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Humanities practitioners put current issues and events into perspective by encouraging critical thinking and analysis, challenging beliefs and values, sparking creativity and encouraging global citizenship and immersing in history. In an effort to further a world that is healthier, hopeful and more humane, the Syracuse University Humanities Center, in the College of Arts and Sciences, advances humanities research each year by awarding up to four competitive fellowships.

“Advancing graduate student research is so important. As the work of this year’s dissertation fellows and public humanities grantees amply illustrates, graduate students are pushing the boundaries of their fields and advancing the humanities in new ways for the 21st century,” says Vivian May, director of the Humanities Center.

This spring, the Syracuse University Humanities Center welcomes a visit by renowned Māori scholar, moral and political philosopher, Krushil Watene. She is a member of the Māori tribal communities of Ngāti Manu, Te Hikutu, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and the Pacific Island of Tonga (Hunga, Vava’u). Watene is the Peter Kraus Associate Professor of Philosophy, and Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Auckland/Waipapa Taumata Rau, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Jamila Walida Simon grew up in a time and place where children were expected to be largely seen and not heard; as an adult, she wanted to correct that, providing space for Black girls to express themselves, their thoughts and feelings, their struggles and aspirations. Now, as part of a working group that spurs and supports the self-reflection of Black women who work with Black girls, Simon has found that space for herself.

Now in its third cycle of funding from the Central New York Humanities Corridor, the working group, “Collectively Envisioning Black Girl Futures,” was founded in fall 2022 by Misha Inniss-Thompson assistant professor of psychology in Cornell's College of Human Ecology, and Courtney Mauldin, assistant professor of educational leadership at Syracuse University.

A&S scholar, Mariaelena Huambachano, travels the world gathering and sharing research on the wisdom of “Traditional Ecological Knowledge”, while passing it down to the next generation through her teaching at Syracuse.

Being uprooted from one’s typical routine can have profound impacts on one’s writing practice, and for the third year running, the Corridor Writing Retreat has provided such an opportunity to participants from across all 11 Corridor institutions.

German philosopher Immanuel Kant's concept of perpetual peace introduced a utopian vision of permanent universal hospitality. "Such understanding of peace does not describe any real human behavior but... is an imaginary peace-to-come..." as explored further in lectures, workshops, and round tables of the second annual Perpetual Peace Project conference, November 9-10, 2023.

A cascade of western boots hangs above a trail of soil, while illustrations and photographs of life around the United States and Mexico border cover the walls of the “The Border is a Weapon” exhibit. Artist Gil Rocha curated the collection as part of the Symposium’s “Landscapes” theme for the 2023-24 year, which he’s set to discuss on September 29 with Juan Juarez, an associate professor in the School of Art...

From the rural landscape of Michigan, to the devastated landscape of Bucha in the Ukraine, to the virtual landscape of the African diaspora, filmmakers address social issues and the fight for human rights around the globe at the 21st annual Syracuse University Human Rights Film Festival. The festival, a cherished annual event on the University calendar, has been held over two decades, representing an dynamic interdisciplinary collaboration across schools and colleges. The Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Humanities Center in the College of Arts and Sciences partner to co-present the festival.

Central New York's thriving and engaged humanities community is like a "vibrant quilt of different fabrics, textures and colors -- key to our vitality as a research consortium that advances cutting-edge research and brings the humanities to bear on a range of local and global concerns.”