Advancing Research in the Humanities,
Linking Scholars to One Another and the Broader Maine Community

Spring  Events:

Connecting Our Worlds:  The Contemporary Role of the Humanities

Keynote Speaker:  Professor Christopher Newfield (UC – Santa Barbara)

This event is supported in part by a grant from the Cultural Affairs/Distinguished Lecture Series. 

Seminar I

Topic: “The Meaning of Death and End of Life Care”

Seminar Organizers:
Jessica Miller, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Kirsten Jacobson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Despite important advances in caring for patients at the end of life, such as the Hospice movement and the Palliative Care movement, Americans still struggle in many ways at life’s end and in considering issues pertaining to their dying prior to this point. As philosophers, we feel that a still underexplored dimension of end of life care involves the meaning of death. We propose exploring the end of life from phenomenological, narrative and ethical perspectives. These perspectives are often underexamined owing to the contemporary emphasis on reducing pain, minimizing suffering, understanding the patients’ wishes, and even, from a societal viewpoint, cost savings. We are particularly interested in discussing the existential significance of dying with the goal of suggesting further innovations and possible correctives to contemporary practices in end of life care.

Seminar I Readings:

“Death in the First Person” by “Anonymous”
“Being – toward – death” by Martin Heidegger
“Body Medical Ethics” by David Schenck
“Seeing the Difference” by Christina Marsden Gillis

The UMHI seminars bring together campus scholars for discussion of humanities readings on a topic of broad interest.

Each seminar is proposed and facilitated by a team of scholars.

Registration is limited to 18 participants, who will be given access to common readings selected by the facilitators.

All participants are expected to have read the material closely and to arrive ready to engage in the two-hour discussion.

For Seminar Registration contact:  Tonya Corriveau at 581-1954 or tonya.corriveau@umit.maine.edu

Seminar II

Topic: “Critical Theory and the Humanities”

Seminar Organizers:

Steven Evans, Associate Professor of English
Justin Wolff, Assistant Professor of Art History
Michael Lang, Assistant Professor of History

This seminar will consider the role of critical theory in the humanities today.  It is open to UMaine faculty, post-docs, and graduate students who are interested in discussing the function of critical theory in their research, collaborations with colleagues, and teaching.  The readings are intended to stimulate discussion among participants about the state of critical theory and the humanities, about the uses of critical theory in pedagogy, and about ways to increase interdisciplinary research and teaching collaborations at UMaine.  The hope is that the seminar will initiate a “critical theory” group on campus that will continue to meet formally and informally to discuss these issues.  The session organizers would like to emphasize that this is intended to be a collaborative discussion that could potentially lead in many directions. The organizers are pleased to facilitate the discussion but do not intend to “lecture” on the selected readings — they hope, rather, that participants will use the readings to make connections across disciplinary boundaries and between research and teaching.

Seminar 2 Readings:

Citations:

Adorno, Theodor W.  “Why Still Philosophy”
Derrida, Jacques. “The Future of the Profession or the Unconditional University (Thanks to the ‘Humanities,’ What Could Take Place Tomorrow)”

For Seminar Registration contact:  Tonya Corriveau at 581-1954 or tonya.corriveau@umit.maine.edu

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