Public Humanities

This essay was written by Cannon Sharp, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. I never like to cross a border unaccompanied. There is always some author in the knapsack, a stowaway chaperone, and choosing whom to smuggle is the most critical packing decision I make. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s accounts of his transcontinental walk served as …

This essay was written by Brett C. McInelly, a BYU Humanities Center one-year faculty fellow. Situated on the south bank of the Thames—only a stone’s throw from where Shakespeare’s playhouse originally stood—the Globe Theatre offers Shakespeare enthusiasts the opportunity to experience the Bard’s dramatic works in a setting designed to replicate as much as possible …

This essay was written by Brendan Murphy, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. In English classrooms (at least those in which I often find myself), it’s common to hear complaints or praise for various literary genres. The novel is definitely winning the popularity contest, but lyric poetry also seems to be firmly in the race, …

This essay was written by Sawyer Wood, a BYU Humanities Center intern. Recently I’ve been re-reading the novel Amor de Perdição (generally translated as “Doomed Love”), written by 19th-century Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco. The book is frequently compared to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, as it also follows the story of two young lovers from …

This essay was written by Rex P. Nielson, Director of the BYU Humanities Center. In 1962, Paulo Freire, a young and idealistic lawyer-turned-educator, embarked on an ambitious educational experiment that aimed not merely to teach people how to read, but to transform Brazilian society itself. Consider this startling fact: the 1960 Brazilian census recorded an …

This poem was written by Marie Hua, winner of the 2026 Artistic Narrative section in the 2026 Humanities Center Tell Your Story Contest.   Tonight, my Nǎinai makes wontons: ground pork bok choy xiāmǐ  thumbs up! chop to mix, hǎo hǎo hǎo… We wrap them like small talk; like how on the way to buy …

This essay was written by Paige Winegar Fetzer, winner of the Creative Nonfiction section of the 2026 Humanities Center Tell Your Story Contest.   Most of what I know about God has arrived sideways—caught like dust motes illuminated in a warm slant of light. The summer before I started graduate school, the sun slipped through …

This essay was written by Sawyer Wood, BYU Humanities Center intern and student fellow. A few months ago, Wicked: For Good was released in theaters. As the concluding adaptation of one of Broadway’s longest-running musicals, it stood among the year’s most anticipated films, and seemed to be something the whole world was talking about. When …

This essay was written by Justin F. White, a BYU Humanities Center faculty fellow. In “A Theory of Jerks,” Eric Schwitzgebel describes the jerk as someone who “culpably fails to appreciate the perspectives of others around him, treating them as tools to be manipulated or fools to be dealt with rather than as moral and …

This essay was written by Aiden Jones, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. I don’t know that I’ve ever been able to use words to communicate as well as Helen Burns, whose “soul sat on her lips, and language flowed” as she spoke to her friend Jane Eyre. [1] Today, language, like almost everything else …