UMass Lecture Series On A Planet In Crisis Continues
Photo: UMass Department of History
Source: UMass Department of History
The Fineberg Lecture and Film series, “A Planet on the Precipice, Histories and Futures of the Environmental Emergency” continues next week with a focus on Liberia. All events are free and accessible via Zoom.
The latest offering features award-winning author, filmmaker, and teacher Greg Mitman with a presentation entitled Viral Exchanges: Hotspots, Spillovers, and the Reordering of Life (lecture) and The Land Beneath Our Feet (film).
Future events are as follows:
Lecture by Greg Mitman on Monday, March 22, 5 p.m. Focused on Liberia, this talk explores the ecological, economic, political and social forces at play that have turned certain regions into profitable sites of natural resource extraction, enclaves of biomedical research, and hot zones of pandemic threats. Moderated by John Higginson (Professor Emeritus of History, UMass Amherst). Read more and register.
Film Screening: The Land Beneath Our Feet. Streaming Thursday, March 18 – Thursday, April 1. The Land Beneath Our Feet weaves together rare archival footage from a 1926 Harvard expedition to Liberia with the journey of a young Liberian man, uprooted by war, seeking to understand how the past has shaped land conflicts in his country today. This film is an explosive reminder of how large-scale land grabs are transforming livelihoods across the planet. Read more and register.
Film Discussion: Panel Conversation with the Director Thursday, March 25, 6 p.m. A panel discussion and public Q&A on The Land Beneath Our Feet with African Studies scholars Cajetan Iheka (Associate Professor of English, Yale University), Elisa Prosperetti (Visiting Professor of History, Mount Holyoke College), Russell Stevenson (Visiting Professor of History, UMass Amherst), and director Gregg Mitman. Read more and register.
Gregg Mitman is the Vilas Research and William Coleman Professor of History, Medical History, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an award-winning author, filmmaker, and teacher whose interests span the history of science, medicine, and the environment in the United States and the world. His books and co-edited volumes include Future Remains: A Cabinet of Curiosities for the Anthropocene (University of Chicago Press, 2018), Breathing Space: How Allergies Shape our Lives and Landscapes (Yale University Press, 2007), and Reel Nature: America’s Romance with Wildlife on Film, rev. ed. (University of Washington Press, 2009). He co-produced and co-directed two films, In the Shadow of Ebola, an intimate portrait of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, and The Land Beneath Our Feet, a documentary on history, memory, and land rights in Liberia. His most recent book, Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia, will be published by The New Press. |
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