Cinematic Landscapes of the Anthropocene

The Anthropocene is a term proposed by some geologists to redesignate the current geological epoch in which we live. The argument for this reclassification highlights the profound and lasting impact humans have had as a species on the planet from the beginning of agriculture to the “great acceleration” of industrial and private resource consumption from …

On Icebergs and Ivory Towers and Being a Scholar-in-the-World

The following post was written by Heather Belnap Jensen, a Faculty Fellow at the Center.  “Academics: forget about public engagement, stay in your ivory towers,” blasted the headline from an opinion piece published in The Guardian last month. While James Mulholland, an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University, is convinced specialization can …

On Reflection, Representation, and Action

As I’ve reflected on the past in preparation for a new year, I have thought carefully about my academic pursuits during graduate school, and my thoughts have been poignantly centered on the phrase “never forget.” I started out 2015 taking a theory class focused on trauma and memory, taught by BYU professor Trent Hickman. In …

Why I’m Teaching a Course on Spiritual Experience

The following post was written by Matthew Wickman, Director of the Humanities Center. America has spoken: organized religion is uncool. Or (even?) less cool than it used to be. While America is still a predominantly religious nation, a recent Pew Research Center survey reports that a shrinking percentage of Americans believes in God, attends worship …

How the Humanities Can Save Humanity

The following post was written by Andrew Rees, a student Fellow for the Center.  I have been deeply troubled by the growing anti-Islamic sentiment across the United States in recent weeks. Calls to bar entrance to Middle Eastern refugees and even all Muslims have been met, not with apprehension, but with widespread support across the …

A Liberal Education at BYU

The following post was written by Blair Bateman, a Faculty Fellow for the Center. At the University of Minnesota, where I earned my PhD, the approximate equivalent for BYU’s College of Humanities is known as the College of Liberal Arts, as it is at many other universities. In fact, the word “liberal” is commonly used at …

The Perils of Sympathy

Great cities ravaged by bombs. Images of children drowning in the ocean. Photographs of devastated victims unable to process horrific acts. Pathetically charged narratives begging readers and/or listeners to feel enough to incite them to action. Each of these examples is used as a way to evoke a sympathetic reaction from a party separate from …

A Few Thoughts on the Postsecular, Post-Paris

Friday, November 13 was a day of good fortune for the BYU Humanities Center. We held our Annual Symposium, and our guest, Caroline Levine (of the University of Wisconsin–Madison), could not have been more gracious, engaging, or interesting. But that same evening, a terrorist cell affiliated with ISIS launched a coordinated attack in Paris, detonating …

Greg Clark’s Innovative Research on Civic Jazz

Many faculty, staff, and students at BYU were first introduced to Jazz and the Art of Civic Life with a presentation in 2013 by BYU professor Greg Clark and his guest jazz artists Loren Schoenberg and Jonathan Batiste (Batiste has since become the band leader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert). One year later, Dr. …