CHILL with CHESS summer workshops at Independent Picture House
Summer is coming in hot, so chill out with the talented faculty at UNC Charlotte’s College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences.
This newest CHESS initiative of lifelong learning, CHILL at IPH, comprises a full schedule of short, multisession workshops for those hungry for community, intellectual stimulation, or just a place to get away from internet streaming during the hottest hours of the day. Workshops consider the biggest questions of our time, provide accessible introductions to essential topics, or tap into your creative side.
Each workshop consists of four classes, taught over two weeks, with each four-class workshop costing $150. Classes for each workshop run 10 a.m. to noon, beginning at 10 a.m. with an hour and fifteen minutes of instruction followed by up to 45 minutes of “chill time” which is informal discussion time with faculty experts and fellow classmates.
Session 1: Jimmy Carter’s Literary Legacy
- Mark I. West, professor of English
- June 2, 4, 9 and 11
President Jimmy Carter’s legacy includes a shelf of over thirty books that he wrote over the course of his long life. He published more books than any other president other than Theodore Roosevelt and, like Roosevelt, Carter wrote his own books without the help of ghost writers. As a result, his distinct voice and point of view come through in every book that he published. Carter’s literary legacy provides a window into the workings of his mind. His books reflect his diverse interests, his deeply held values, and his creative spirit. He wrote books on a wide variety of topics, including politics, history, and religion. He also wrote several memoirs. Carter was one of only three presidents to publish a book of poetry, and he was the first president to publish a novel. Participants in this course will learn about President Carter’s approach to writing and study the themes that he explored in his books. Participants will also read excerpts from Carter’s An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood. Published in 2001, this book was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.
Session 2: Como Agua para Chocolate/ Like Water For Chocolate (En EsPaÑOL)
- Chris Boyer, founding dean of CHESS, and professor of history
- Jürgen Buchenau, Dowd Term Chair of Capitalism Studies and professor of history and Latin American studies
- June 3, 5, 10 and 12
What can an iconic movie about food, love, and family tell us about the great Mexican Revolution of 1910? A lot, actually. This course will introduce you to the revolution, the borderlands, and the sometimes complicated understandings of gender in the Mexico of yesterday and today. We will watch the Spanish-language version of the 1992 adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s novel “Como agua para chocolate/Like Water for Chocolate.” Faculty will fill in the historical details.
Class will be in Spanish, and all levels of language are welcome. Students are encouraged to buy a copy of the book (available in Spanish and English editions from online vendors or your favorite bookstore).
Session 3: Stuff to know about Shakespeare
- Kirk Melnikoff, professor of English and chair of the Department of English
- June 17, 19, 24 and 26
Few of us have avoided an encounter with Shakespeare’s work in our lives. Sometimes, it comes fleetingly as a murky reference to Romeo and Juliet in a sitcom, popular song, or film; sometimes it takes us by surprise when we are told that an old friend, a house plant, or a goldfish is not just “Sebastian” but named after Shakespeare’s Sebastian; at still other times, it settles over us as we take in a middle-school Julius Caesar featuring a precocious nephew decked out in tights. If you’ve ever wondered why people continue to obsess over the work of a long-dead writer from somewhere in England that is not London, this short class is for you. Over two weeks, we’ll talk about what makes Shakespeare Shakespeare, whether Shakespeare is in fact Shakespeare (yes, people obsess about this), and why we should or shouldn’t care. We’ll also spend some time trying to be Shakespeare, crafting iambic pentameter speeches, writing sonnets, and staging one or two iconic scenes (small beer at the ready).
Session 4: Charlotte–A Center of the Civil Rights Movement
- Willie Griffin, assistant professor of history
- July 8, 10, 15 and 17
What if you heard that Charlotte was an important center of the National Civil Rights Movement? You might respond in the affirmative, “Of course it was!” Many would point to the landmark Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1970) Supreme Court busing decision. Indeed, the Swann decision provided the legal precedent to help realize the previous mandate of Brown v. Board of Education Topeka, Kansas (1954), but in this short course you will discover that the Swann ruling represented the culmination of decades of progressive civil rights activism from local people whose leadership inspired and informed more well known movement events, organizations, and icons such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Rosa Parks, and even Martin Luther King, Jr. Have you heard of Lillian Redding, Trezzvant Anderson, Kelly Alexander, Sr., Reginald Hawkins, Allegra Westbrooks, or Bertha Maxwell Roddey? Come and learn about and be inspired by these trailblazers.
Session 5: Mystery Memoir from Germany: A Historical Detective Journey
- Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau, professor of German and chair of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Translation
- Jules Geaney-Moore, business services coordinator and graduate student in history
- July 22, 25, 29 and 31
Come on an unlikely journey of discovery with a team of three researchers: Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau, Ph.D., John Sullivan, and Jules Geaney-Moore originally set out to uncover the mystery of a memoir discovered at an auction in Detroit many years ago. After translating and researching the memoir, the team contacted archives in Germany and the Czech republic, conducted extensive interviews and research to find the identity of the author, figured out whether there were any descendants and found a place to house this important historical document. In this class, you will follow along on this historical search, find out the identity of the author, learn about the historical moment and context of the memoir. Finally, we hope to have you participate in the joys of ongoing historical discovery.
Session 6: Capitalism in Action
- Jürgen Buchenau, Dowd Term Chair of Capitalism Studies and professor of history and Latin American studies
- August 5, 7, 12 and 14
A discussion of four important topics in the long and varied global history of capitalism. The first class examines the origins of capitalism in the early modern era (c. 1500-1800). The second discussion will introduce students to the rise of industrial capitalism and corporations in the nineteenth century. The third class will feature a discussion of the Great Depression as an example of boom and bust cycles in the twentieth-century capitalist economy, and the final class will present the students with an opportunity to talk about current trends, including financialization, the rise and decline of neoliberalism, and the role of new digital technologies. In all, attendees will get a good grasp of the major conceptual tools to understand capitalist economies and how they evolved over time. The instructor will provide students with short reading assignments to help prepare them for the classes.
The Independent Picture House is a non-profit community cinema operated by the Charlotte Film Society. Since opening in June 2022, the cinema provides a welcoming space for all individuals with programs and screenings focused on educating, engaging, and enabling the entire community to connect through the powerful medium of film.