In the novel Highway Thirteen, we learn about an Australian serial killer in bits and pieces. He kills hitchhikers and tourists, dumping their bodies in a state forest. He drives a taxi. His name is Paul Biga. He can be charming and affable, and shockingly ruthless. He’s the son of a Polish immigrant.
But we never actually meet him. We don’t see him killing anyone. Instead, we hear about the lives his violence has touched, and see the ripple effects of his menace and cruelty.
Liam McEvoy (MELC) is a recipient of the Psychedelics in Society and Culture grant from the Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry.
Since joining UC Berkeley in 2009, Professor Jacob Dalton has helped shape the university’s Tibetan Studies program, bridging language, religious history, and Buddhist traditions. In this interview, he reflects on the program’s evolution, the challenges of learning Tibetan, and the broader significance of preserving Tibetan culture amid ongoing political and linguistic shifts.
Two new Chancellor’s Chairs will expand access for students, create tenure-track opportunities for up-and-coming scholars, and recognize the groundbreaking work of senior faculty in the fields of dance and performance studies.
It was exhilarating to sit so close to an opera star. Tenor John Duykers was performing the lead in the chamber opera, Mordrake, and playwright Philip Kan Gotanda could practically feel the singer’s breath on his face. It was 2009, and the audience sat enraptured in a small studio space tucked away in downtown San Francisco.
Since graduating from UC Berkeley in 2012 with a dual major in dance & Performance Studies and Psychology, Megan Lowe has performed with esteemed San Francisco Bay Area dance companies like Flyaway Productions, Lenora Lee Dance, Dance Brigade, Scott Wells and Dancers, Lizz Roman and Dancers, and Epiphany Productions, all while choreographing her own works presented both live and on film.
Megan is also the Program Manager for Berkeley's Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies!
Liesl Yamaguchi, Assistant Professor in the Department of French at UC Berkeley, is a scholar and translator whose work bridges 19th-century French literature, poetics, linguistics, literary theory, and translation. In this interview, Professor Yamaguchi reflects on her path to academia, the interdisciplinary nature of her research, and the creative challenges of translation. She offers a preview of her forthcoming book, On the Colors of Vowels: Thinking Through Synesthesia, which examines the convergence of literary and scientific discourses on synesthesia in the 19th century.
The Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) provides an opportunity for Berkeley undergraduates to work with faculty members and research staff on cutting-edge research projects. A number of faculty in the division are leading digital humanities projects with undergraduate students. See some highlighted projects below:
Inspired by UC Berkeley Professor Frances Hellman and started at UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, the Hellman Fellows Fund provides much needed support to pre-tenure assistant professors who have served for at least two years. Established in 1995, the Hellman Fellows Program has since expanded to include all ten UC campuses and a handful of private institutions.
Alankrita Malhotra is a sophmore and is forging an interdisciplinary path by combining her passions for Data Science and the humanities. Her work on computational folklore and Nordic flavor networks under the guidance of Professor Timothy Tangherlini, who we interviewed for the project last month, highlights the innovative potential of digital humanities.
There’s a new performance hall at UC Berkeley, and its arrival comes at an exciting and critical time for the Department of Music: From fall 2020 to fall 2024, the number of declared undergraduates majoring in music at Berkeley grew 236%.
“Music is, in fact, the fastest growing major on campus, by a large margin,” said Mark Shaw, music department manager.
According to Berkeley’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, the number of declared undergraduate music majors jumped from 55 in fall 2020 to 195 in fall 2024.
UC Berkeley Professor Timothy Tangherlini, of the Department of Scandinavian and the School of Information, has been named one of the co-principal investigators on a groundbreaking $7.5 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Defense. The project, led by researchers at Indiana University, will bring together an interdisciplinary team of experts in informatics, psychology, communications, and folklore to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) influences online communication, including the spread of misinformation and radicalizing messages.
A project funded by the University of California’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) spotlights UC Berkeley's contribution in addressing critical global challenges through interdisciplinary innovation.
We are delighted to announce that Linda Haverty Rugg, professor in UC Berkeley's Scandinavian Department, has been named co-recipient of this year's prestigious Prize for the Introduction of Swedish Culture Abroad, awarded by the Swedish Academy—the institution responsible for the Nobel Prizes.
Berkeley, CA — UC Berkeley’s Center for Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (CICI) and the International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs (ICCTP) have been awarded $2.6 million to support a groundbreaking multi-year initiative titled “A Counter-Imaginary in Authoritarian Times.” Through collaborative workshops, conferences, performances, publications, and a dynamic, open-ended digital platform, this project brings together academics, artists, activists, and other community members to develop concrete strategies, tools, and proposals to create a counter-imagin
My Brilliant Friend, by the pseudonymous Italian author Elena Ferrante, is the New York Times’ No. 1 book of the century. This recognition, and the recent adaptation of Ferrante’s four-novel Neopolitan Quartet into an HBO series, underscores this writer’s profound influence.
This interview is part of a series featuring members of the Flavor Network research team, a multidisciplinary group exploring the evolution of cuisine through computational analysis. Meet Marcus Romundset, a UC Berkeley student combining his passions for computer science, business, and Scandinavian culture. As part of the team led by Professor Timothy Tangherlini, Marcus is analyzing historical cookbooks to map the evolution of Scandinavian cuisine through flavor networks.
In this first installment of our interview series with the "Flavor Network" research group, Linda Chon interviewed Professor Tim Tangherlini, a computational folklorist in the department of Scandinavian. Professor Tangherlini leads an innovative project that uses data science to trace the evolution of Nordic flavors over the past 200 years. By analyzing historical cookbooks and flavor compounds, his team aims to uncover how Scandinavian cuisine has transformed and what it can reveal about social, cultural, and economic changes in the region.
