was the first artist in Maine to pursue a professional career as a spray painter. He labeled himself an “aerosol artist” to emphasize his interest in spray painting fine-art-oriented works that range from abstraction to realism yet remain resolutely what he calls “graffitiesque.” Clorius conducts workshops for students that advocate for the potential that aerosol […]

Despite trips to the Moon, humans in Earth orbit, and plans for exploring Mars, an expansive vision for human spaceflight has not emerged in the 21st century. Roger Launius, associate director for collections and curatorial affairs at the National Air and Space Museum, will survey more 50 years of space exploration then offer comments on the possibilities […]

Join faculty members and students in Colby’s Creative Writing Program as they read works written in response to art on view in museum galleries. Cosponsored by the Creative Writing Program, the Center for the Arts and Humanities, and the Colby College Museum of Art.

As a tropical ecologist, Marty Crump studies behavior, ecology, and conservation of amphibians. Much of her research has involved frog reproduction and parental care, as well as declining amphibian populations. She has worked mainly in Latin America, especially Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Crump is currently studying Darwin’s frogs in Chile. She has […]

Don’t miss an opportunity to meet Rwandan director Kivu Ruhorahoza after the screening of his well-acclaimed film Things of the Aimless Wanderer, which was presented at the Sundance Film Festival. To be absolutely mesmerized by a film, totally transfixed, is a rare happening in cinema, but should be the norm, right? Ruhorahoza’s Things Of The Aimless […]

Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who was awarded the 2014 Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the alternative Nobel. His 1989 book, The End of Nature, regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, has appeared in 24 languages. His 350.org is the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement. Tickets […]

Professor of Philosophy Dan Cohen (Colby, Class of ’75) will discuss the Scientific Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, which marked a sea change in Western thought about the world and humanity’s place in it. At its start, we located ourselves at the center of a finite, harmonious, purpose-filled cosmos. By its end, the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic […]

Two Cent Talks welcomes Bill Roorbach and Arielle Greenberg for a reading, reception, and book signing. Roorbach’s book The Remedy for Love was a finalist for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and he won the Flannery O’Connor and O. Henry prizes for his short story collection Big Bend and the Maine Literary Award for Nonfiction for Temple Stream. Greenberg is the […]

Gillen D’Arcy Wood, professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, asks what happens when the world’s climate reaches a sudden tipping point. This year marks the 200th anniversary of the so-called “year without a summer.” The fallout from the massive 1816 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia caused a global climate emergency with […]

From Facebook pages to WhatsApp forwards, the Internet and social media helped pave the way to the Arab Spring ongoing revolutions. Khalid Albaih, a political cartoonist from Sudan and the 2016 Oak Fellow, will discuss his cartoons that champion freedom of expression and democracy in the Arab world. During the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, […]

If the emotional health and well-being of individuals are linked to the larger structural features of their societies, then literature provides an important but often overlooked site for examining the social conditions that support (and diminish) mental health. Julie Minich, University of Texas at Austin, examines the depiction of mental health on the U.S.-Mexico border […]