Every October, CLST in a time-honored tradition, opens its doors to graduate students and Pitt faculty at an event at which they can learn about the Spring Semester Common Seminar from those who teach it, in this case Jonathan Arac, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of English and Director of Pitt's Humanities Center and Colin MacCabe, Distinguished University of English and Film Studies and Executive Director of the Pitt in London Program.  Their Common Seminar Inaugural Lecture is entitled, "Keywords: The Background and the Aftermath," in which Professors Arac and MacCabe will survey the fascinating genealogies that led to Raymond Williams' 1976 book, Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, and the long shadows it has cast over subsequent Cultural Studies.  The lecture will provide an introduction to the "keywords" approach for CLST students thinking of enrolling in this year's Common Seminar, and will serve as a centerpiece for audience discussion with the speakers. Respondents to the presentation are drawn from the CLST Dissertation Writers' Colloquium and all three or have been recently Cultural Studies Fellows: Olga Blackledge (COMMRC), Mohammad Mozumder (SOC), and Henry Skerritt (HAA).

In the half-hour prior to the lecture (5-5:30), refreshments will be available outside venue.   At 5:30 CLST Director Ronald J. Zboray will kick off the event by rolling out the Spring Semester 2016 Crosslisted Classes, before introducing the speakers. The event will conclude with what will surely be a lively Q&A session.