Classics Department's Must-See Symposium: Natural Disasters Past and Present
If you want to understand everything that happens when a natural disaster occurs, you wont want to miss the classics departments extraordinarily popular mini-symposium.
Like all of its predecessors, Natural Disasters Past and Present received its inspiration from current events, and there will probably be a crowd once again at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov.10, in 308 Blegen when speakers highlight examples from Ancient Greece (Thera), Rome (Vesuvius) and the Mid-East (Pakistan).
What actually happened? How were people affected? Who was blamed for the disasters and their aftermaths? What long-term consequences occurred as a result?
If the questions Jack Davis, Elizabeth Frierson, and Tulane University visitor Susann Lusnia will address sound familiar, its because they are similar to those you've heard in media coverage of this year's killer tsunami, hurricanes, and earthquakes.
Theyll also offer insight into the inevitable fallout of catastrophic events: how people less directly involved react, how disasters were and are represented in the cultural memory of the world, and how they were and are used to support varying agendas.
Other public mini-symposia that put current topics into historical perspective included Afghanistan (2002), Iraq (2003), and same-sex marriage (2004).
Additional information about the program is available on the classics
or (513) 556-3050.
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