Public Humanities

Last night I lay awake worrying about a canceled pizza-bake off we had planned for a church Young Men’s activity.  As I lay there in bed, my mind wandered to the election, then to Vladimir Putin, and then to the people of Aleppo who are at this moment being disintegrated and incinerated along with the …

Last week, the Humanities Center sponsored its annual lecture. Our theme this year is “After Suspicion …”, through which we take up the long aftermath of the sporadic, eclectic, but unmistakable shift away from the constitutional skepticism associated with the work of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud (and the extraordinary influence of their work across the …

The other day I came upon a New Yorker article entitled “Why I Quit My Job to Travel the World.” Like many people, I have an interest in travel and decided to give it the time of day. I expected to read a heartening story about someone who left the drudgery of daily life and …

This post was written by former HC intern, Brittany Bruner. Emotional intelligence is often something I take for granted as necessary for positive human coexistence, until I encounter media or people who possess a shockingly low amount of emotional intelligence. Rita Balian Allen defines emotional intelligence as “our ability to identify and manage our own …

The following post was written by Delys and Phil Snyder. The Cormac McCarthy Corpus Project began as Phil Snyder (English), a literary critic, began writing about Cormac McCarthy’s style and found he needed more language tools, and so he joined forces (in several ways) with Delys Snyder (University Writing), who has expertise in language and …

At the end of April I finished my last course at Brigham Young University, and once I defend my thesis I will be finished with my master’s degree in English literature. Naturally, I have been reflecting on the many hours and years of work I have spent at BYU in the humanities as I approach …

The following post was written by Jill Rudy, a Faculty Fellow for the Center.  As a folklorist, I recognize this year’s Humanities Center theme, The Work of Art, resonates with issues of memorable and mundane learning. Is art something we must travel to see and to admire? Is it unique, costly, and rare? Does it …

The following post was written by Mark Davies, a Faculty Fellow for the Center.  It’s always nice to find that our research and projects have some importance and relevance beyond the handful of people who might read a journal article that we’ve written, or the even smaller number of people who will be impacted in …

For the past decade, I have taught a semester-long prep course for undergraduates with PhD aspirations. At one of our meetings we discuss a subject I title “What’s Hot? What’s Not?” Its aim is to help prospective scholars understand a little better how to choose long-term research projects that are more likely to strike a …

From popular crime narratives such as the Netflix documentary “Making a Murderer” to the podcast “Serial,” modern-day sensation narratives have recently spiked in popularity. Similar to the sensational reports published in nineteenth-century newspapers, these narratives dramatize real life while trying to maintain integrity to facts. Yet, by nature of narrative, whether fiction or nonfiction, stories …