The Humanities in the 21st Century
A Graduate Conference
What is the role of the humanities in the modern world? Should the humanities be held to the same standards as the natural sciences or professionalization-oriented university programmes? What is the relationship between humanities research, and politics, civil society, artistic production, cultural/social movements, and others? Why are the humanities so valuable? Why do we want to celebrate and foster the academic study of humanities?
The conference will end with a public discussion at Pembroke College, Activist Humanities in a Global Context, headlined by Egyptian novelist Ahdaf Soueif, followed by a dinner at Pembroke for those presenting papers at the graduate conference.
This graduate conference is sponsored by Ertegun House in collaboration with The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
Image courtesy of Mo Riza: https://www.flickr.com/photos/moriza/96724309/
The Programme
10:15 onwards Registration, Coffee
10:45 Start / Introductions
11:00 Humanities and the social/natural sciences
Presenters:
Gerald Mako – The STEM fields Can Give You a Nuclear Reactor But No Historical Perspective
Kevin Tobia – Wonder and the Humanities
Diana Greenwald – Quantitative and Qualitative: What the Humanities Should (and Should Not)
Learn from the Social Sciences
12:30 Lunch
13:30 Methodology in the Humanities
Presenters:
James Dowthwaite – English Philology: A Preliminary Survey of its role in Graduate Study
Nathaniel Zelinski – The downsides to the digital revolution: How new technologies might harm
the humanities
14:30 Coffee
15:00 Interpreting experience
Presenters:
Susie Self – Why we need Art
Sarah Mengler – Museums, galleries and the humanities
Francesca Chiappini – Humanities, the experience of critical thinking
16:30 Grad day ends, walk to Pembroke.
17:00 “The Activist Humanities in a Global Context” at Pembroke College
Humanities & the Public Good
DPhil & Postdoctoral Researchers
Audience: Open to all
