When Francis Cabot Lowell revolutionized industrial manufacturing, he could never have imagined that industrialization at scale would change everything about the way we work, live, and even eat. Join us for an eye-opening talk from NYU Professor Amy Bentley as she traces the development of the modern American diet as it became another sector of the mass manufacturing commercial economy. Food could be processed, packaged, and sold faster, more efficiently, and in huge quantities – but there were serious unintended consequences. Her case study – baby food.

By the 1950s, commercial baby food had become emblematic of all things modern in postwar America. Little jars of baby food were thought to resolve a multitude of problems in the domestic sphere, but these baby food products laden with sugar, salt, and starch also became a gateway to the industrialized diet that blossomed during this period.

Today, baby food continues to be shaped by medical, commercial, and parenting trends. Baby food producers now contend with health and nutrition problems as well as the rise of alternative food movements. All of this matters because it’s during infancy that palates become acclimated to tastes and textures, including those of highly processed, minimally nutritious, and calorie-dense industrial food products.

Under the leadership of Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch grew its staff to over 500 and conducted investigations in 100 countries, uncovering abuses and pressuring offending governments to desist. Roth has grappled with the worst of humanity, and persuaded leaders from around the globe to stand up to their repressive counterparts.

Roth was the son of a Jewish butcher who escaped Nazi Germany just before the war began. He grew up knowing how inhumane governments could be. His work took him all over the world to confront cruelty and injustice. Roth arrived in Rwanda shortly after their genocide; he scrutinized the impact of Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, and he investigated and condemned Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians. He directed efforts to curtail the Chinese government’s persecution of Uyghur Muslims, to bring Myanmar’s officials to justice after the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, to halt Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Roth’s strategies included the deployment of the ancient but powerful tool of shaming, and the anecdotes he shares illustrate its surprising effectiveness.

Explore Boston’s Oldest Buildings | A Conversation on Historic Architecture

Boston’s historical architecture is an essential part of the city’s enduring beauty and character. 'Boston’s Oldest Buildings and Where to Find Them' (Brandeis University Press) is the first book to dive into the city’s fifty oldest buildings.

City Archaeologist Joseph Bagley’s narrative introduces readers to Boston’s early history through maps, photographs, and an overview of the city’s historic preservation movement. As Boston approaches its four-hundredth anniversary, don’t miss this opportunity to learn more about our historic city.

Moderated by Robert J. Allison, Professor of History at Suffolk University.

Joseph M. Bagley is the city archaeologist of Boston, a historic preservationist, and a staff member of the Boston Landmarks Commission. He has worked for multiple local and state historic preservation offices, including the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission. In 2016, he published his award-winning first book, 'A History of Boston in 50 Artifacts' (Brandeis University Press).

Dr. Famiglietti is an internationally recognized expert on hydrology, the Earth’s water system. His focus is the freshwater crisis resulting from climate change and agricultural practices, and how the crisis is already affecting global populations and food production. His research team uses satellites and develops advanced computer models to track how freshwater availability is changing around the world.

In this program, Dr. Famiglietti explains the causes and development of the freshwater crisis and the urgent necessity of governmental policies to address the rapidly diminishing supply of water. Public understanding of the problem is essential.

Jay Famiglietti is a Global Futures Professor in ASU's School of Sustainability, where he serves as the Director of Science for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative. He also holds affiliated faculty appointments in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, and in the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems.

Katherine McKittrick is Professor of Gender Studies and Canada Research Chair in Black Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, where she researches in areas of Black studies, anti-colonial studies, and critical-creative methodologies. She has authored multiple articles and is a former editor at Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. Her books include Dear Science and Other Stories and Demonic Grounds: Black Women and the Cartographies of Struggle. She also edited and contributed to Sylvia Wynter: On Being Human as Praxis. Recent and forthcoming projects include the limited-edition boxset Trick Not Telos, a collaboration with Liz Ikriko and Cristian Ordóñez, and the tryptic honoring NourbeSe Philip On the Declension of Beauty. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies from York University.

Cosponsored by the Boston College Program in African and African Diaspora Studies.

Join the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation for a captivating Mill Talk on the history of Levi Strauss, the man behind one of the most enduring names in American fashion, and the brand he built. Tracey Panek, Historian and Director of Archives at Levi Strauss & Co., will explore how a Bavarian immigrant in the 19th century built a brand that revolutionized workwear and became a global icon in fashion, culture, and everyday utilitarian clothing.

This talk is especially fitting at the Charles River Museum, the site of Francis Cabot Lowell’s first cotton textile mill, where America’s industrial revolution transformed fabric production and laid the foundation for the mass manufacturing of textiles—including the denim that would later become synonymous with Levi’s. Discover how industrial ingenuity, from early denim to Strauss’s patented riveted jeans, shaped the way we produce and wear clothing today – and how it continues to shape fashion worldwide.

Tracey Panek is the Historian for Levi Strauss & Co. and Director of Archives at the company’s world headquarters in San Francisco. She manages the day-to-day workings of the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives as a key corporate asset, answering historical questions, assisting designers, brand managers, executives and other employees whose work requires historical materials in the Archives. She regularly hunts for unique vintage Levi’s® garments and unusual Levi’s® items to add to the Archives.

Anger and fear are anchoring our political and religious life. This anger fear has warped our sense of how to be national and religious community that is moral community. Political discourse is uncivil; religious discourse is confrontational. Whether members of Congress are holding their party’s line or members of denominations are holding a doctrinal line, there is partisan polarization. At the heart of this polarization is absolutist morality. Womanist moral imagination helps us to answer this question: How do we generate and facilitate authentic moral community?