Humanities Hub spring speakers include filmmaker and a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet

CLEMSON – Guest scholars will discuss poetry, world cinema, women’s activism and the works of Andy Warhol this spring at Clemson University as a part of the Humanities Hub series of speakers.

Among the distinguished guests will be Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tyehimba Jess, who is headlining the 12^th annual Clemson Literary Festival.

“The Humanities Hub is proud to support a range of intellectual programming,” said Brian McGrath, interim director of the Humanities Hub and a Clemson English professor.

“With academic talks, poetry and fiction reading, film screenings and other events, this semester we will showcase the ways the humanities advance new forms of imaginative inquiry and new models for social encounter,” McGrath said.

All of these Humanities Hub events are free and open to the public.

January

Jonathan Flatley, author of “Like Andy Warhol” (University of Chicago), will discuss the famed pop artist at 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, in the Lee Hall auditorium  (Lee 2-111). A public reception takes place at 5 p.m. Flatley’s appearance comes in conjunction with the exhibition “Warhol: Portraits and the Everyday,” running through March 6 in the Lee Gallery at Clemson. The show features a selection of Warhol’s Polaroid portraits, black-and-white photographs and screen prints inspired by people, places and everyday experiences. Sponsors include the Humanities Hub and Lee Gallery at Clemson Visual Arts.

February

“Marianne Noires,” a film directed by Mame-Fatou Niang, will be screened followed by a discussion with Niang at 6 p.m. Feb. 27 in McKissick Theatre in the Hendrix Student Center. An associate professor of French and Francophone studies at Carnegie Mellon University, Niang conducts research on contemporary France, postcolonial and transnational studies, media and urban planning. Her 2016 “Marianne Noires” centers on seven Afro-French women who discuss what it means to be black and French. Sponsors include the department of languages; the world cinema, women’s leadership, and Pan African Studies programs; the Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff; the Gantt Multicultural Center; Global Engagement; Student Affairs; the Clemson Southern Poverty Law Center student organization; the student Council for Diversity Affairs; and the Clemson Feminism Club.

Siraj Ahmed and Alex Bevilacqua will discuss colonialism and the history of the European Enlightenment at 4 p.m. Feb. 28 in Lee Hall (Lee 2-301). Ahmed’s book “Archaeology of Babel: The Colonial Foundation of the Humanities” (Stanford) recently won the Modern Language Association’s prestigious Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize. Ahmed is an associate professor of English and the director of comparative literature at Lehman College, part of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Bevilacqua, author of “The Republic of Arabic Letters: Islam and the European Enlightenment” (Harvard), is an assistant professor of history at Williams College in Massachusetts. He specializes in the cultural history of early modern Europe and how non-Western religious and intellectual traditions are understood there. This discussion is sponsored by the Humanities Hub.

March

Siraj Ahmed and Alex Bevilacqua will lead a seminar discussion of colonialism and the history of the European Enlightenment at 10 a.m. March 1 in the conference room of the Class of ’41 Studio on the first floor of Daniel Hall. The seminar is sponsored by the Humanities Hub and Pearce Center for Professional Communication.

J.D. Connor will deliver a lecture, “Whirled Pieces: The Components of Global Transmedia Production,” at 5 p.m. March 4 in the Academic Success Center, Room 118. Connor, author of “Hollywood Math and Aftermath: The Economic Image and Digital Recession” (Bloomsbury), is an associate professor in the Division of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Southern California. His research and teaching focus on the art and industry of contemporary Hollywood. Sponsors include the world cinema program and the Humanities Hub.

Artists Barbara Ciurej and Lindsay Lochman will present “The Politics of Physical and Social Environments” at 6 p.m. March 26 in Lee Hall (Lee 2-111). Ciurej is a Chicago-based photographer and graphic designer. Lochman is a Milwaukee-based photographer and lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The two artists explore how photography can engage the edge between the heroic and the commonplace. They also probe how history, myth and popular culture shape our understanding of who we are. Sponsors of the event include the Clemson Architectural Foundation, Clemson Visual Arts, the Humanities Hub, the Pearce Center and professors Steve Katz and David Blakesley.

Blair Imani, author of “Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History,” will discuss the relation between her writing and grassroots activism at 6 p.m. March 27 in the McKissick Theatre at the Hendrix Student Center. Imani is the founder of Equality for HER, a nonprofit educational platform for women and nonbinary people. Sponsors include the Humanities Hub and the Gantt Multicultural Center.

April

The Clemson Literary Festival returns for its 12^th year April 10-12. Headlining this year’s event is Tyehimba Jess, author of “Olio,” which won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Jess, a dynamic presenter of his own work, will speak at 8 p.m. on April 11 in Brackett Hall 100. More than a dozen other writers and literary events are scheduled during the three-day literary fest at various venues in and around Clemson University. Sponsors of Lit Fest are the department of English; the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities; South Carolina Humanities; South Carolina Arts Commission; Clemson University Vending Committee; the South Carolina Review; the Zeitgeist Poetry Series; the Humanities Hub; and R.M. Cooper Library.

The “Embodiment and Race Conference” April 11-13, features keynote speakers George Yancy, author of “Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly About Racism in America” (Rowman and Littlefield), and Sara Heinämaa, author of “Toward a Phenomenology of Sexual Difference” (Rowman and Littlefield). The two-day interdisciplinary conference offers an opportunity for academics and the local community to explore recent debates on race. Yancy is a professor of philosophy at Emory University and editor of the Philosophy of Race book series published by Lexington Books. Heinämaa is a philosophy professor at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland. Sponsors include the department of philosophy and Religion; The Office of the Provost; the Office of Equity and Inclusion; the department of English; the City of Clemson; and the Humanities Hub.

Over the course of the semester, additional Humanities Hub events may be added. To keep apprised of the latest Humanities Hub news, visit the Humanities Hub website and follow the Humanities Hub on Facebook.

The Humanities Hub
The Humanities Hub was created in 2016 with the aim of advancing outreach, scholarship and teaching of the humanities at Clemson University. More information and scheduling updates will be posted on the Humanities Hub website and Facebook page.