Rebecca Falkoff, professor in the Department of French and Italian, shares her journey from an undergrad studying Faust, literary theory, and languages at UPenn to a PhD in Italian Studies at UC Berkeley. Along the way we learn of her rich and expansive research and writing on hoarding—from 19th century Parisian flea markets to Sherlock Holmes to today’s reality TV shows—as well as insights into learning languages, her own literary translation work, and Italian authors such as Dante, Carlo Emilio Gadda, and Elena Ferrante.
French
Into the COLAverse – Episode 24: Judith Coffin
Judith Coffin, professor in the Department of History, shares her journey to French cultural history, especially focused on issues of gender, labor, and material practices of consumption and production. Along the way we learn about the impact of the invention of the sewing machine, the work and reception of Simone de Beauvoir, and so much more!
Into the COLAverse – Episode 19: Randy Lewis
Randy Lewis, professor and chair of American Studies Department, shares how East Texas roots and New Jersey upbringing led to BA then PhD degrees at UT Austin where, as scholar and creator, he’s been innovating and expanding multiple fields of inquiry, shedding new light on film, music, and urban studies as well as cultural histories of the Americas.
Into the COLAverse – Episode 18: Ashanté Reese
Ashanté Reese, recently promoted to associate professor in the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, shares her journey from growing up in East Texas to Trinity University (BA), American University (PhD) to her innovative scholarly interventions in critical food and food justice studies, Black studies, and Black geographies. Along the way we learn of the significant work done for food sovereignty in Black communities across the country.
Into the COLAverse – Episode 16: Samantha Pickette
Samantha Pickette, professor in Jewish Studies and Assistant Director to the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies, shares how an early fascination with TV and literature her to become a scholar of representations of Jewishness, especially Jewish femininity in TV. Along the way, we learn about how today’s non-legacy TV increasingly represents the complexity of Jewishness as intersectional (race, gender, sexualities) identities.
Into the COLAverse – Episode 15: Hervé Picherit
Hervé Picherit, professor in the Department of French & Italian, shares his journey from growing up in a Francophone family in Wyoming to writing, researching, and teaching French literature and film. He shares wonderful new insights into well-known French authors such as Marcel Proust and Louis-Ferdinand Céline as well as lesser knowns from WWII and those writing sci-fi like Henri Barbot.
Into the COLA-verse: Office Hours Session I: Has Academia Ruined Literary Criticism?
Join UT Profs Frederick Luis Aldama (English), Domino Perez (English), and Steven Mintz (History) as they discuss and deliberate the current state of literary studies and the humanities generally within and outside the university.
Into the COLAverse – Episode 11: Paola Bonifazio
Paola Bonifazio, professor in the department of French and Italian, discusses how the Italian film industry helped promote the modernization of Italy in and through its active shaping of identity and behavior of Italian people. She also shares insight into the huge popularity of photoromance magazines (graphic storytelling that uses photographs instead of drawings) in Italy, digging into how they were used to promote political, religious, and social agendas in the making of Italian culture and society.