The Brown-RISD Catholic Community
Announces the 2006 Becket Lecture

“How to Be Human: An Historical Approach”

Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Internationally Acclaimed Historian and Commentator
Prince of Asturias Professor at Tufts University

Friday, March 10, 2006, 4:00 P.M.

Petteruti Lounge, Faunce House
The College Green, Brown University

According to The Times , Felipe Fernández-Armesto “makes history a smart art.” His print journalism makes him “one of the most formidable political commentators in the world” ( The Independent ), and his broadcasting is “the voice of reason” ( The Guardian ). Reviewers have likened him to Montesquieu, Gibbon, Toynbee, and Braudel. Among the prizes Fernández-Armesto has won are the Caird Medal and the John Carter Brown Medal for his work on colonial and maritime history, the Premio Nacional de Investigación of the Sociedad Geográfica Española for his work on environmental history, the Premio Nacional de Gastronomía for his book on the history of food, and the Commendation of the Library Association of the UK for his contribution to works of reference.

Fernández-Armesto has been accepted as a peer by fellow-specialists in the fields of global history, environmental history, colonial history, maritime history, religious history, art history, the history of ideas, Mediterranean history, Spanish history, American history, the history of cartography, and the history of language. He has done pioneering work in all these subjects, and his publications have been translated into 24 languages.

Fernández-Armesto is the Prince of Asturias Professor at Tufts University and visiting professor of global environmental history and professorial fellow of Queen Mary, University of London . He is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Royal Historical Society, the Society of Arts, and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and a life member of the American Historical Association. He serves on the boards of many academic publications. His volunteer work has included many years as an elected or adopted member of the executive of English PEN and as a trustee and chairman of Trustees of the PEN Literary Foundation.

This lecture is funded by the Thomas Becket Association. It is free and open to the public. For more information, contact 401.863.2344 or visit www.brown.edu/chaplains.