Bedazzled!

The Humanities Laboratory has once again taken up the challenge of multidisciplinary study. In order to appeal to students and to give them experiences beyond the classroom, the Humanities Laboratory has partnered with The Field Museum to teach university courses that use museum exhibitions as a means to teaching subjects in the Humanities. We have already offered courses in conjunction with the controversial Freud exhibition and the Chocolate exhibition, currently at the Field. In both of these cases an array of internationally recognized scholars and exhibition curators taught the course. Response from students from all around the Chicagoland area has been extraordinary and has made this a truly rewarding endeavor.

This coming fall, The Field Museum will be hosting as its major show an exhibition of the history, culture, and science of PEARLS. We will partner with the Field Museum to fulfill our commitment to public accessibility for the humanities by once again organizing a for-credit course to be held at The Field Museum in conjunction with this exhibition.

The course, entitled Bedazzled: Jewelery as Culture (LAS 494) , is aimed at advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Meeting Tuesday evenings for three hours and some Thursday evenings, the course will be a general introduction to the history and anthropology of jewelry. The general content of the course will examine topics as wide-ranging as the history of ornament and the function of jewelry as a theme in the cinema. Equally important is the component on how museum exhibitions on culturalthemes are created. One ongoing aspect of all of our courses will be to explore with the curators how they conceived of their projects,what means they used to translate their ideas into exhibitions, and what the "story" of the exhibition is as seen from the point of view of its creators. A discussion section in which selected readings will be analyzed in a small group format will accompany each lecture session.

This course will give students two extraordinary chances. They will be able to hear and discuss the work of the leading specialists in the field, as well as to meet with students from throughout Chicago who share their interest in the history and culture of jewelry.

The line-up of speakers includes well-known academic personalities, who are leaders in their field. Examples of such luminaries in the humanities are Sander L. Gilman, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Professor Gilman will lecture on the function of ornament and jewelry in the new body culture as well as on the question of ornament and ethnicity. Other professors include Donald N. Levine, PhD. Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago who will speak on Georg Simmel's Theory of Adornment and many others.

The first organizing session of the course will take place at The Field Museum on THURSDAY October 3, 2002. Non-UIC students can enroll through the UIC Office of Continuing Education. Enrollment information and registration material are available by visiting the UIC Office of Continuing Education website at http://www.oce.uic.edu or by calling (312) 996-8025. Doctoral-level students at any CIC university can enroll through the Traveling Scholar program. UIC students will find the course listed in the Fall 2002 Timetable and should register through UIC Express or the UIC Student Access System.