Shakespeare returns to the characters and themes of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in what may have been the last play he had a hand in writing: The Two Noble Kinsmen. This time, however, the story of Theseus and Hippolyta, the disorienting experience of adolescent sexual desire, and the conflict of duties to sovereigns, parents, friends, and spouses are […]

Bookshop Santa Cruz and The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz welcome acclaimed author Colm Tóibín (Long Island, Brooklyn) for a discussion about The News from Dublin, a brilliant collection of nine short stories, many never-before-published, set across Ireland, Spain, and America—about the complexities of family, longing, loss, and love. Celebrated as "his generation's most […]

We gather to forge new vernaculars of the geopolitical, to assemble spatial imaginaries of the “oceanic” that refuse rather than relent to the insistent march of capital and empire. To dissent here is an invitation to think more about the messiness and stuckness of our intellectual labors across histories of slavery, indenture, colonialism and more. This event is open to the campus community. Register […]

World Wounds: The Damming of the Nile River and the Transformation of Medicine The damming of the Nile River transformed agriculture and human health in twentieth-century Egypt. While dams enabled year-round irrigation and provided hydroelectricity, the prevalence of parasitic disease also skyrocketed. Professor Derr explores the effects of damming the Nile on the health of […]

Join us for a nocturnal celebration of art, philosophy, and activism! As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of its independence, the 2026 Santa Cruz Night of Ideas invites us not to celebrate the Enlightenment, but to interrogate it. Long associated with democracy, progress, and universal reason, the Enlightenment’s legacy remains deeply ambivalent - […]

Two lifelong peace activists and guides to Israel/Palestine, both of whom have lost family in the conflict, take readers on a revealing life-changing journey across this holy, bloodstained land and discover the mythic, political, and personal history that divides but also binds them and their peoples. In The Future Is Peace, Sarah and Inon take […]

In celebration of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History’s 30 year anniversary, this exhibition will highlight some of the artwork and artifacts from the MAH's permanent collection. In addition, artist Joshua Moreno will create a site specific installation inspired by the MAH’s historical archives. The exhibition runs from April 24th to August 9th, […]

“Colombian artist Gregorio Uribe, whose blend of contemporary cumbia and timeless charisma has marked him as an artist to watch.” – Billboard Uribe was recognized by the Colombian government as one of “The 100 Most Successful Colombians Abroad”, and has received honors from the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts for his contribution […]