This Friday kicks off the annual Fall Chicago Humanities Festival. The festival is aimed at creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to enjoy and explore the humanities. With more than 65 events taking place within the next 10 days around Chicago, the festival offers a wide variety of different lectures, presentations and performances on a wide range of topics.
Most tickets to these events range in cost between $8-13, however many are free with a student ID. Take advantage of some out of classroom learning this weekend and check out one or a few of the events that peak your interest.
Although all the events look intriguing, we’ve picked our favorite from each discipline to check out.
The Natural: Neil Shubin – The Universe Within
University of Chicago Professor, Neil Shubin, will be giving a talk about how the events that spawned the universe have left traces inside the human body. He uses evidence of fossils, asteroid and cultures to assert his claims, and he explores the connections between rocks, planets and people. This event takes place at 12:30 p.m. at Francis W. Parker School this Saturday. Tickets for students cost $5.
The Cultural: Rainpan 43
Elephant Room Performance group, Rainpan 43 performs an interesting and experimental theater and magic show hybrid at this festival event. The show is comedic, bizarre and surreal and unlike any performance you’ll probably ever see. There are multiple performances this weekend at The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, including 3 and 7:30 p.m. performances this Saturday. Student tickets cost $10, but are also more limited.
The Fictional: Lemony Snicket: All The Wrong Questions
Beloved children’s author Daniel Handler, better known by his pen name of Lemony Snicket will be speaking this Friday at the Francis W. Parker School from 6-7 p.m. Audience members are asked to prepare are the right questions to ask the “All The Wrong” questions author. Student tickets for this event cost $10.
The Factual: Pigs for Historians – A New View of Early America
University of Southern California professor, Peter Mancall will be speaking about an ecological approach to studying colonial America. In his lecture, he’ll look at the relationship between people, animals and land in American history and the importance of these complex interactions. The lecture takes place this Saturday at The Newberry Library from 10:30 -11:30 a.m., and is a free event for students.
The Personal: The Uncanny Animal
In this lecture, University of Chicago philosopher Jonathan Lear explores the Socrates idea of the human animal having nothing to do with biology and links it to Sigmund Freud’s idea that humans cannot simply speak their minds. Lear will look at questions of internal perception and identity being both familiar and strange in what’s sure to be a though provoking lecture. This lecture takes place at the Northwestern University School of Law, Thorne Auditorium this Saturday at 3 p.m. Tickers for students are free.
The Political: Bambi’s Jewish Roots
In this lecture, Ohio State University professor Paul Reitter, will explore the origin of the classic Disney film Bambi as more than just a come of age parable, but as a direct response to the rise in anti-Semitism that followed World War I. This lecture will take place at Francis W. Parker School this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for students are free.