For the 2008-2009 academic year, the Center for the Humanities focuses on the burgeoning field of Visual Culture. A broad area of inquiry with origins in art history, cinema, media, and literary studies, Visual Culture examines the many ways the image permeates culture. By focusing on this topic, the Center highlights the connections between the visual arts and the enterprise of sense-making and interpretation that pertain to disciplines not only in the humanities, but also in the social and natural sciences.
Our programming this year includes the visit of our Visiting Scholar, Jeanette Roan, who earned her PhD in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester.
The Center will also coordinate a film series in conjunction with the Student Government Association. Watch this page for updates and a schedule.
The Center will host a symposium April 22-24, 2008 on the topic of Visual Culture. Watch this page for a list of panels and participants.
Other programming at the Center for the Humanities includes:
a Scholar’s Convocation to be delivered by the renowned English professor and public intellectual, Michael Bérubé;
our Works-in-Progress Lunches for Grinnell College faculty;
and numerous other presentations the Center will co-sponsor with other bodies on campus, including the Center for International Studies conference on 1968.