Iberian Connections and Public Humanities
During this second semester of existence of Iberian Connections, we are devoting all our interest to the central question of Public Humanities. We want to explore how the work we do in the academic world is not, and cannot be, disconnected from the public sphere. Maybe the public sphere, as we used to know it, has bursted into a constellation of bubbles that seem to have their own gravitational fields. We want to investigate how history, philology, the humanities, the social sciences, etc. tackle the cultural, political, and social dynamics of those bubbles and their gravitational fields, thus impacting public and political life. We will be privileged enough to be in conversation with some of the most engaged and brilliant contemporary scholars in Iberian Studies and Public Humanities, like Sarah Pearce, from NYU (February 13th), Maya Soifer Irish, from Rice University (April 7th), and Miguel Martínez, from The University of Chicago (April 17th). Consult the Iberian Connections site frequently to get access to the updated materials and discussions.
Sessions
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Session 01 — February 13, 2020 — 6:00 pm
Romance Languages LoungeOpen or CloseNew Totalitarianisms and Medieval Iberian Connections
Sarah Pearce, Associate Professor at NYU, a specialist in Medieval and Early Modern Iberian and Near Eastern studies will join us to present her research and her modes of engagement with public humanities. Besides her book on Ibn Tibbon, she has also published in the Washington Post and Public Medievalist.
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Session 02 — April 7, 2020 — 6:00 pm
Romance Languages LoungeOpen or CloseAnti-semitism: from the contemporary world to the middle ages
Maya Soifer-Irish, Rice University. Professor Soifer-Irish’s work on Jews and Christians in Medieval Castile is part of her research on interfaith relations in the Iberian world, and her reassessment of the complex concept of convivencia. She is currently the president of the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies. She will present her current research and will conduct a workshop on antisemitism and public humanities.
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Session 03 — April 17, 2020 — 6:00 pm
Romance Languages LoungeOpen or CloseImperialism: Empire-phobia and Empire-philia in Contemporary Historiography and Public Life
Miguel Martínez is an Associate Professor at the University of Chicago. His book in the literature of captains in the Early Modern period was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. He will present his current research on the Asian expansion of the Spanish Empire, with specific interest in the Philippines. He frequently contributes columns and articles for the Spanish newspaper Público. He has engaged with the work of Roca Barea, and criticized the whitewashing of Spanish imperialism.
