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In Review

HUMANITIES CENTERWhither Democracy? Finding the meaning in human events, at a teach-in.
humanities鈥淜NOWLEDGE AND CITIZENSHIP鈥�: During a teach-in at the Humanities Center this winter, faculty members presented and discussed research related to the sociopolitical climate in the United States and abroad. The daylong session was titled 鈥淜nowledge and Citizenship.鈥� (Photo: Adam Fenster)

The presidential election of 2016 raised some difficult questions about democracy and citizenship. Depending on whom you asked, the election of Donald Trump as president signaled the fragility of American democracy, the beginning of a frightening descent into racial and ethnic nationalism, and a rejection of science and reason; or a populist revival spearheaded by newly energized rural and small-town voters who rightly believed that they and their communities had been maligned, as well as written-off or harmed outright by the policies of self-satisfied coastal elites.

Parsing the meanings and implications of watershed human events鈥攖hrough open debate鈥攊s a big part of the mission of universities. In February, with that mission in mind, the Humanities Center held Knowledge and Citizenship: A Teach-In. As co-organizer Joan Saab, chair of the Department of Art and Art History, noted, contemporary American (and global) politics teaches, if nothing else, that 鈥渉istory matters, and culture matters.鈥�

The event was inspired by, but not explicitly about, the 2016 elections. Faculty in disciplines such as English, history, anthropology, and art and art history spoke about their research in response to a call from organizers for work that broadly relates 鈥渢o the current sociopolitical climate.鈥� Faculty members discussed with attendees the relationship between art and propaganda; the challenge of a free press; the role of intellectuals in a democracy; and whether events such as Trump鈥檚 election and the success of the Brexit movement were part of a global backlash against 鈥渘eoliberal elitism.鈥�

It鈥檚 no secret that universities are designed to further science and foster reason, and that they tend to embrace pluralism鈥攚hich, in the 21st century, also means globalism. But within those parameters, there鈥檚 plenty of room for disagreement, discussion, and soul-searching. Said Joan Rubin, the Dexter Perkins Professor in History and director of the Humanities Center: 鈥淭he humanities teach us the value of critical thinking, of inclusion, of empathy. The humanities teach us also about our connections to other people across time and geography, and we learn as well about our differences.鈥�

鈥擪aren McCally 鈥�02 (PhD)

For more about the Humanities Center and its programs, visit Rochester.edu/humanities.