Lecture series examines ‘belief’
The UB Humanities Institute is launching a major new lecture series this semester, inviting scholars to campus for conversations on a topic vital to the human existence: belief.
The series, “On Belief,” opened Tuesday with a talk by Amy Hollywood of Harvard Divinity School, a historian of Christian thought with a specialty in mysticism and strong interests in feminist theory, queer theory, psychoanalysis and continental philosophy. Hollywood, a prize-winning author, delivered a speech titled “Love and the Heretic.”
The Humanities Institute promotes cross-disciplinary research, teaching and community programs in the humanities, and Director Tim Dean says “On Belief” aims to tackle “questions about what we believe and why we believe it—questions that can’t be answered from within any single academic department or discipline. We’re interested in religious beliefs, but also scientific beliefs.” “Examining questions of belief at UB seems especially important in the current global context, when religious fundamentalists imagine themselves as at war with secular societies,” Dean continues. “Yet, even within the United States, religious fundamentalism is a force to be reckoned with. The university is a place where people should be thinking about these issues critically and self-critically. The Humanities Institute is happy to take a leadership role in this kind of thinking,” he says.
The lectures are free and open to the public. All will take place at 4 p.m. in 120 Clemens Hall, North Campus. The remaining line-up for spring 2010:
• March 15: Michael Warner, professor of English and American studies at Yale University, will give a talk titled “The Evangelical Public Sphere.” Warner’s work has ranged from scholarship in early American literature and print culture to more theoretical writing about publics and social movements. His interests involve varied disciplines, crossing over into new media and intellectual property. At present, he is working on a study of secularism.
• April 5: Joan Wallach Scott, professor of social science and a faculty member within the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, will give a talk titled, “Sexularism: On Gender Equality and Secularization.” Scott is known internationally for writings that theorize gender as an analytic category. She is a leading figure in the emerging field of critical history. Recent books have focused on gender and democratic politics.
• April 20: James Siegel, professor of anthropology and Asian studies at Cornell University, will give a talk titled “The Hypnotist: After Effects of the Tsunami in Sumatra.” Siegel’s current work focuses on the relation of violence to culture. Topics of study have included witchcraft, the massacre of 1965-66 in Indonesia and the fate of its survivors, and the colonial war in Aceh and its lack of effects on memory and identity.
For more information, contact the Humanities Institute at 645-2591.
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