Subject Areas - Arts and Humanities

Issue	Article
September/October 2008	The Big Picture In many ways, the permanent collection of the UMaine Museum of Art is a who's who of American — and, more recently, international — art. Tour a selection of staff favorites from the nearly 7,000-piece collection. Election 2008 From their fields of expertise, UMaine faculty members in philosophy, history, economics, business and political science offer insights into the cultural realities overarching this historic presidential election year.
May/June 2008	The Making of Figaro The School of Performing Arts production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro mobilized upward of 100 students in theater, music and dance in the six-month run-up to the February performances.
March/April 2008	Music that Opens Doors In 2006 in Guatemala, a youth orchestra Anatole Wieck mentored showed him the ultimate ability of music to not only lift the spirit of a society, but also to bring about social change. Staging Area Margo Lukens specializes in Wabanaki literary history and literature of mixed blood. As a result of her teaching and research, she has become an empowering facilitator for the voices of Native writers and playwrights.
January/February 2008	Nation of Origins Throughout American history, issues related to religious, racial and ethnic diversity have bubbled up, especially in times of national crisis. Indeed, cultural diversity shaped the formation of the nation, according to early American historian Liam Riordan.
September/October 2007	Faulty Intelligence Humans engage in war and kill members of their own species primarily because of their uniquely developed intelligence, according to anthropologist Paul Roscoe. The Art of Perception Psychology professor D. Alan Stubbs uses digital art to help illustrate principles of perception.
July/August 2007	Constant Flux Owen Smith is a highly respected historian on the Fluxus genre. He also is an accomplished artist. And, as he readily admits, the marriage of the two professions can be a bit complicated. In the Name of Their God Post-9/11, violence in the name of religion is particularly pervasive. The question, philosopher Douglas Allen says, is why in our contemporary world does the dark side of religion seem dominant?
May/June 2007	The Composers Four student composers share their love of music and how they put their own spin on sounds. The Faith in Russia Political scientist Jim Warhola looks at the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the "creeping authoritarianism" of the Putin administration.
March/April 2007	Rethinking Islamic Fundamentalism Anthropologist Henry Munson talks about Islam, nationalism and the resentment of foreign domination at the heart of the conflict in the Middle East. Fuse For seniors majoring in studio art, a challenging capstone course with an emphasis on critical thinking and the communication of ideas is a bridge to the professional art world.
September/October 2006	Choosing to Forgive A peace studies course offers a research-based exploration of forgiveness. The class helps students deconstruct the world's culture of violence and understand forgiveness as a tool to build a culture of peace. Write On! Got a paper due for a high school or college class? Head to the nearest writing center, where student tutors can't guarantee a good grade on that paper, but can help you be a better writer.
May/June 2006	Altered States The disconnect between fiction and reality is at the heart of sculptor Sam van Aken's multimedia installations. Van Aken explores media-fueled popular culture that pervades — and often alters and shapes — our experiential reality. Practicing Piano This spring, Ginger Yang Hwalek's lifetime of devotion to piano performance and pedagogy reached a pinnacle when she was named the 2006 Teacher of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association.
March/April 2006	Reclaiming Castine Castine, Maine, on Penobscot Bay has a high density of former military installations, a few of which are in near-pristine archaeological condition. UMaine historical archaeologist Alaric Faulkner knows them and the stories they tell about the state's early history.
January/February 2006	Seeking Spirituality Research by sociologist Kyriacos Markides takes him to ancient monasteries to better understand the religious, mystical experiences that are part of the everyday lives of monks, hermits and Christian healers. Napoleon Everlasting To understand the Napoleonic era, one must look beyond the military campaigns and the emperor's private life and study the economic, social, administrative and cultural aspects of his reign. To do that, says historian Alex Grab, look beyond France.
November/December 2005	Red Air Beneath the surface of what is remembered fondly as Old Time Radio of the 1940s was a very real undercurrent that threatened to silence radio actors, writers, producers and news commentators. At stake during the Red Scare: civil liberties in the name of national security.
September/October 2005	Being a Daredevil A recent psychological study of the attitudes of men and women toward heroic and daredevil risk taking in friends and prospective mates yielded surprising results. Among them: women prefer potential mates who avoid extreme physical risks. Final Decisions Families often look to physicians or chaplains for guidance in making end-of-life decisions about their loved ones. Some of those decisions are fraught with ethical dilemmas. That's where philosopher Jessica Miller comes in.
May/June 2005	Accidental Activists Sociologist Amy Blackstone's 18-month study of volunteers in an affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation offers a revealing look at women shunning political, activist and feminist roles to work within society's mainstream ideals.
March/April 2005	Dangers of Duality Political scientist Bahman Baktiari, a former national foreign affairs advisor and seasoned commentator on the Mideast, shares his views on Al-Qaeda and on the conflicts in Iraq, Israel and Palestine. His bottom line: pay closer attention to what's on the minds of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims. Oh! Canada? What do Americans know about their largest neighboring nation? According to Canadian Studies experts, too little. Sense Is Works by 22 of UMaine's leading student artists, exhibited as part of a senior capstone course, reveal a breadth and depth of talent, passion, voice and visual vocabulary. Prehistoric Swordfishing In the land of birchbark canoes, the archaeological record clearly shows that prehistoric peoples in Maine and the Maritimes hunted swordfish. How can this be? A UMaine anthropologist has spent two decades trying to find the answer.
January/February 2005	Hard-Boiled Pulp During its heyday, 1920–50, the detective novel dominated American pop culture. Associate Professor of English Jeff Evans, an expert on the genre, talks about the importance of the detective novel then — and now. Temples of Justice When courthouses began to dot the American landscape, their construction had little to do with concerns over justice and everything to do with the desires of lawyers and architects to be perceived as trained specialists with the public's interest in mind.
November/December 2004	Trust on the Line Trust is what we do everyday. What we don't do enough, says UMaine philosopher Jessica Miller, is stop to understand the basis for the complex emotional attitude that we use to interpret people and situations. Finding Adam For centuries, the identity of the scribe who worked for Geoffrey Chaucer and who wrote the earliest existing version of The Canterbury Tales has remained a mystery. Until now.
May/June 2004	Culture Shock U.S. presidential elections aren't purely politics. American culture also plays a role. A number of "new" cultural realities--from post-9/11 fear to hanging chads that shattered our blind faith in voting technology--are punctuating election 2004, giving voters even more to think about when they go to the polls.
March/April 2004	Prejudice and Punishment For the past two decades, UMaine sociologists Steven Barkan and Steven Cohn have studied the influence of racial prejudice on white Americans' views of crime and punishment. Their research shows that prejudicial views about African-Americans are associated with greater support by whites for the death penalty and harsher sentencing of convicted criminals, the use of excessive force by police, and increased spending on law enforcement.
January/February 2004	3D As part of the infrastructure of the state's creative economy, UMaine will soon have a state-of-the-art research and development laboratory for digital filmmaking. As envisioned by new media faculty member Raphael Di Luzio, the initiative has the potential to put Maine on the leading edge of a changing film industry.
November/December 2003	University Singers The 64-member University Singers is renowned for its esprit de corps, its role in student recruitment and its dynamic director, now in his 26th year. Professor of Music Dennis Cox, known to students and alumni as DC, is the high-energy, charismatic soul of the group. Together, they make music on campus, in New York's Carnegie Hall, and throughout New England and Europe. Power of the Basket Tree The ancient Wabanaki basketmaking tradition is alive in Maine, perpetuated by a strong commitment to cultural preservation by the state's tribal communities. The University of Maine supports the effort with educational outreach, economic development expertise and forestry research.
September/October 2003	Raising Radcliffe: The Roots of Gothic Tradition In her day, Ann Radcliffe was one of the first and most popular 18th-century novelists in England. Then history — and readers — forgot her. Today, literary scholar Deborah Rogers is changing that. Her extensive research on the reclusive writer sheds new light on Radcliffe's indisputable role in shaping the Gothic genre and strengthening heroines — elements that echo today throughout pop culture. Mapping the History of Maine To tell the story of Maine's past, some of the leading historians and scholars in the state have embarked on a seven-year research project like no other. When they finish, the Historical Atlas of Maine will detail the environmental, economic, social and cultural interactions that shaped the state and region, from deglaciation to the 21st century. The interdisciplinary perspectives on the history of Maine will be presented visually using archival records and new digital technologies.
July/August 2003	Painterly Realism Artist James Linehan combines abstraction with representation to paint Maine landscapes that are always on the edge. His works push the edges of American realism. His subjects are meditative and familiar, yet always showing nature at the edge of human activity. For Linehan, this past decade of landscapes illustrates the edge on which he balances in order to find a stability and stasis in his art.
May/June 2003	Revenge as a Motive for War Humans are the only animals that enter conflicts seeking an eye for an eye. Indeed, lethal revenge is not a useful evolutionary adaptation, argues University of Maine anthropologist Paul Roscoe. While revenge as a motive for war can be found throughout history, in today's thermonuclear age the result can be annihilation. Before Columbus The Maya had one of the most sophisticated civilizations in the ancient world. Today, the University of Maine's Hudson Museum provides a glimpse into that world through its Palmer Collection of West Mexican figurines, considered to be one of the most important in the United States. Portrayal Betrayal Today's technology has opened the lines of global communication, but the messages aren't always clear. In fact, they can be downright misleading, resulting in cultural misunderstanding, says broadcast journalism associate professor Lyombe Eko.
March/April 2003	Fundamentalism in Conflict Militant fundamentalism has long been at the heart of conflict in the Mideast, according to two UMaine experts on the subject, historian Alex Grab and anthropologist Henry Munson. That's why today, it's more important than ever to understand extremism and the part the United States plays in it. Transforming Technology We hear it all the time: Technological advances are changing our lives like never before. But UMaine historian Howard Segal reminds us that technological advances changed society throughout the ages — and they didn't do it alone. Literary Archaeology Before the printing press revolutionized the literary world, medieval manuscripts were important documents of record. Now international scholars like Linne Mooney are using the latest technology to translate and understand the many layers of information found in Middle English manuscripts.
November/ December 2002	Robert Creeley's Sense of Place in Maine Like a number of AmericaÍs important poets, Robert Creeley has had ties to The University of Maine for years. Most recently, he has been in the classroom as UMaine's Distinguished Visiting Professor of Poetry and Poetics, giving students an opportunity to learn from the best and Creeley a chance to return to his roots. How Would Gandhi See Our World? Amid todayÍs terrorist threats and talk of war, Mohandas GandhiÍs philosophy is as relevant as ever, according to Doug Allen, one of the worldÍs leading authorities on the 20th-century leader. Now, as in GandhiÍs day, two of the most dangerous forces in the world are religious fanaticism and extreme nationalism. The Common Roots of Environmental History The history of environmental conservation has a grassroots start. It springs from a broad spectrum of ordinary people who saw these resources as their own legacy and set out to protect them, according to historian Richard Judd.
September/October 2002	Fighting to be Somebody School-age girls are fighting among themselves, using relational aggression to gain self-esteem and power. Research by UMaine's AAUW Scholar in Residence Lyn Mikel Brown examines that dark underside of girls' friendships, looking at both its effects and causes. Lessons in Classic Horror Films UMaine English Professor Welch Everman is changing the way people view horror movies. He urges students to "read" the popular culture artifacts as critically as they read a text, analyzing the ways such flicks challenge the status quo of the dominant culture. Exercising Democracy Maintaining a healthy democracy takes more than giving your right to vote a workout. According to political scientist Amy Fried, citizens need to be active and informed to avoid being manipulated by public opinion or lulled into apathy.
Summer 2002	Complete Composure The music of composer Beth Wiemann is unconventional, contemporary and classical, often incorporating computer- generated sounds. Whether performed by schoolchildren, Grammy Award-winning artists or international orchestras, WiemannÍs works are keeping audiences and critics intrigued. Going Green Artist Susan Groce has made UMaine a world leader in the development of safer, environmentally friendly non-toxic printmaking.
December 2001/ January 2002	Stephen King on the 60's The famous author reflects on his four years as a UMaine student in the late 1960s and the evolution of his politics, from those of a clean-cut young Republican from a small southern Maine town to those of a long-haired anti-war protester and campus activist. For Love of Language As a poet, professor and publisher, Constance Hunting makes her distinctive mark on the literary world. Landscapes of the Soul For Michael H. Lewis, land, sea and sky have multiple levels of meaning. In his art, he engages the mysterious and gives shape to the unknown. The Golden Era of Smuggling In the years before, during and after the War of 1812, smuggling was a way of life. In North America, no place did it better than Maine communities on the shore of Passamaquoddy Bay.
October/November 2001	Music Amid the Madness Pianist Phillip Silver is on a musical and humanitarian quest. He is helping to ensure that the music of Jewish artists who died in the Holocaust lives on.