Campus News

UGA historian to launch Willson Center’s Global Georgia Initiative

Cobb
James C. Cobb

The Global Georgia Initiative, a program of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, will begin Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. with a lecture in the Chapel by James C. Cobb, the B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor in the History of the American South at UGA. He will discuss “De-Mystifying Dixie: Southern History and Culture in Global Perspective.”

“My hope is to demonstrate that much of the South’s perceived weirdness relative to the rest of the United States falls away when it is viewed in global context,” said Cobb of his Global Georgia lecture. “In other words, seen as ‘a part of the world,’ it seems less ‘a world apart.’ ”

The Global Georgia Initiative is a series of lectures and conversations. Its goal is to present global problems in local context by addressing pressing contemporary questions with a focus on how the arts and humanities can intervene.

“I am delighted that James Cobb will be the first speaker in the Global Georgia series,” said Nicholas Allen, Franklin Professor of English and director of the Willson Center. “Professor Cobb is one of the university’s treasures and truly represents the spirit of the initiative.”