In today’s interconnected world, cultural competency, critical thinking and innovative problem solving are important proficiencies that are highly sought after by employers. The Institute for the Future predicts that 85% of the jobs that will exist in 2030 have not yet been invented, highlighting the need for adaptable graduates. The humanities play a vital role in cultivating skills such as agility, resilience and flexibility by broadening students’ worldviews and exposing them to diverse cultures, perspectives and experiences.
For the last 21 years, the Syracuse University Humanities Center’s Syracuse Symposium has done just that through a public series of art exhibitions, lectures, film screenings, workshops and musical performances which encourage people to think critically about important questions and reflect on their values and beliefs.
“Syracuse Symposium’s free, inclusive programming is so important to creating a sense of purpose and contribution larger than our individual selves,” says Vivian May, professor of women’s and gender studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of both the Humanities Center and Central New York Humanities Corridor. “Symposium’s diverse lineup of immersive experiences in the arts and humanities helps to humanize large-scale problems and to imagine how we can make a difference, together.”
Each year’s symposium programming centers around a theme, with this year’s being “community,” as chosen by the center’s advisory board. May notes that the range of events will engage attendees in conversations about social justice and well-being, while also demonstrating how community is vital to achieving more just and equitable futures. For example, a lecture and workshop with prison studies scholar Brandon Erby will highlight how incarcerated individuals are developing communities to foster a sense of belonging and emotional support as they work to prepare for life after release. Another art exhibition and film screening will highlight how the women artists in the Mithila region of northeast India are using art to challenge longstanding gender-based violence and patriarchal structures to foster empowerment and social reform.
“This fall’s lineup invites us to immerse in a rich array of cultural forms to consider how community can be imagined and built but also undermined,” says May. “Our fall offerings underscore the humanities’ central role in how we craft identity and forge community, including in contexts of constraint; in how to confront myriad forms of violence rupturing our communities; and in how we imagine community differently and tap into its possibilities in more just ways.”
Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks’ Curated Photographs and His Ideas About Community – During his career as a photojournalist from the 1940s to the 1970s, Gordon Parks illuminated issues of race relations, poverty, civil rights and urban life in America. An exhibition of his works, which he donated to Kansas State University, will be on display at the SU Art Museum’s Joe and Emily Lowe Galleries through Dec. 8. At the Sept. 6 event, Aileen June Wang , associate curator at Kansas State University’s Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, will discuss the legendary photographer and his wide-ranging artistic ideas.
River Stories: A Research Methodologies Workshop – Swati Chattopadhyay, professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara and prominent architect and architectural historian, will introduce participants to new methodologies in researching architectural and urban space through colonial and post-colonial lenses. The workshop will feature selected archival materials in the Special Collections Research Center and will also include a walking tour of the Erie Canal in downtown Syracuse.
Swati Chattopadhyay
The Architecture of Sovereignty: Making and Unmaking the British Empire in India – Chattopadhyay, whose research specializations include modern architecture and urbanism, and the cultural landscape of the British empire, will present a public lecture exploring how analyzing architecture, urban design and monuments can help people understand sovereignty and its relation to colonialism.
“Weird Barrio” Exhibition Opening – La Casita Cultural Center will commemorate Latine Heritage Month (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15) with the opening of its new exhibition, “Weird Barrio,” featuring the work of Syracuse-based Puerto Rican artist Manuel Matías. The installation will feature a collection of miniature three-dimensional dioramas that depict the Latino experience of Syracuse and Central New York.
Rupture, Resistance and Community: The Crisis of Violence Against Women – An art exhibition at the SU Art Museum and film screening of “Sama in the Forest” will emphasize how women in the Mithila region near the India-Nepali border are shifting gender and other social norms through storytelling and art. The film screening will include a question-and-answer session with producer Coralynn Davis.
Healing Trauma through Poetry and Music – Composer Kurt Erickson and award-winning poet and veteran Brian Turner will discuss the creative process behind their collaborative works, which blend Erickson’s compositions with Turner’s poetry. As part of Remembrance Week, the artists’ talk follows a performance of “Each Moment Radiant,” which commemorates the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. The concert will also include a rendition of “Here Bullet,” featuring a poem by Turner reflecting on his experiences as an American soldier in Iraq, and chamber music of Johannes Brahms.
Alba
Rockets for the Sake of Poetry – This year’s Kashi and Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture in the Sciences and Humanities will feature “bio-artist” Eduardo Kac, who gained prominence at the beginning of the 21st century with his transgenic work GFP Bunny (pictured). Kac used molecular biology and a gene found in jellyfish to create Alba, a bunny which turned fluorescent green when exposed to blue light. Kac will revisit key highlights in his career, with emphasis on his current space artworks.
Brandon Erby
Thursday, Nov. 7
Imagining Freedom: Developing Communities, Coalitions and Digital Literacies in Prison – Brandon Erby, assistant professor of writing, rhetoric and digital studies at the University of Kentucky, will discuss how incarcerated individuals build communities inside jails and the vital role they play in their emotional well-being, rehabilitation and reintegration.
Unpacking Prison Podcasts – Erby will host a workshop detailing how incarcerated individuals turn to podcasting to sharpen their storytelling skills and build community.
Learn more about this year’s Syracuse Symposium.
