In This Edition

History and Culture

Part 1: Tools of History

Part 2: Cultural Lenses

Part 3: MIT's Historic Path

Questions & Answers

Professor John Dower Pulitzer Prize winning author who reexamines modern Japanese and US-Asian history.

Professor Philip S. Khoury Award winning political and social historian of the Middle East.

Arian Shahdadi '02 Won the History Prize for his essay "The Continued Violence of the New York City Draft Riots of 1863".

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Cultural Lenses

Cultural studies shed light on human behaviors and interactions not easily rendered in quantitative terms. These are terrific preparation for leaders in all disciplines, says School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Dean Philip Khoury. "Future leaders require at least as much rigorous training in the qualitative, synthetic, and contextual methods learned in the humanities as they do in the quantitative analysis, logic, and problem-solving learned in the sciences and engineering," he noted in an openDOOR interview.

Understanding the cultural history of technology is the work of Rosalind H. Williams, Director of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS). Shortly after 9/11, she brought academic expertise to real world issues by leading a teach-in on Technology, War and Terrorism. The event is available as an audio webcast. Her new book, Retooling, uses both her grandfather's and her own experiences to make sense of the rapidly changing role of technology in contemporary life.

The Anthropology Department, which focuses on the study of human beings as cultural animals, is home to scholars examining topics such as the social organization of law, chronic pain, women in the developing world, and human interaction with technology. Faculty books include Nuclear Rites: A Weapons Laboratory at the End of the Cold War by Hugh Gusterson and The Object of Memory: Arab and Jew Narrate the Palestinian Village by Susan Slyomovics.

Hypermedia learning environments such as the documentray Berliner sehen, for studying German culture, and On Track Japan, a negotiation toolkit, are part of the learning experience for students taking part in MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) program. Nearly 200 students who have gained language and cultural familiarity with China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, or Singapore take internships in these countries each year. MISTI also fosters academic collaborations such as the Globalization Study, based at the MIT Industrial Performance Center. The Center for International Studies, MISTI's home base, offers webcasts of recent events, such as Institute Professor Noam Chomsky 's talk, "The United States, Human Rights, and International Law."

In the Comparative Media Studies Program, Director Henry Jenkins explores Children's Culture, defined as popular culture produced for, by, and/or about children. In an interview in Soundings, he discusses high-tech folkways, mediated culture, and other questions central to democracy.

Even the Sloan School of Management has an eye on culture. Senior Lecturer Janice A. Klein's Culture, Learning and Organizational Change project looks at how businesses can become more flexible and continue to grow.

go on to Part 3: MIT's Historic Path

The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT has been presenting panels and speakers on critical issues for over 35 years. Listen online to talks, such as "The Rights of International Students in Time of War," and "Assessing the Case Against Iraq."

Catch Cultural Drumbeats with Soundings Handel as Orpheus, a new book by Music and Theater Arts Section head Ellen T. Harris, is the lead interview in a recent issue.

Copyright and Culture? The MIT Communications Forum hosts discussions on topics such as "Copyright and Culture" slated on campus Nov. 6, available thereafter online.

Culture and More Defined The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences offers abstracts of key concepts such as Cultural Evolution and Cultural Psychology.