2021 Tucson Humanities Festival

As we emerge from this time of crisis, how might the field of literary translation chart new trajectories and imagine new narratives of possibility? Four translators of poetry—Kareem James Abu-Zeid (Arabic, French, German), Alex Braslavsky (Polish, Russian), Jein Han (Korean), and Farid Matuk (Spanish)—will discuss how this question informed their process of curating works for Inflection Points, a digital exhibition presented by the Poetry Center in collaboration with the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). Curators will highlight pieces from the exhibit and explore the potential for poetry to cross boundaries of language, culture, place, and time.

Religious healing in the U.S. Southwest, particularly among Mexican Americans, has a multi-faceted profile including pilgrimage, prayer, saint veneration, channeling spirits, herbal remedies, and energy manipulation. How did the diversity of Mexican American religious healing traditions come into being? The origin stories of religious healing practices tell us as much about the present as the past. From curanderismo to the miraculous Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico, current-day Mexican American religious and ethnic identities are tied to stories of healing and healthcare from long ago, suggesting that religious and political ‘wellness’ continues to be tied to how we remember what has come before.

An expert University of Arizona panel will follow with a discussion on “Health, Culture, and Religion on the Arizona Border.”

Inaugural event of the Fred & Barbara Borga Lecture Series. This event is the first in the College of Humanities Department of Religious Studies and Classics Borga Lecture Series and is sponsored by the Fred and Barbara Borga Endowed Fund for Religious Studies, established by Dr. Ross Schwartzberg (B.G.S. 1985, M.D. 1990) to foster understanding and dialogue regarding religious traditions and their impact on health and medicine, and to support undergraduate students pursuing Religious Studies for Health Professionals.

Filmmaker Renee Tajima-Peña’s award-winning PBS docuseries Asian Americans is the most ambitious chronicle of the Asian American story in the United States. Told through individual lives and personal histories, Asian Americans explores the impact of this group on the country’s past, present, and future. The series traces the significant role of Asian Americans in shaping American history and identity, from the first wave of Asian immigrants in the 1850s to the social and cultural turmoil of the twentieth century to modern refugee crises in a globally connected world. Tajima-Peña will share the details of her journey crafting this groundbreaking series.

Sponsored by Arizona Humanities.

Drag Queen Story Hour was created in 2015 to bring together two seemingly incompatible constituencies—drag queens and children—to read books, sing songs, and more. In just a few years, DQSH events have been replicated in hundreds of libraries, schools, and community spaces, provoking enthusiasm as well as backlash. In this presentation, Lil Miss Hot Mess will draw on her experiences as a DQSH performer and scholar to discuss what children and drag queens can learn about the world from each other. Moving away from introductory lessons on gender or diversity, she argues that drag is a form of performance rooted in play, transformation, and alternative world-making that opens up possibilities for children and adults of all identities.

Beginning her acting career in New York and on tour throughout the world as a Broadway and musical theatre performer, Jessica Polsky (’98, Italian and Dance) found her niche when her Italian major came into play. Her Italian proficiency ultimately combined with her performing career when Polsky was invited to move permanently to Italy to star on a hit Italian primetime sitcom, Camera Café. Success and awards followed and established Polsky as a popular actress and TV personality within the Italian showbusiness industry. In a lively insider’s interview, the College of Humanities 2021 Alumna of the Year, Polsky will relate stories from her bi-national, bi-lingual and bi-cultural career on stage and screen. Magnifica!