Humanities Week is September 15-22

For more information, contact Susan Griffith, 216-368-1004 or sbg4@po.cwru.edu.

Posted 8-23-01

Humanities Week is September 15-22

CLEVELAND -- Whetting the appetites of those hungry for the humanities, Case Western Reserve University invites the public to gorge at its annual Humanities Week celebration. This year's theme is "Food for Thought: Eating, the Arts, and Everyday Life." Humanities Week is September 15-22.

The potluck of art, dance, film, writing, and more is sponsored by CWRU's Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, in cooperation with the Departments of Classics, English, History, Philosophy, Modern Languages and Literatures, Religion, Music, Art History and Art, and Theater Arts in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Among the highlights of the week are two talks by authors who have looked at the topic of food and its importance in our lives.

A talk on "Food and Anthropology: The Animal that Cooks" begins at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 19 in the Thwing Center Ballroom. The event features Sidney Mintz, the William L. Straus Jr. Professor Emeritus of Anthropology from John Hopkins University. He will discuss why man has turned sustenance into an art form and the rituals surrounding eating.

Mintz taught for 25 years at Yale. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1975 and became one of the founders of its Department of Anthropology. Before retiring in 1997, he did fieldwork in Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, Hong Kong, and Iran. Among the works by the food anthropologist are Worker in the Cane: The Life History of a Puerto Rican Sugarcane Worker (1960); Caribbean Transformations (1974); Sweetness and Power (1985); and Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom (1996). His current research focuses on the history and uses of soybeans and soyfoods.

Michael Ruhlman, author of Soul of a Chef: The Journey Towards Perfection, will speak at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, September 20 in 206 Clark Hall. He will talk about this book, which explores the lives of professional chefs and what creatively drives them to put the pan to the fire to sizzle dinner for their restaurant guests. The Cleveland native is also the author of four other books -- Wooden Boats (2001), The French Laundry Cookbook (1999, co-written with Thomas Keller), The Making of a Chef (1997), and Boys Themselves (1996).

Here's a complete listing of Humanities Week events. All events are free and open to the public, except where noted:

Saturday, September 15:

The week kicks off at noon with a 10-hour marathon reading of Dante's Inferno in the Guilford House Parlor.

Monday, September 17:

The annual Live Figures Chess Game between faculty and students is set for 4:30 p.m. at the Turning Point Sculpture Garden near Bellflower Road.
A one-hour walking tour of CWRU's Putnam Sculpture Collection starts at 10:30 a.m. from the Guilford House porch, rain or shine. The tour will be repeated at noon Wednesday, September 19.

Tuesday, September 18:

The Baker-Nord Center teams up with the CWRU Film Society to present the 1986 film, Tampopo. Directed by Juzo Itami, the film is a comedy about a noodle shop owner who tries to make a success of her business, as well as a celebration of eating. Special free showing.

Wednesday, September 19:

A walking tour of the Putnam Sculpture Collection begins at noon, starting from Guilford House.
"Food and Anthropology: The Animal That Cooks" is the Humanities Week keynote address by Sidney Mintz, professor emeritus of anthropology from John Hopkins University. The event starts at 4:30 p.m. in the Thwing Center Ballroom.

Thursday, September 20:

The public is invited to watch as CWRU students, faculty, and staff turn fruits and vegetables into sculptures or works of art during the Food Sculpture Contest from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Thwing Center Atrium.
Michael Ruhlman, author of Soul of a Chef and Wooden Boats, will speak at 4:30 p.m. in 206 Clark Hall.
Trisha Brown, artistic director of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, will lecture at 7 p.m. in Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & her Lover -- directed by Peter Greenway and starring Richard Bohringer and Michael Gambon -- will appear on screen in Strosacker Auditorium at 7 p.m. Set in a restaurant, it is a story about love and revenge. Special free showing.

Friday, September 21:

Trisha Brown of the Trisha Brown Dance Company will hold a master class at 1 p.m. at the Mather Dance Center.
Stephen Prince, professor of communication studies at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, will give the talk "Akira Kurosawa and His Influence on World Cinema" at 4 p.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
See a multilingual skit of Goldilocks and the Three Bears at 7 p.m. in 309 Clark Hall.
The week concludes with the CWRU Film Society's showing of the movie Chocolat -- directed by Lasse Hallstrom and starring Juliette Binoche, Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, Alfred Molina, Judi Dench, and Peter Stromare -- at 9:30 p.m. and midnight. The movie centers around a small French town in the 1950s and a chocolate shop owner who wins over the town with her sweet concoctions. Admission is $3.

For more information, call 368-0528, or check the schedule of events at http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/bakernord/.

-CWRU-