University of California Video Podcasts (Video)

Despite the explosive growth of Holocaust studies, scholars of Nazi Germany and the Shoah long neglected gender as an analytical category. It wasn’t until 1984 when the essay collection When Biology Became Destiny: Women in Weimar and Nazi Germany raised awareness of women’s experiences under fascism. It explored women’s double jeopardy as females and as Jews. In this lecture, Marion Kaplan, one of the editors the publication, takes the audience on a historical tour of her research, from the first workshops raising questions to the first publications providing answers. Since then, the gender perspective has provided significant insight into our understanding of Jewish life in Nazi Germany and during the Holocaust. Kaplan concludes her talk with a forward look at new areas of research that highlight women’s and gender studies. Series: "Library Channel" [Humanities] [Show ID: 34018]

In modern-day culture, often divested from elements of a balanced life, emotional wellness can be elusive. Dr. Sudha Prathikanti explores integrative psychiatry, a healing approach that uses both conventional and complementary/alternative medicine to understand and treat psychiatric conditions. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Show ID: 34521]

New inflections given to old lyrics, the casting of non-professional singers in Across the Universe, and the impact of relocating Beatles tunes to American settings are topics covered in this wide-ranging discussion between acclaimed music journalist Greil Marcus and Carsey-Wolf Center director Patrice Petro. The two delve into the stylistic decisions of director Julie Taymor and the spectatorial pleasures that arise when song lyrics are unexpectedly connected to historical events. Series: "Carsey-Wolf Center" [Show ID: 34640]

The Taubman Symposia in Jewish Studies at UCSB hosts a live musical performance by The Three Cantors: Cantor Mark Childs (Congregation B’nai B’rith, Santa Barbara) Cantor Marcus Feldman and Organist Aryell Cohen (Sinai Temple, Los Angeles) and Cantor Shmuel Barzilai (Chief Cantor of the Vienna Jewish Community). Series: "Herman P. and Sophia Taubman Endowed Symposia in Jewish Studies" [Show ID: 34681]

In 1960 a young American art student named Patricia Patterson first traveled to Inishmore, largest of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland. The windswept landscape and its ancient culture made a deep and lasting impression, as did the relationships she developed during many visits and prolonged stays in the years since. Patterson has continued to draw on her vivid memories of Aran as inspiration for paintings and sketches. [Show ID: 34756]

American composer Laurie San Martin writes music that creates a compelling narrative by exploring the intersection between texture and line. Critics have described her music as exuberant, colorful, forthright, high octane, tumultuous, and intricate. This piece's title, "nights bright days" is borrowed from Shakespeare's Sonnet 43, and reflects its late-night composition. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 34687]

The suite of international conventions and declarations about genocide, human rights, and refugees after the WWII is known as the “human rights revolution.” It is regarded as humanizing international affairs by implementing the lessons of the Holocaust. In this presentation, Dirk Moses, Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney, questions this rosy picture by investigating how persecuted peoples have invoked the Holocaust and made analogies with Jews to gain recognition as genocide victims. Such attempts rarely succeed and have been roundly condemned as cheapening the Holocaust memory, but how and why does genocide recognition require groups to draw such comparisons? Does the human rights revolution and image of the Holocaust as the paradigmatic genocide humanize postwar international affairs as commonly supposed? Series: "Library Channel" [Show ID: 34019]

CARTA celebrates its 10th anniversary with a whirlwind tour of anthropogeny, the study of the origin of humans, by addressing these questions across multiple disciplines: What do we know for certain? What do we think we know? What do we need to know? How do we proceed? Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Show ID: 34693]

Smartfin is a surfboard fin that allows scientists to collect data about the ocean with the help of surfers around the world. The project brings together engineers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and students from the Computer Science and Engineering department at UC San Diego. Traditionally, it has been difficult to collect data near the shore because waves damage any instruments researchers place in the water. But, Smartfin turns that challenge into an advantage by enlisting the help of the surfing community. Series: "Computer Science Channel" [Show ID: 34350]

After meeting Laurie San Martin, one this country’s most important ebullient composers, we experience the lightness of a classical great — the seldom-heard 8th Symphony of Beethoven — and conclude with Leonard Bernstein’s extraordinary and poignant Symphony No. 3 (Kaddish), with chorus, soprano soloist and narrator. The Bernstein piece, named for the Jewish prayer for the dead, was dedicated to the late President John F. Kennedy and premiered in the days after of his assassination in 1963. It is a reflection simultaneously on the loss of a president and the loss of a generation of European Jews. It is powerful music, but also hopeful. Series: "La Jolla Symphony & Chorus" [Show ID: 34005]