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Dirk Elzinga’s Research on Hopi Language and the Deseret Alphabet

In an effort to enact orthography reform during the nineteenth century, Brigham Young sought to implement a new phonetic alphabet for learning. Ultimately deciding, through the recommendation of Willard Richards, to separate from using any traditional characters in the new phonetic alphabet, Young allowed George D. Watt to create the Deseret Alphabet. This information is …

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Thoughts on Humor and Humility and on Rainforests as Resources for Laughter

The following post was written by Janis Nuckolls, a Faculty Fellow for the Center.  While doing research for my PhD dissertation in a remote location in Amazonian Ecuador among Runa people, I had many amazing experiences. However, one experience in particular continues to be vivid. My friends and consultants had invited me to accompany them …

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The Moral Imagination, Crises of Conscience, and the End(s) of Literature

As the humanities and, more narrowly, literary studies suffer through something of a present-day identity crisis—as the number of majors dwindle, and as literary scholars migrate into media studies, the environmental humanities, and other fields—literary traditionalists seem increasingly given to creative defenses of the value of their work. This has been brought to mind recently …

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Urban Narratives and the Provo City Planning Commission

In 2013, Dr. Jamin Rowan of the BYU English Department attended a neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposed routes for the new Bus Rapid Transit line that will soon connect the Provo and Orem Frontrunner stations. Although he had never imagined that he would be involved in city politics, participating in this meeting helped him …

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American Food Trucks in the World: Street Food and Food, the Public Humanities and the Humanities

The following post was written by Brian Russell Roberts, a Faculty Fellow at the Center.  14 September 2015 In April 2014, one of the BYU Humanities Center’s research groups hosted Yale English professor Wai Chee Dimock. During Professor Dimock’s visit to campus, she graciously sat down for an interview with our Humanities Center Director, Matt …

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Fall 2015

All Colloquia will take place in JFSB 4010 at 3:00pm unless otherwise specified. November 19 Mark Davies (Linguistics) October 30 Mari Yoshihara (American Studies; University of Hawaii, Manoa October 15 Brian Price (Spanish & Portuguese) Mexico in the Key of Rock: Thoughts on Music, Literature, and Film October 8 Translation Studies Group October 1 Dee Gardner …