Humanities for Humanity

Founded by faculty, alumni, students, and friends of the University of Pennsylvania, the Collegium Institute is an independent scholarly foundation that draws academic learning into conversation with the Catholic intellectual tradition. In so doing, it cultivates reflection on "catholic" or universal questions and on the unity of truth across the disciplines.

Collegium Institute

An evening panel exploring the humanities, as a field of study & creative expression, and how they strengthen our civic engagement.

Join the Collegium Institute and the Program for Research on Religion &amp; Urban Civil Society (PRRUCS) for &quot;Humanities for Humanity: Towards an Ethic of Encounter &amp; Civic Engagement&quot; to explore the ways in which the humanities--both as a field of study and as an area of creative expression-- provides ways of thinking that strengthen our civic engagement. The hope is to consider the deep value of humanities for human life in a way that does not subordinate it to politics but also does not detach it from the life of political communities. We will consider the value of humanistic study both as a timeless pursuit and in relation to the pressing challenges of civic engagement that confront us now. Panelists from four different disciplines and universities have been invited to think critically and constructively about the contemporary practice of academic humanities: what relation does it currently have, if any, to political community and polarization? How might it become part of the solution to a more humane politics? Are there ways in which conceiving the humanities as primarily a political exercise might both advance and frustrate its civic function? How can the humanities prepare us for civic life without themselves becoming partisan? How can the integrity of the humanist and citizen be promoted at the same time and in mutually supportive directions? How do Catholic approaches to the humanities effect our understanding of both the humanities and civic engagement? How does having loyalties to two cities, the earthly and the heavenly, effect our engagements with the earthly city?To explore these important questions and more, we will be joined by:<a href="http://www.english.upenn.edu/people/herman-beavers" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Herman Beavers</a>, is Professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as <a href="https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/herman-beavers-named-faculty-director-civic-house-and-civic-scholars-program" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">recently being appointed</a> as faculty director of Civic House and the Civic Scholars Program. Beavers has taught at Penn since 1989, and is a distinguished poet and a widely published scholar of 20th-century American and African American literature, especially the novels of Toni Morrison, the traditions of jazz and jazz writing, and the work of 20th-century Southern writers.<a href="https://english.ucdavis.edu/people/bug" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Katie Peterson</a>, is the Director of the Graduate Creative Writing Program at the University of California at Davis. Peterson is the author of <a href="https://www.katiepeterson.org/books" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">four books of poetry</a>: This One Tree (New Issues, 2006), Permission (New Issues, 2013), The Accounts (University of Chicago, 2013), and A Piece of Good News (Farrar, Straus &amp; Giroux, 2019). She is a fellow at the Berkeley Institute and collaborates on film and artists’ books with her husband, the photographer Young Suh.<a href="https://www.assumption.edu/people-and-departments/directory/veronica-roberts-ogle-phd" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Veronica Roberts Ogle</a>, is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Assumption University, where she teaches courses on the history of philosophy. Her research focuses on the intersection between theology and political philosophy in classical and patristic thought, and she is the author of a forthcoming book, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/politics-and-the-earthly-city-in-augustines-city-of-god/EF184799CA67A3E20E53FD9E35E89FC5" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Politics and the Earthly City in Augustine’s City of God </a>(Cambridge, January 2021).<a href="https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/jason-blakely/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Jason Blakely</a>, is Associate Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University. His expertise is in political philosophy and hermeneutics. His newest book was just released this summer from Oxford, <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/we-built-reality-9780190087388?lang=en&amp;cc=us" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">We Built Reality: How Social Science Infiltrated Culture, Politics, and Power</a>. His writing has appeared in venues like the Atlantic and Commonweal.This event is co-sponsored by: <a href="https://www.nso.upenn.edu/theme-year/theme-year-2020-year-civic-engagement-full" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Penn&#x27;s Year of Civic Engagement</a>, <a href="http://wolfhumanities.upenn.edu/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Wolf Humanities Center at Penn</a>, <a href="https://beatriceinstitute.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Beatrice Institute</a>, <a href="https://www.morningsideinstitute.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"></a><a href="https://genealogiesofmodernity.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Genealogies of Modernity Project</a>, <a href="http://portsmouthinstitute.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Portsmouth Institute</a>, <a href="https://complit.sas.upenn.edu" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Penn Comparative Literature department</a>, <a href="https://www.english.upenn.edu" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Penn English department</a>, <a href="https://www.history.upenn.edu" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Penn History department</a>, <a href="https://philosophy.sas.upenn.edu" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Penn Philosophy department</a>, <a href="https://live-sas-www-polisci.pantheon.sas.upenn.edu/undergraduate/pi-sigma-alpha" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Penn Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society</a>, <a href="https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/humanities.html" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Villanova Department of Humanities</a>, and <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">America Magazine--The Jesuit Review</a>.

Check out our other upcoming events:<a href="https://writingbetweencultures2020.eventbrite.com" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Writing Between Cultures: Exploring the Catholicism of Shūsaku Endō, Graham Greene, Claude McKay, and Su Xuelin</a> (September 17 at 7:00pm)<a href="https://endoseminar2020.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">The Samurai: Endō's Search for Christ in Japan and Beyond</a> (October 1, 8, 15, and 22 at 7:00pm)

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