Dr. Robert D. Newman, president and director of the National Humanities Center, will visit The University of Alabama to present the biannual Hidden Humanities lecture March 29.
The lecture, to be held at 5:30 p.m. in Tuomey Hall, will cover the entanglement of ecology and the humanities. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited.
“The humanities are the foundation of a good and fulfilling life, a thoughtful and productive citizenry, and a just democracy. They encourage us to think clearly and analytically, to communicate cogently, and to broaden our perspectives through empathy and imagination. They awaken in us pleasure, connection and purpose.” Dr. Robert D. Newman
His lecture, “Saving the World with Metaphor: Toward an Ecological Poetics,” emphasizes the link between the humanities and ecology based on the methods used to study them, as well as their original impulses.
“I propose an enhanced linkage and a foregrounding of the personal in our work, in our advocacy for it, and in our resistance to those who oppose it,” Newman said.
About the Speaker
Since assuming leadership of the National Humanities Center in 2015, Newman has been dedicated to broadening the Center’s scholarly mission and educational outreach as well as to encouraging public engagement with, and national advocacy for, the humanities. The National Humanities Center is the only independent institute for advanced study in the world dedicated exclusively to the humanities.
Newman was trained as a literary scholar, receiving his doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his scholarship has focused on 20th century English literature and culture and narrative theory. He previously was dean of the College of Humanities, professor of English, and associate vice president for interdisciplinary studies at the University of Utah, where, among other initiatives, he led the creation of the Taft/Nicholson Center for Environmental Humanities in Centennial Valley, Montana. In addition, he has held faculty appointments at the University of South Carolina, Texas A&M University and the College of William and Mary. He is the general editor of the “Cultural Frames, Framing Culture” series published by University of Virginia Press.
Hidden Humanities Lecture Series
Founded in 2014, the Hidden Humanities lecture series invites scholars from around the country to comment on the “crisis of humanities,” as well as their positive contributions to the humanities. This lecture is supported by the College of Arts and Sciences and the departments of American studies, anthropology, art and art history, the Blount Scholars Program, English, gender and race studies, history, modern languages and classics, new college, philosophy, political science, religious studies, theatre and dance, and Latin American, Caribbean and Latino studies.