BYU Humanities Center Sponsored NHC Summer Residency CFP The BYU Humanities Center is pleased to announce a Call for Proposals to participate in the Summer Residency Program sponsored by the National Humanities Center (NHC), located in the Research Triangle Park of North Carolina (near Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh). Every year, the NHC sponsors a …
Things: As They Seem and As They Are
A number of years ago I visited with a therapist on a weekly basis, discussing the constant, heavy feeling I couldn’t shake off. I was a newly returned missionary, and I was struggling to return back to school while two of my family members were hospitalized and one of my grand-parents had recently passed away. …
History and the Humanities in Portugal
This past summer, I went on a study abroad trip to Portugal. Prior to my travels, I had very limited knowledge of the country. I could not recite a list of its famous people, nor could I produce the names of its top tourist attractions. I couldn’t talk about its food, its citizens or its …
2022
The Humanities Center held its 10th annual Undergraduate Research Symposium on Friday, October 21st at 3:00 PM in the Dean’s Conference Room. This year’s event featured 7 undergraduate students from the College of Humanities and their research. Madilyn Abbe: “Safe in the Eye of the Storm”: A 20th Century Adaptation of Safe Slave Spaces in …
Joy and Human Dignity
Mary Clark Moschella of Yale Divinity School recently visited campus for a series of events on joy and pastoral care. As a postlude to her visit, I want to reflect briefly on joy as one theological foundation for an understanding of human dignity.[1] Moschella links these concepts when she offers a pastoral theological description in …
Research Group Proposals 2022
November 4 is the proposal deadline for research groups supported by the Humanities Center. Research groups are one of the best things the Humanities Center sponsors, and this is the time of year when we take single- or multi- (i.e., three-) year proposals. These proposals must include a rationale, a list of prospective group members, …
Musings on Methodology: Or, On Types of Inquiry
One of the mandatory jobs of a new graduate student is to be extremely frolicsome among research interests and subdisciplines—to haphazardly flit among the flowers of knowledge in one’s department or program, relishing the opportunity to taste the nectar of as many buds as possible. Such a metaphor was also invoked by the Renaissance-era humanist …
Fall 2022
All Colloquia will take place in 4010 JFSB at 3:00 PM. September 8 Jessica Tebo and T.J. McLemore, Technical Editors of Romantic Circles What Every Student (and Faculty Member) Should Know About DH September 12 Robert Newman, President and Director of the National Humanities Center On Fellowships for BYU Humanities Faculty September 22 Makayla …
A (Missed) Shoutout for Rhetoric: Memory Places in a Cal Newport Self-Help Book
I’ve been reading Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. It is fantastic. I commend it to all of you. It has led me to transform many of my work habits. At the same time, I found myself laughing and then groaning when my very own academic discipline and …
Patterns
Patterns crawl up the walls of the Blue Mosque. Painted vines spring from ceramic tiles in endless loops, flowers blooming between them. Intricate spirals originate at the bottom of the wall and repeat over and over until they reach the arching dome high above, where blue, red, and gold swirl together in stunning symmetry. A …












