In 2002, the Medieval Institute inaugurated a lecture series in honor of Robert M. and Ricki Conway. Robert Conway was a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame and trustee of the University, He was (and his wife Ricki continues to be) a long-time friend and supporter of the Medieval Institute. The annual Conway Lectures bring senior scholars of international distinction to Notre Dame each fall to speak on topics across a variety of disciplines.   The first talk in the 2025 series will be given by Petra Sijpesteijn, professor of Arabic at Leiden University, on "Running the early Islamic Empire: the papyrological evidence."About the Talk In the dry Egyptian desert sands, tens of thousands of Arabic, Coptic and Greek papyri from the first three centuries of Muslim rule in the province (7th-9th century CE) were preserved. Containing tax demand notes, fiscal receipts, lists of agricultural properties, tax payers, converts, alms payments, prisoners with the crimes they committed, the fines assigned to them or the petitions they wrote requesting to be released, decrees issued by the authorities or petitions directed to them, the papyri form the written residue of the daily running of the early Islamic Empire. They show that Arab rule was characterized by a marked continuity of daily administrative routines but also by the introduction of striking new practices. In this presentation I will discuss what the papyri tell us about the Arab administrative practices in early Islamic Egypt, what changed and what remained the same after the Arab conquest and why this was. About the Speaker Petra Sijpesteijn holds the chair of Arabic at Leiden University. She uses documentary sources such as papyri, seals, coins, inscriptions and manuscripts to reconstruct the daily life of Muslims and non-Muslims living under Muslim rule. Currently she runs a five-year research project entitled 'Land, space, power: Landscapes of the early caliphate' financed by the Netherlands National Science Foundation.Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

In 2002, the Medieval Institute inaugurated a lecture series in honor of Robert M. and Ricki Conway. Robert Conway was a 1966 graduate of Notre Dame and trustee of the University, He was (and his wife Ricki continues to be) a long-time friend and supporter of the Medieval Institute. The annual Conway Lectures bring senior scholars of international distinction to Notre Dame each fall to speak on topics across a variety of disciplines.   The second talk in the 2025 series will be given by Graham Loud, Professor Emeritus of Medieval History at the University of Leeds, on "The Sicilian Chancery, from the Normans to Frederick II." About the Talk The paper traces the evolution of the chancery of the Norman rulers of Sicily, from the writing office of Count Roger I (d. 1101), which operated primarily in Greek, through to the trilingual documentation of the Sicilian monarchy after 1130. It looks at the emergence of a Latin chancery, at first as a subordinate section, but then as the increasingly dominant element within the royal administration. This led to the eventual abandonment of writing documents in Greek and Arabic. The paper concludes with an analysis of the greatly enhanced scale of the operations of the (by now monolingual) chancery of Emperor Frederick II as ruler of Sicily in the first half of the thirteenth century. About the Speaker Graham Loud is professor emeritus of medieval history at the University of Leeds, where he taught from 1978 to 2019. He is a leading authority on the history of southern Italy from the tenth to the thirteenth centuries, and has also written about Staufen Germany and the Crusades. His most recent books are The Social World of the Abbey of Cava, c. 1020-1300 (2021) and Frederick Barbarossa (2025). His translation of the Montecassino Chronicle of Leo Marsicanus, c. 529-1075, will be published in February 2026, and his chapter on 'Frederick II and the Crusades' will appear in The Cambridge History of the Crusades during the summer of 2026. Originally published at medieval.nd.edu.

Carl Zimmer is an award-winning New York Times columnist and author of 15 books about science. His talk, "Science, science communications and science journalism today: Where do they fit in this age of mistrust and misinformation?" will be followed by a book signing in Jordan Hall Galleria. Zimmer writes the "Origins" column for The New York Times and has frequently contributed to The Atlantic, National Geographic, Time, and Scientific American. He has won the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science Journalism Award three times, among other awards. He teaches science writing at Yale and has been a guest on NPR's RadioLab, Science Friday, and Fresh Air. His latest book is Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe. Sponsors: Glynn Family Honors Program; College of Science; Gallivan Program in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy, and the Graduate School   Originally published at science.nd.edu.

The Raclin Murphy is excited to host Brendan Fernandes in the museum for a second performance inspired by art, artifacts, and their legacy. Noise See investigates themes of visibility, protest, colonial residue, and embodied resistance. Central to the work are custom-crafted, vibrant quilted tapestries and costumes; the vivid magenta and purple plaid textile is commonly associated with contemporary Maasai culture in Kenya, yet is rooted in British colonial influence. Performed as a duet, dancers engage in a choreographic dialogue—merging and separating, concealing and revealing—through a language of camouflage and emergence. The performers activate the double-sided tapestries throughout the Museum’s atrium, transforming them into blankets, shields, protest banners, cloaks, and second skins. These dynamic textiles, with irregular folds, drapes, and appendages, become agents of change, shaping and being shaped by the dancers’ movements. Noise See reclaims a colonial textile legacy and transforms it into a site of protest, protection, and presence. Here, Fernandes insists that silence is not absence, but a resonant and radical form of resistance. Fernandes is the 2025 Artist-in-Residence in the Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience. He presented the site-specific commissioned piece Moving Through—written in collaboration with Notre Dame students and performed by five dancers throughout the galleries—in April, and parts of it will be reprised in the museum on Friday, October 3. These performances and other opportunities to engage with Fernandes are made possible through collaboration among, and support from the Initiative on Race and Resilience, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art.Brendan Fernandes, Noise See, 2025. Commissioned by The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Costumes created in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Maasai shuka, batting, cotton. Dimensions variable. Photo credit: Carlos Avendaño.Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. Rooted in collaboration and fostering solidarity, Fernandes’s projects take hybrid forms to address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement. He is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program (2007) and a recipient of a Robert Rauschenberg Fellowship (2014). In 2010, he was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award and received a prestigious 2017 Canada Council New Chapters grant. Fernandes is also the recipient of the Platform Award (2024), the Artadia Award (2019), a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship (2020), and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant (2019). His projects have been shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial (New York); the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); the Museum of Modern Art (New York); the Getty Museum (Los Angeles); the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa); MAC (Montreal), among a great many others. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art Theory and Practice at Northwestern University. Fernandes is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery in Chicago and Susan Inglett Gallery in New York. Recent and upcoming projects include performances and solo presentations at the Pulitzer Arts Foundation (St. Louis), MCA Denver, The Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia), and Prospect 6 (New Orleans). Originally published at raclinmurphymuseum.nd.edu.

The Department of Music comes together in this special event to celebrate our new piano, a Schimmel concert grand, with an eclectic program that will showcase the beautiful colors of the instrument in a variety of different styles. This event is free and open to the public. Originally published at music.nd.edu.

Power, betrayal, and forgiveness: Shakespeare's classic The Tempest touches on timeless themes in one of his last (and most beloved) works. Blending romantic machinations, political scheming, and more than a bit of magic, Shakespeare brings to life vivid characters and powerful imagery in a tale whose themes continue to resonate with audiences everywhere. Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, is stranded on an island with his daughter, Miranda.Possessing magic powers, Prospero conjures a storm to expose his brother, Antonio, and King Alonso, who had him deposed. As Miranda falls in love with Alonso's son Ferdinand, Prospero's quest to reestablish his power leads him to a compelling dilemma: whether to destroy or forgive his enemies.Experience a satisfying evening of theater highlighting the text's brilliance while showcasing the actors' chameleon-like skill. Actors From The London Stage's minimalist and imaginative take on The Tempest requires just five actors who rotate roles and build entire worlds with simple props, capturing the humor, magic, and power struggles of one of the Bard's final plays. An AFTLS veteran or seeing your first play? Regardless, this performance promises to be accessible and exhilarating—proof that timeless stories still cast the most potent spells. GET TICKETS