Thursday, March 7th at 12 noon in Classics 110 — Professor David Nirenberg (Professor of Medieval History and Social Thought) will facilitate a discussion with us about what it means and entails to write as an academic scholar for non-academic audiences. As we plunge deeper and deeper into scholarly specializations and focused projects, many of us undoubtedly wrestle with how to meaningfully “translate” our academic concerns for broader audiences. As Prof. Nirenberg wrote last year in The Nation: “What is my work? How can I make that work visible, its interest tangible? Since the early nineteenth century the artist’s studio has been a space of excited visitation…But the solitary sitter in the historian’s study attracts no voyeurs. What thrill is to be found in hours of stillness, the occasional rustle of paper, the all too intermittent clicking of computer keys?” In this joint meeting of the Jewish Studies and Medieval Studies workshops, Prof. Nirenberg will share reflections on these crucial questions, and converse with us about the joys, challenges, and importance of scholarly communication with the public. Prior to the meeting, please read Prof. Nirenberg’s review of Adina Hoffman and Peter Cole’s Sacred Trash in The Nation, and his review of Ruth HaCohen’s The Music Libel against the Jews in the New Republic.
This program is co-sponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop.
If you have any questions or need special assistance, please email shonkoff@uchicago.edu.