Faculty

David Nirenberg on Anti-Judaism in 'The Chronicle of Higher Education'

David Nirenberg, the Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor of History and Social Thought, wrote an article titled "Anti-Judaism as Critical Theory" for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Nirenberg, who studies "the ways in which Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures constitute themselves by inter-relating with or thinking about each other," echoes Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism when he asks in the article, "How and why do ideas about Jews and Judaism become convincing explanations for the state of the world in a given time and place?" Utilizing theorists like Arendt, Marx, and Hegel, Nirenberg traces the history of thinking about Judaism and how that thought has shaped our view of the world.

Read the full article here, and find his latest book Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition here.

Lauren Berlant Interviewed in 'Xtra! Canada'

Xtra! Canada recently featured a Q&A with Lauren Berlant, George M. Pullman Professor in English, and 2013 Northrop Frye Professor of Literary Theory at University of Toronto's Centre for Comparative Literature. In the Q&A, Berlant discusses her most recent book, Cruel Optimism, as well as U.S. politics, same-sex marriage, and teaching.

William Pope.L Profiled in 'Interview Magazine'

In the February 2013 issue of Interview, William Pope.L, Associate Professor in Visual Arts, discussed his upcoming exhibition at the Renaissance Society and his "crawl" pieces. The most famous of these "crawl" works consisted of crawling on his hands and knees from the beginning to the end of Broadway street in Manhattan, a 22-mile journey that took him nine years to complete, "with each installment lasting as long as Pope.L could endure the knee and elbow pain (often about six blocks)." He also considered questions surrounding whether he defines his work as activism, his upcoming Pull! project (in which he and a group of local participants will pull an eight-ton truck through the streets of Cleveland by hand), and his thoughts on authorship in community-based art.

The community is, in fact, one of the most important parts of Pope.L's work. When asked whether he enjoys making the work he does, he responded:

No, I did not enjoy crawling. Overall, I enjoy making work with others. I enjoy the small moments of revelation that are only possible in the company of others. I enjoy making a clear puzzle. I realize more and more that making is unmaking. To make something is to undo it. To make something is to make it less mysterious, that is, in the process of removing a veil, one of many. You gain more intimacy, but it may not be very pleasant.

Pope.L's show at the Renaissance Society, titled Forlesen, will run from April 28 to June 23. It will be his first solo exhibition in Chicago since joining the University faculty.

With Valentine's Day Approaching, Why Not Try an Ancient Greek Love Spell?

We live in an era of convenience, and trying to make someone fall in love with you using only your personality is time-consuming. It might be time to try a different kind of charm: ancient Greek magic! The Core spoke with Chris Faraone, Frank Curtis Springer and Gertrude Melcher Springer in Classics, about the kinds of love spells described in his book Ancient Greek Love Magic. Faraone explained that men and women typically used different kinds of spells, an eros spell for men and a philia spell for women. The eros spell was used as more of a curse, designed to cause the woman an unbearable amount of torture which could only be relieved by the man who cast the spell. The philia spell was designed to bind the man closer to the woman, and was related more to healing magic than to torture (which presumably comes in the later stages of the relationship).

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