Profs and Pints Baltimore

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Japanese Ghosts and Goblins,” a spooky evening of introduction to the spirits of Japanese folklore, with Michele M. Mason, associate professor of Japanese cultural studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/kappa/ .]

Japan has an impressive pantheon of frightful ghosts, goblins, shapeshifters, and tricksters. These strange and scary creatures trace back many centuries, hail from all parts of the country, and pop up at the center of cautionary tales, moral injunctions, and entertainment. And now, thanks to Profs and Pints, you have a chance to get to know them.

Be on hand as Dr. Michele Mason, a scholar of Japanese culture, discusses such frightening figures of the imagination in an image-rich talk drawing from literature, art, manga, and film.

She’ll discuss how the all-encompassing term yōkai contains a multitude of creepy and crazy creatures that have scared children and adults alike. Among them are innumerable bizarre animals, bewitching spirits, and peculiar priests.

Some are downright adorable, but don’t let looks deceive you. The racoon dog (tanuki) might be very cute, but its power to possess humans should give you pause.

Professor Mason will discuss the many versions of the vengeful spirits (onryō), and the kappa—a water creature who has a penchant for sucking the mythical ‘anus ball’ out of humans. (Yikes!)

You’ll learn how individual yōkai can function as a litmus test for the central social and cultural anxieties and assumptions of different historical eras, and thus offer valuable historical and social insights into Japan over time. You’ll see various renderings of yōkai —from 17th century hand scrolls and wood-block prints to modern day manga and horror films—that illustrate how Japan’s many fascinating and provocative ghosts have a lasting hold on our imagination even today.

You might end up wondering if you sense yōkai around you in the autumn breeze. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. Talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: A yūrei, or “faint spirit,” from a Japanese handscroll depicting supernatural creatures. (Brigham Young University / Wikimedia Commons.)

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Meet the Monster,” an exploration of monsters and monstrosity in legend, literature, and our own minds, with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, visiting faculty at University of Maryland, Baltimore County and former professor of medieval literature.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/mash/ .]

Throughout history human minds have given rise to monsters as representations of our worst fears. In literature, monsters also have served a much broader purpose, as devices used in social or political commentary to cry out against corruption, inequality, and political and scientific despotism.

Spend a thoughtful evening getting to know things that go bump in the night with Dr. Kat Tracy, a scholar of all things saucy and nasty and the vice president of an academic society devoted to the study of medieval monsters and cryptozoology.

Taking us on a journey through time, she’ll help us get to know some of the earliest human-form monsters in world literature and culture. We’ll will look at the monstrous figures in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Dante’s Inferno, and Old Norse sagas, as well as at werewolf narratives from France, vampire tales from around the world, and ancient Greek myths.

We’ll trace the evolution of monsters in literature through the advent of the Gothic horror novel, and we’ll look at what monsters have come to represent in cultural festivals such as Diá de los Meurtos and Halloween, which brings monsters to our front doors.

Dr. Tracy will tackle questions such as: What makes a monster? How do monsters reflect our fears and our desires? Why are we so drawn to some monsters, like vampires, that we even find them sexy? (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. Talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: A colored etching of a “Peruvian harpy” dating to the 1700s. (Public Domain / Wellcome Collection.)

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Early American Witch Hunts,” a look at the colonial hysteria that led to the tragedy of Salem, with Richard Bell, professor of history at the University of Maryland.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/colonialwitchhunts/ .]

Salem, 1692: Two young girls living in the household of one of the town’s ministers are acting strangely and having fits. A doctor is summoned and tells the minister that his girls are suffering from the action of the Devil’s ‘Evil Hand’ upon them. News of the doctor’s diagnosis quickly spreads and confirms what many in town are already whispering: These girls are the victims of witchcraft. They have been cursed by witches living somewhere in Salem.

The notorious Salem witch hunts that resulted were hardly isolated incidents. Instead, they marked the culmination of anti-witch hysteria that had crossed the Atlantic with early colonists, inspiring laws banning witchcraft and the execution of accused witches elsewhere.

Learn in depth about witch hunts in the colonies from Dr. Richard Bell, a University of Maryland historian who has given terrific talks about the history underlying the Hamilton musical, Benjamin Franklin, the “reverse underground railroad,” and other subjects. Watching him in action at Baltimore’s Guilford Hall will make you long to spend every day in one of his classrooms.

We’ll begin at the beginning, looking at what people in colonial America believed about witchcraft and how they carried out witch hunts to fight it. You’ll learn about the hallmarks of an American witch hunt and where else they had taken place.

Why is the 1662 outbreak of witch-hunting in Salem, a sleepy port town in Massachusetts, so well-known today? We’ll examine that infamous episode in depth, probing its most troubling corners and why that tragic episode claimed so many innocent lives. Among the questions Professor Bell will tackle: Did anyone face justice for their role in perpetrating this outrage? How have historians tried to explain the peculiar dynamics, impact, and legacy of what happened in Salem? ( Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. The talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: From the 1869 painting “Witch Hill (The Salem Martyr)” by Thomas Satterwhite Noble (New York Historical Society Museum and Library / Wikimedia Commons).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Single Lesson,” on myths and misconceptions about singlehood and research and advocacy efforts focused on the unmarried, with Craig Wynne, a professor of English at the University of the District of Columbia and pioneer in the growing field of Singles Studies.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/singlesstudies/ .]

All around us are messages that being “coupled up” is the norm. Shows like The Bachelor, 90-Day Fiancé, and Indian Matchmaking have people rooting and fawning for marriage. J.D. Vance has derided cat-owning single women as a demographic that threatens the fabric of the nation.

Yet, despite its supposed unpopularity, the rate of singlehood is increasing. By 2030, the Pew Research Center has projected, 25 percent of 45- to 54-year-old adults in the United States will never marry.

What’s the real picture when it comes to singles? Is a growing share of the population missing out on marital bliss, or are single people on to something?

Hear such questions tackled by Professor Craig Wynne, co-editor of Singular Selves: An Introduction to Singles Studies and author of How to be a Happy Bachelor.

Dr. Wynne will discuss how stereotypes of singlehood are perpetuated in the media and influence laws, policies, and our daily social interactions in ways that harm not just single people but those who are married, cohabitating, or in a relationship.

His talk will tackle the concepts of “singlism,” the stereotyping and stigma around people who are not married or otherwise unpartnered; “matrimania,” over-the-top societal obsession with marriage and weddings; and “amatonormativity,” the assumption that a romantic relationship must be prioritized above all other kinds.

Finally, Dr. Wynne will discuss the emergence of Singles Studies—a field devoted to granting singlehood validity in an academic context—and look at recent advocacy intended to secure single people equity in a world that still privileges being married or coupled. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. The talk begins at 6:30.)

Image by Canva.