2019 Tucson Humanities Festival
Humanity’s achievements bring about widespread changes. We’ve harnessed fire, created languages and built civilizations. We’ve explored our planet and beyond. New technologies rise. New ideas develop. People and culture influence one another. How will society transform again? What’s beyond the horizon? Can the past be a guide for the future? How can the humanities shape tomorrow’s world? What’s Next?
SPACE & WONDER: Humanity's Endless Quest for Answers
Presented by Dr. Valerio Ferme
University of Cincinnati
Description
While technology has led humankind on a search through space to evolve its ‘destiny,’ the basis for this exploration comes from the deep-seated desire of human beings to answer ‘big questions’ about their role in the universe. Spurred by the sense of wonder of early philosophers and astronomers, and centered in the original Liberal Arts, our technological forays in the future have been rooted in humanistic practices that have produced great works of art and a fascination for the beyond that continues to permeate popular culture. This lecture provides a brief history of this exploration, and suggests why human imagination, and humanistic inquiries have to be part of any conversation about our future on and off this planet.
DESIGNING WOMEN: Overlooked Trailblazers of the Bauhaus
Presented by Dr. Elizabeth Otto
University at Buffalo
Description
A century after its founding in 1919, scholars and the art-and-design interested public associate the Bauhaus with modernist architecture, sleek avant-garde design, and abstract painting by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee, or László Moholy-Nagy. But the Bauhaus was much more than the work and lives of the famed few reveal. Perhaps least understood of all are the Bauhaus’s women, who made up over one third of its members. In the photography and experimental design of key Bauhaus women, we see a new side to this foundational movement of modern art, and reach a better understanding of the past to enable us to come to grips with what comes next.
FRIENDS OR ENEMIES: Politics & Poetry in Contemporary Russian Rap
Presented by Dr. Philip Ewell
Hunter College
Description
The spoken word has always held a special place in the hearts of Russians, from Alexander Pushkin’s revolutionary writings through generations of Russian playwrights, librettists, poets and bards. This vibrant oral tradition lives today in Russian rap. Artists such as Husky, Noize MC, Oxxxymiron, Timati, and Vasya Oblomov are skilled wordsmiths who advance not just the literary form of poetry, but also political and cultural messages. As true at the genre’s inception as it is in today’s oppressive political climate, Russian rap artists’ careers can hinge on taking a friendly or antagonistic stance toward government.
RITUAL & HUMAN FLOURISHING: Theories From Classical China
Presented by Dr. Michael Puett
Harvard University
Description
Visions of human flourishing that developed in classical China are among the most complex in world philosophy. Focusing on the inter-relations between anthropology, history, philosophy, and religion, Michael Puett explores these visions in relationship to developments in recent Western thought. Puett places the study of China into larger historical and comparative frameworks, offering new perspective on what theories from classical China have to offer in contemporary discussions.
TRANSFORMING LIVES: Empowering Philanthropy Through Humanism
Presented by Dana Vandersip
Make-A-Wish Foundation
Description
What can a better tomorrow bring? Zayden, 7, heart condition, wished to go to Saturn and meet aliens. Avery, 3, cancer, wished to celebrate her caregivers. Leona, 5, cancer, wished to have a pirate ship in her backyard. Make-A-Wish granted all of those life-changing wishes, helping children with critical illnesses replace fear with confidence, sadness with joy and anxiety with hope. Using wishes as a backdrop, Dana Vandersip, Vice President of Development at Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego, will discuss the relationship of philanthropy to happiness, wholeness, connection, relevance and humanity, and how aligning resources with a community’s needs transforms the lives of everyone involved.