an image of a man playing a saxophone on a city street

My Curiosity Runnin’ Wild: Meandering through Mexico, Music, Literature, and Film

Cruisin’ and playin’ the radio with no particular place to go. — Chuck Berry A few blocks north of the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City sits Plaza Garibaldi. During colonial times, the square was called Plaza Santa Cecilia to honor the patron saint of musicians. In 1920, the postrevolutionary government of Álvaro Obregón …

an image of a spiral staircase in a building with a skylight

One Year Fellowships 2022-23

BYU’s Humanities Center sponsors two one-year faculty fellowships. Unlike the multi-year fellowships, these one-year fellowships will be awarded by application rather than appointment. The fellowship period will begin in the fall semester of 2022. Fellowships will come with a salary supplement of $2,500, a research stipend of an additional $2,500, and release from two courses …

an image of a man sitting on a couch holding a cell phone

Humanities Center Feature: Jimmy Santiago Baca and the Freeing Grace of Poetry

Celebrated poet Jimmy Santiago Baca came to BYU for a two-day visit on Thursday January 27 and Friday January 28. His visit included a poetry workshop, a film screening of the award-winning documentary about his life and work, “A Place to Stand,” an English reading series reading, and an interview about social justice and poetry. …

an image of a spiral staircase with a circular window in the center

Winter 2022

All Colloquia will take place in 4010 JFSB and on Zoom at 3:00 PM unless otherwise specified. https://byu.zoom.us/j/94078851742   January 13 Justin White (Philosophy) Backsliding and Bad Faith: Aspiration, Disavowal, and (Residual) Practical Identities January 20 Roundtable with Susan Rugh, Stephen Jones and Jim Faulconer BYU’s Second Century: How Are We Doing? February 10 Walter …

an image of a whale swimming in the ocean with a sunbeam

Is Music Simply “Auditory Cheesecake”?

Psychologist Steven Pinker ignited a firestorm in 1997 by infamously claiming that music is auditory cheesecake—nothing but a pleasant by-product of the processes of evolutionary selection and not essential for human survival or reproduction.[1] Unlike language, which he believes to be biologically adaptive, Pinker argues that music is merely a technology that humans have invented …