This post was written by Emma Belnap, a Humanities Center student fellow. A couple of weeks ago, one of my professors asked us to read Sophie Raux’s article “Virtual Explorations of an 18th-Century Art Market Space: Gersaint, Watteau, and the Pont Notre-Dame”. I was captivated by this piece, most especially Raux’s methodology—she and her …
Where Do the Humanities Belong?
This post was written by Ansley Morris, a Humanities Center student fellow. When I tell someone I’m an English major, the first question they ask me is always the same: “Oh, so you want to be a teacher?” Aside from the instructor who asked me to read aloud on the day I got retainers …
National Humanities Center Summer Residency CFP 2024
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 …
The Dark Moment of the Soul: Storytelling and How it Helps Us Persevere
This post was written by Luke Beckstrand, a Humanities Center student fellow. When David faces Goliath. When Aeneas loses Dido. When Frodo is lost and alone, facing the darkness of Cirith Ungol. In every hero’s journey, there are many moments that challenge them, but there are occasional moments that I have come to call …
“What does that do exactly?”: On Granular Humanities
This post was written by Gabbie Schwartz, a Humanities Center student fellow and the BYU Humanities Center Intern. It was 4:30 p.m., and I was getting dinner with a friend at the Olive Garden—which is how all great stories start. Excitedly, my friend told me about her senior capstone, an electrical engineering project in …
Fall 2023
All Colloquia will take place in 4010 JFSB at 3:00 PM. September 14 Cecilia Peek, Ed Cutler & Erin Holmes Covid Halos and Hangovers: Catalysts for Regaining Scholarly Momentum September 21 Dawan Coombs, Sara Phenix & Jacob Rawlins Roundtable Report on National Humanities Center Experience September 28 Jennifer Redmann Rethinking the Language Curriculum in …
Creativity and Resilience
This essay was written by Rex P. Nielson, BYU Humanities Center Director, as an extension of the Statement from the Director, which can be read here. This past summer, I found myself thinking about transformation and healing while visiting a large street art installation in Amsterdam at the newly opened Straat Museum. There, I …
Wayfare is Stretching the Heavens
As endings are new beginnings, the end of my term as the BYU Humanities Center Intern coincides with a new assignment as a contributing editor at Wayfare, a new literary magazine published by the Faith Matters Foundation. Accordingly, I thought I might take this last blog post as an opportunity to ruminate on the current …
The Girl with Golden Hair and the Guy with Glasses
There was this girl in my class last semester who sat on the other side of the room; a short girl with golden hair. She wore vibrant, colorful eyeliner every day, never too much–loud enough that you knew she had confidence, while quiet enough you knew she wasn’t trying to make a scene or disturb …
A Together Place: An Alternative Utopia
In seventh grade, my English teacher assigned me to write an essay about my version of a perfect world—a utopia. I set about this philosophical prompt with all the panache of a barely thirteen-year-old kid and wrote an essay—shorter than this one—summing up societal perfection. A decade later, I remember three things about the paper, …