Lecture spotlight: ‘The Horrid Beginning’; ‘Sexual Contextualism’

“ ‘The Horrid Beginning’: Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’ as Archetype of Modern Post-Apocalyptic Narrative” by Alberto Iozzia, visiting assistant professor of Italian
1:30-3 p.m. Jan. 15, 602 Cathedral of Learning

Iozzia links contemporary expressions of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic narrative to Giovanni Boccaccio’s “Decameron,” and claims that the zombie-ridden landscapes of “The Walking Dead” lead back to Boccaccio’s masterpiece, to its structure, and to its main themes. Sponsored by French & Italian Languages and Literatures, along with Medieval and Renaissance Studies, European Studies Center, Film & Media Studies.

 

“Sex Contextualism” by Sarah Richardson, professor of the History of Science and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University
12:30-2 p.m. Jan. 16, 602 Cathedral of Learning

Colloquium on choices about how to operationalize the concept of sex in scientific research carry ontological, epistemological, ethical, and political implications. Offering a clear account of the concept of sex as it is diversely deployed in scientific theories and explanations in the twentieth and twenty-first century biomedical sciences, this presentation seeks to open terrain for arguing for more apt and reflective uses of it.

“The Maternal Imprint: Gender, Heredity, and the Biosocial Body” by Sarah Richardson, professor of the History of Science and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University
5-6:30 p.m. Jan. 16, 602 Cathedral of Learning

This talk analyzes three intertwined dimensions of scientific speculations about the long reach of the maternal intrauterine imprint: interest in the power of maternal effects science to disrupt genetic determinist ideas about human fate; conceptual and empirical debate over how to study such effects given their crypticity; and, claims about the implications of maternal intrauterine effects for women’s well-being and autonomy.

Both events co-sponsored by Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program and the Humanities Center.