Humanities Lecture Series

The College of Humanities inaugurates a new lecture series, inviting the community to explore timely and often disconcerting issues with College of Humanities scholars.

All lectures will take place in the Dorothy Rubel Room of the UA Poetry Center’s Helen S. Schaefer Building.
1508 E. Helen Street
Free parking available after 5:00pm in all Zone 1 surface lots surrounding the building, and at cost in the Highland Avenue Garage.

Questions? (520) 621-9294

Inaugural Lecture:

“Why Does Racism Persist in the United States of America?”

Monday, November 9 – 6:00pm

As moderator, Assistant Professor of English Carlos Gallego will lead a discussion with a panel of College of Humanities scholars from various departments and will engage the community in dialogue.

According to Dr. Gallego, “The United States is a model for democratic governance, civil liberties and social justice. The 1964 Civil Rights Act exemplifies social progress. The election by popular vote of an African American president is an affirmation that we have, in fact, progressed. And yet, racism persists in the United States. Why?

Some of the questions to be explored on November 9 include:
• Do we create race or do we discover it?
• Do racially charged and racially rooted language-trends affect our perception of “racialized relations”?
• Do representations of racial progress propel social justice, or do they disguise persistent prejudice?
• Is a non-racist community even possible?”

Comments from College of Humanities Dean Mary Wildner-Bassett:
“(The inaugural event of Unsettling Certainties) is exciting and emblematic as it expresses all that Humanities has to offer our communities – our sense of place and purpose here in Tucson and beyond.

We use ‘unsettling’ as both verb and adjective. We want to ‘unsettle’ what can, could or should be reconsidered as a certainty. We also want to explore, together, in community, why once held assumptions about our ties as humans that have become more ‘unsettling’ than certain, including our ideas about race, language, and art. What ties us together, what unsettles us, what is certain?

Through this program, teachers, students, and lifelong learners in the Humanities share their knowledge and skills, ready to engage in conversation about real-world issues that face us daily.

It is with certain pleasure and enthusiasm that I invite the Tucson community to participate in this inaugural event of Unsettling Certainties.