The Humanities Flourish in a Challenging Year

For more than 20 years, the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison has been a nexus for interdisciplinary programs and events within and across the humanities and social sciences.

As a result of the pandemic, we had to transition much of what we do to a virtual or remote environment. But that didn’t stop us from delivering a year of programs, public "Humanities Responder" projects, and conversations to invigorate scholarly, cultural, and civic life in Madison and beyond.

As we look back on the year, we want to thank you—the students, faculty, staff, and community members who made this all possible. Please read on for a few highlights and stories from this challenging but impactful year.

A Year of Virtual Events

Friday Lunches Extend to the University of Wisconsin System

Friday Lunches provide an opportunity for faculty to showcase their work in an interdisciplinary crowd that is friendly and curious. One result of the pandemic is that all Friday Lunches went virtual, giving us the opportunity to throw geography to the wind and expand our programming across the UW System. We welcomed Nolan Bennett, Assistant Professor in Democracy and Justice Studies at UW-Green Bay; Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, Associate Professor of English and Film Studies at UW-Milwaukee; and Tanya Tiffany, Associate Professor of Art History at UW-Milwaukee, as Friday Lunch speakers this year, in addition to UW-Madison faculty.

Then and NOW: From the Art of State Street to the Derek Chauvin Verdict

Humanities NOW panels offer thoughtful and timely perspectives on breaking issues of our time. These discussions are an opportunity for everyone to sift and winnow together, offering deeper insights and perspectives not found in general coverage of urgent events.

This past year, we convened Humanities NOW conversations on the art of State Street and politics, policing, and protest; the new and sometimes inhospitable frontier of social media and academia; and a discussion to help us all make sense of the Chauvin verdict (access a Vimeo recording here).

Above image: A piece by Shiloah Symone Coley, provided by Nithin Charlly

New Collaborations and Connections

In collaboration with the Department of English and with support from the Department of African Cultural Studies, we hosted the first annual Tẹjumọla Ọlaniyan Memorial Lecture Series, with guest speaker Moradewun Adejunmobi, professor and former chair in the African American and African Studies Department at the University of California, Davis. The lecture series honors Ọlaniyan’s career, which spanned over three decades, and his pursuit of a unique, capacious, and generous vision of humanistic scholarship in the field of African literary and cultural studies, including the Black world as a whole and extending beyond it.

This year’s Nellie Y. McKay Lecture in the Humanities featured a special virtual visit from independent scholar Shanna Greene Benjamin. Benjamin shared early memories of McKay, a pathbreaking scholar who helped establish the Department of Afro-American Studies at UW-Madison, and excerpts from her book, Half in Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Nellie Y. McKay (access a Vimeo recording here).

This was also a year of new partnerships. With the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice, we hosted a virtual conversation with author Kim Stanley Robinsin, “generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers” (The New Yorker). We intend to host further conversations from our two centers in the 2021-22 academic year.

Suggest a Speaker

As we chart our upcoming events season, who would you like to hear from? We welcome you to submit speaker suggestions for the 2021-22 academic year. The suggestions we receive from you will help the Center's Steering Committee, composed of faculty and community partners, create a slate of exciting and diverse speakers next year.

Suggest a Speaker

Dream of Ding Village in Wisconsin and a Virtual

“Great World Texts Month”

Amid a challenging year and a global pandemic, over 2,000 students at 25 high schools across Wisconsin read and responded to Yan Lianke’s novel Dream of Ding Village, the prescient story of a public health crisis of the 1990s when rural villages selling their blood led to an AIDS outbreak. We convened our first-ever virtual student conference billed as “GWT Month” to discuss Yan’s novel. Students shared their original paintings, dances, short stories, Minecraft worlds, and songs with others and we archived these projects on our digital conference program and social media at @greatworldtexts and #gwtdingvillage. GWT Month culminated with a virtual visit from Yan, for both students and the public, where he reflected on the novel’s perspective on pandemic profiteering and government corruption as well as trauma and hope.

“Thank you for all of the work that you are continuing to do to put together this experience for students. Several students have shared with me that they have never read a book like it before and have found it quite engaging.” — Kathryn Zimpel, teacher, Whitnall High School

Applications are open for the next Great World Texts in Wisconsin program, in which high school teachers and students throughout the state will read and engage with James Weldon Johnson's 1912 novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man.

Humanities Responders

At the start of the pandemic, we called for undergraduate and graduate students to serve as "Humanities Responders" by creating remote humanistic social justice projects that serve and bolster community organizations addressing the invisible crises of the pandemic. Over the past year, 36 Humanities Responders have completed or are currently finishing projects. These Humanities Responders demonstrate (in a very real way) the necessity of public humanities partnerships as essential projects of hope that reflect the importance of the humanities and the Wisconsin Idea in challenging times. Here are some memories shared by a few recent Humanities Responders.

HEX-U Scholars and Undergraduate Humanities Responders

Marissa Beaty, Battling Bacteria: Flood Survival Protocol Program

One of the things I am most proud of is the relationships I built with the community my project was based in. I have met some of the most incredible, kind, and hardworking people. There is no way I would have been able to complete the project without their continued support and assistance. I would say the Center for Humanities did a really good job of bringing the cohort together and supporting us throughout the pandemic. It was pretty difficult to transition my project from in-person to remote, but the Center and the HEX-U Coordinator did a great job of making me feel heard and assisting me throughout this transition.

Julia Buskirk, WATER@UW

I worked with Water@UW this spring as a HEX-U Exchange Fellow for developing the Flow Project, an art and science collaboration. The HEX-U grant allowed us to develop a microgrant that was distributed to 14 artists across the UW System. These artists were then paired with water partners throughout the state to create art inspired by water issues. I was incredibly proud and impressed by the wide range and variety of both art mediums and water issues that were creatively communicated with Flow! From oil painting to collage, from research on Lake Mendota to the Great Lakes, this project was a testament to Wisconsin's wide range of water research and efforts to sustain our precious resources. I was also very touched and encouraged by the enthusiasm this project received; to see people in water research and policy excited and willing to engage and work with artists gives me immense hope for the future of our waterways. You can explore the art that was created with Flow here.

Image: Kassia Lesiewicz worked with UW-Madison graduate student Ben Martin to share information on the invasive species Spiny Water Flea, which has been changing the ecosystem in Lake Mendota and other lakes throughout southern Wisconsin.

Claire Darmstadter, Multilingualism and Education in Wisconsin

I was really proud of how many languages and backgrounds I was able to represent. I have the connections where I very easily could have made it entirely focused on Spanish, but I was very purposeful about reaching out to people that I didn’t personally know, but thought would have important, interesting perspectives to share. While the stories of Spanish-speaking individuals are incredibly important to our state and most definitely were still included, I wanted to make sure that speakers of less-commonly-discussed languages in the broad public sphere were getting the recognition and validation that they deserve. I was so appreciative of the interviewees being willing to speak with me, especially given the state of the world, but to hear them thank me for providing the opportunity to share their stories was so, so cool.

Erin Bailey and HEX-U were wonderful to work with! Being backed with funding allowed me to expand the reach, depth, and accessibility of the website, and it was really important to me that during COVID, especially since I was interviewing people involved in the space of education, I was able to fairly compensate them for the time they were graciously giving me. I always knew an answer was an email/meeting away if I had any questions!

Benjamin Sevart, Odyssey Writing Group

This is a screenshot of the cover of a print magazine called the Odyssey Writing Group Oracle that I made for OWG. I’m particularly proud of my work on this, not only in the design and software skills I developed but also the messages that writers sent me. I remember particularly one writer said “Ando en las nubes,” which in English means essentially “I’m on cloud nine.” I want to thank the Center for the Humanities for making this project possible with the funds that allowed the magazine to be designed, printed, and mailed to our writers.

Madelyn Vilker, Persist at the Polls

A memorable moment from my Persist at the Polls project was when I was able to meet our Poll Posse members during the volunteer kit pick-up. We were just coming out of a summer of lockdowns, and a quick socially distanced hello, thank you, and chat meant the world to us. Going back to the antiquated hand-written postcard gave the project the humanity that is needed in this pandemic, and getting to meet our volunteers really got us all excited to tackle the effort ahead of us. It would not have been possible without my advisors from the Center for the Humanities, who gave me fantastic advice and assistance even in a virtual world. The professional development meetings strengthened my understanding of what it meant to be involved in community engagement, and the overall support from the Center brought an entire community across the state together—something I never would have gotten to experience otherwise.

HEX Scholars and Graduate Humanities Responders

Gabrielle Kelenyi, The Odyssey Writing Group: Writing Into the Room

A particularly memorable moment during the Odyssey Writing Group (OWG) was the first time a member facilitated a meeting. It felt risky for both the member as a new facilitator and for me as a mentor, but it was the most magical moment! The facilitator expertly turned a history topic (women’s suffrage) into inspiration for writing. Furthermore, the other group members were engaged, gracious, and encouraging. And most importantly, the session inspired others to sign up to facilitate a meeting and helped members see themselves as leaders of the writing group. Now, members facilitate almost every OWG meeting, and that’s what I am most proud of. The support I received from the Center for the Humanities throughout this past year has allowed OWG to respond to challenges in ways that enhanced the independence of the group and helped the writers’ dreams come true.

Alexandra Lakind, Essential but Expendable: Storying Experiences with Child Care Providers

Essential but Expendable: Storying Experiences with Child Care Providers came at a time when it was of utmost importance to maintain connection. For Kate MacCrimmon and me, it was crucial to figure out how to translate our longstanding bilingual professional development series into the virtual realm. The Humanities Responder call provided the impetus and resources we needed to ensure that this work remained meaningful and relevant to our community.

Rudy Molinek, Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center

The HEX project has been a highlight of my last six months. The opportunity to work with Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center on the Equinox Storytelling Summit, with the support of the Center for the Humanities, provided a creative and fun outlet to engage with the changes that came along with spring this year. I know that participants from around Wisconsin also found the Storytelling Summit to be a welcome and rewarding break from the grind of late-stage pandemic fatigue by inspiring close observation of nature and creative storytelling based on those observations.

Taylor Nefcy Seale, Arts Access Toolkit: Building Resiliency Through Youth-Centered Creative Placemaking

I am so proud of the work that I was able to do despite navigating through the uncertainty of COVID-19. I am really proud of the work that youth did for my project, they had incredible insight and expertise into a new community project, the Madison Youth Arts Center.

Aaron [Fai] was such an incredible support system during this project. He not only helped me navigate my project from start to finish, he was always an advocate for my career interests. Aaron was always challenging me and encouraging me to step up to the plate and take risks!

Kassia Shaw, Sharing the Stories That Inspired “Earth, Sky, Water": A Ho-Chunk Ceramic Mural Installation in Maa Wakąčąk

Each of the interviews I’ve conducted so far have left a lasting impression. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of Ho-Chunk families sharing not only their talents and time this summer to create the mural, but also their willingness to share their stories with the public for the interpretive trail website. Thank you to the Center for the Humanities for sponsoring my involvement in the project this year. It has helped me fully understand the scope and importance of the Wisconsin Idea. I hope the project helps to raise awareness that the Ho-Chunk Nation holds important wisdom about our landscape. When we take time to listen and sit with those stories, we are better able to connect across cultural differences and begin the process of reconciliation.

Garret James Zastoupil, Goodman to Garver: Stories of Place on Madison’s East Side

My memorable moment has come from completing interviews/oral histories over the last year. One of the key themes that has emerged is the idea of identity, place, and imagination. This was particularly salient in an interview with two leaders of a longstanding advocacy organization focused on the Missouri River in North Dakota. Their love of place, and dreams for the future of the region (not just their organization), pushed me to think more deeply about how my project is relevant to these ongoing conversations.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Aaron [Fai]’s support in this project. His care about me as a whole person has been so appreciated throughout this incredibly trying year. As well as his ability to listen to the totally niche work that I am doing, and help me clearly articulate my scholarly interests to a broader audience.

The Center for the Humanities catalyzes innovative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative inquiry in core and emerging humanities fields at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and beyond.

Our programs establish a coordinated vision for scholarly and public engagement with literature, history, philosophy, and culture through workshops, fellowships, seminars, and conferences. Each year we welcome world-renowned scholars from across campus and around the globe for public lectures, events, and projects.

We are grateful for the essential support of the College of Letters & Science, the A. W. Mellon Foundation, the Anonymous Fund of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Brittingham Fund Inc., the Evjue Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, UW-Madison Libraries, Madison Public Library, and individual donors.