Revising the Humanities

“Revising the Humanities” is a panel discussion featuring leading scholars in premodern studies on the role of the humanities in 2024 and beyond. This conversation will be held in Washington D.C. on September 20th and will be livestreamed for the public.

The litany of legislation against critical race theory has bred a chilling effect on all discussions of race and racism in classrooms across the United States. But students are hungry for conversations about complex topics and social issues—they want their classroom experience to feel relevant to their lives.

With this goal in mind, ACMRS recently launched Throughlines, a dynamic pedagogical resource for engaging premodern critical race studies in higher education. Throughlines aims to support educators in bringing the difficult but necessary conversations about race into their classrooms. Supported with funding from the Mellon Foundation, Throughlines is a living and growing resource for educators across the world.

The premodern studies classroom is a particularly ripe place for conversations about race because they arrive unexpectedly. No one takes a Shakespeare class expecting to talk about the complexities and polarizations of our society today. And yet, by pinpointing these moments in premodern texts, professors can lead these discussions with the heat turned down.

Panelists

Leslie Alexander (Rutgers University)

Dennis Britton (University of British Columbia)

Dan-el Padilla Peralta (Princeton University)

Ian Smith (University of Southern California)

Ayanna Thompson (Arizona State University)

with moderator Ruben Espinosa (Arizona State University)

Sponsors

Revising the Humanities is created by the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies with sponsorship from the Humanities Institute at Arizona State University.