The humanities are a portal to dialogue and debate about the meaning that is made as history is made. How do tensions in our time reopen future and past pathways for new exploration? How do we view our own cultural mediations, whether we are public intellectuals in the university or intellectuals in the public? The Center for the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers new spaces for humanistic engagement.
A series of events on the ties binding Islam and the West, from the Humanities without Boundaries talk on "Transatlantic Islam" by Wai Chee Dimock to the presentations by Tariq Ali, Michael Sells, Regina Schwartz and others in our "Al Andalus: Islam, Judaism, & the West" festival, bring the best scholarly resources to decoding the "clash of civilizations." In two Forums on Contemporary Issues, we work with OMAI to define the stakes of Hip Hop and Spoken Word in the Academy. Humanities without Boundaries speaker Bill Mckibben speaks on environmental crises and optimism in "The Nature of Hope."
The humanities community at UW offers great depth of contemporary scholarship, as evidenced in our line up of Distinguished Lectures in the Humanities, beginning with Russ Castronovo on "Esperanto of the Eye" and continuing with talks by Thongchai Winichakul, David Lowenstein, Claudia Card, and Kirin Narayan. A Humanities Now roundtable opens debate on "Entrepreneurialism in the Humanities" with stories of initiatives to reach new audiences and communicate with different media. A Humanities without Boundaries presentation by Frances Smith Foster commemorates the late scholar of African American Studies and English Nellie McKay.
Some of our programs not listed in this brochure nevertheless have important public components. We offer a series of interdisciplinary workshops, funded by the A.W. Mellon foundation, that also present lectures, conferences, and other events. Humanities Exposed (HEX) brings graduate research into community settings.
The 2007-2008 year at the Center begins with important transitions, notably the departure of Susanne Wofford, whose leadership in her role as director was an inspiration to the UW humanities community, and also of Associate Director Michael Goodman, whose enormously resourceful and creative management style will be sorely missed. In Michael's place we have the good fortune to welcome education and outreach specialist Lara Kain, whose professional dynamism helps us confront these transitions with fortitude! As the Interim Director, I welcome you to an exciting year at the Center.
Yours,
Deborah Jenson
Director, Center for the Humanities
Professor of French
University of Wisconsin-Madison