UConn Humanities

The humanities seek to understand the whole human being: our languages, our histories, our art and ideas. The mission of the UConn Humanities Institute (UCHI) is to promote research on these questions, and to act as a voice for that research on the regional, national and international stage. In hosting annual residential fellowships, offering opportunities for humanities-focused programming, and fostering an interdisciplinary space for scholars to think, collaborate, and create, the Institute serves as a global hub for scholars dedicated to humanist scholarship and activism. UCHI seeks to inspire and support scholars at all levels and across disciplines to take on the critical and public task of humanistic inquiry.

Fellows Talk: Andrea Celli on the Egyptian Slave Hagar in Early-Modern Visual Arts

February 11, 2020

From late antiquity to the early-modern period, the Biblical character of Hagar, the Egyptian servant of Sarah and the mother…

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Fellows Talk: Alex Anievas on the Birth of the US Liberal Order

January 28, 2020

This paper examines the racialized foundations of American anticommunism, tracing the complex ways it became a key pillar of the US liberal order-building project.

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UCHI: A Year in Review

January 17, 2020

Thanks to the generous support of the University of Connecticut and our own grants, we have had quite a productive year so far. We have been able to fund…

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Upcoming Events

Feb 19 Humanities Fellow Research Talk: Alexander Anievas4:00pm

Humanities Fellow Research Talk: Alexander Anievas

Wednesday, February 19th, 2020

04:00 PM - 05:30 PM

Storrs Campus
Humanities Institute Seminar Room, Babbidge Library 4th Floor

Our UCHI Fellow will be presenting their research talk on “Race to Rollback: Far-Right Power in America’s Global Cold War” followed by a light reception. For more information, please visit https://humanities.uconn.edu/fellowships/current-and-previous-fellows/. If you require accommodation for this event, please contact uchi@uconn.edu at least one week prior to the event.

Contact Information: uchi@uconn.edu
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Feb 20 Film Screening: Cold War (2018)4:00pm

Film Screening: Cold War (2018)

Thursday, February 20th, 2020

04:00 PM - 06:00 PM

Storrs Campus
The William Benton Museum of Art

Film Screening of "Cold War" (2018). 88min

FREE Admission.
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Set against the backdrop of the 1950s Cold War in Poland, two people of differing backgrounds and temperaments begin an almost impossible romance.

This is a historical period drams directed by Pawel Pawlikowski. The film premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival on 10 May 2018. Critics praised its acting, screenplay, direction and cinematography.

After the film, Professor Friedemann Weidauer, German Studies at UConn, will hold a short discussion about the period.

Rating: 92% by Rotten Tomatoes

This screening is part of the Human Rights Institute Film Series at UConn.

A short discussion follows with Friedemann Weidauer, Professor of German at UConn.
https://benton.uconn.edu/friedemann-weidauer/

Contact Information: The Benton Museum Visitor Services 486-4520
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Feb 20 Walt Whitman and Lively Materiality with Jane Bennett7:00pm

Walt Whitman and Lively Materiality with Jane Bennett

Thursday, February 20th, 2020

07:00 PM - 08:30 PM

Storrs Campus
Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, 1 Royce Circle, Downtown Storrs

For its first installment of the 2020 Spring Puppet Forum Series the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut will host Walt Whitman and Lively Materiality with Professor Jane Bennett on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Ballard Institute Theater, located at 1 Royce Circle in Downtown Storrs.

Dr. Bennett, of Johns Hopkins University, is an internationally recognized interdisciplinary political theorist and philosopher best known in the puppetry world for her work on "the material world in performance," especially her influential bestseller Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Drawing from her forthcoming book Influx and Efflux: Writing Up with Walt Whitman, Professor Bennett will speak at the Thursday Puppet Forum about Whitman's sense of "lively materiality" and the implications such ideas for puppetry studies and other subjects. Co-sponsored by UConn’s departments of Philosophy, Political Science, and English, the UConn Humanities Institute, and UConn’s American Studies program.

Jane Bennett is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her recent essays have appeared in Grain/Vapor/Ray (on Kafka's Odradek), Evental Aesthetics (special issue on Vital Materialism), and MLN (on mimesis). She is the author of Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (2010); The Enchantment of Modern Life (2001); Thoreau's Nature (1994), and Unthinking Faith and Enlightenment, (1987). Her forthcoming book this spring is called Influx & Efflux: Writing up with Walt Whitman.

Admission to this event is free (donations greatly appreciated!), and refreshments will be served. Come early, and experience our puppet exhibitions, as well as the video resources in our library nook. Forums will be broadcast via Facebook Live. For more information or if you require an accommodation to attend a forum, please contact Ballard Institute staff at 860.486.8580 or bimp@uconn.edu.

Contact Information: Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry, (860) 486-8580
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Feb 21 Colloquium With Jane Bennett9:00am

Colloquium With Jane Bennett

Friday, February 21st, 2020

09:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Storrs Campus
UConn Humanities Institute Homer Babbidge Library, 4th Floor 369 Fairfield Way Storrs, CT, 06269

The UConn Puppet Arts Program and the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry at the University of Connecticut present a Colloquium with Jane Bennett on Friday, Feb. 21, from 9 a.m. to noon at the UConn Humanities Institute on the 4th floor of UConn’s Homer Babbidge Library.

The colloquium will include research presentations by UConn scholars including Associate Professor of English Kathleen Tonry, who will consider connections between Jane Bennett’s work and the 15th-century history of the book; Professor of Art History Elizabeth Athens, who will consider 18th-century naturalist William Bartram’s representations of nature; and Ballard Institute Director John Bell, who will examine Jane Bennett’s influence on contemporary puppetry studies. The presentations will also include short puppet responses to Walt Whitman poems by students in Dr. Matthew Cohen’s Hand Puppetry class. The colloquium offers an opportunity to engage in conversation about Walt Whitman and American poetry, political theory, puppetry studies, object-oriented ontology, and philosophy with Dr. Bennett. This event is free and open to the public.

Co-sponsored by UConn’s departments of Philosophy, Political Science, and English, the UConn Humanities Institute, and UConn’s American Studies program.

Jane Bennett is Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, in the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Her recent essays have appeared in Grain/Vapor/Ray (on Kafka's Odradek), Evental Aesthetics (special issue on Vital Materialism), and MLN (on mimesis). She is the author of Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things (2010); The Enchantment of Modern Life (2001); Thoreau's Nature (1994), and Unthinking Faith and Enlightenment (1987). Her forthcoming book this spring is called Influx & Efflux: Writing up with Walt Whitman.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information or if you require an accommodation to attend the colloquium, please contact Dr. Matthew Cohen at matthew.i.cohen@uconn.edu.

Contact Information: Dr. Matthew Cohen, matthew.i.cohen@uconn.edu
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Feb 22 Encounters: The Census10:00am

Encounters: The Census

Saturday, February 22nd, 2020

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Other
Hartford History Center at the Hartford Public Library

The 2020 Census is upon us! But what is the Census? When did it begin and what role does it play in our democracy and our communities? Why is it seen as so important to some people, and so controversial to others? Please join us for a discussion about the history, purpose, and importance of the U.S. Census and conversations around the challenges in counting and including all residents. Small group discussions will be followed by a Q&A session with Census professionals and experts.

** Please read selections found on https://democracyanddialogues.thedoddcenter.uconn.edu/encounters-series/ **

Lunch will be provided, free, upon registration. Please RSVP to jeagosto@hplct.org

Contact Information: jeagosto@hplct.org
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