Tuesday 20 May, 1.30pm. Radcliffe Humanities Building, Lecture Theatre (2nd floor).
Afternoon tea, and an opportunity to meet the speaker, will follow the seminar.

Dr Giovanna Vitelli (Ashmolean): ‘Thinking with Objects: the impact of material culture on disciplinary boundaries, teaching practices, and eighteenth-century studies’

The second installment of RECSO’s Trinity Term seminar series, ‘Crossing the Disciplines’, this seminar will explore the potential for cross-disciplinary learning and teaching in the long eighteenth century, and present recent case studies of successful collaboration. The title, ‘Thinking with Objects’, also reflects faculty interest in the enhanced research potential being offered by the “material turn” in the humanities.

An additional material handling session at the Ashmolean with Dr Vitelli, will take place in the afternoon of Tuesday 27 May. There will be 12 spaces, and participants will be invited to sign up following Tuesday’s seminar, or by emailing the RECSO coordinator.

Dr Giovanna Vitelli is the Director of the University Engagement Programme, launched in 2012 with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The UEP aims to enlarge the use and understanding of the Ashmolean Museum’s extensive collections in mainstream Oxford teaching. To date, the programme has taught nearly 3000 students at the Museum, from over 25 departments and all four Divisions, introducing ‘object work’ as a valid and enriching component of learning, and a stimulus to further reflection. The UEP team not only offer single sessions as part of existing courses, but are actively engaged in formulating new Papers and Options, supervising students, teacher training, and also offer opportunities for research that integrates philological and material approaches.