Global Public Humanities Forum

The emerging pre-eminent FIU Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab [WPHL] in partnership with Humanities Edge and the FIU College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts | Miami Beach Urban Studios will hold its first Global Public Humanities Forum on Friday, May 15 and Saturday May 16, 2020 at 420 Lincoln Road, Suite 440, Miami Beach, FL 33139.

The forum will bring national experts in public humanities together with academic, community and public partners to reflect upon and celebrate diverse heritage, traditions and history.  The forum will provide an interdisciplinary venue to explore opportunities to train artists and storytellers, and to prepare public leaders to use the tools of the arts and humanities effectively to shine light on the best paths forward for communities, the public and humanity at large in light of the many challenges ahead.

Proposed Schedule

Before May 15, 2020: Pre-Forum Preparatory Activity

In preparation for the forum, we ask participants to read “The Last Time Democracy Almost Died,” a provocative short history of 100 years of public conversations about the democratic experiment, written by Harvard historian Jill Lepore in The New Yorker (February, 3, 2020). Participants should respond to the article in a short one-page (250-word) reflection that can take any form: essay, proposal, poem, story.

Some of the topics to consider include: What are the stories we think we should be telling about our society and our politics, and who should be telling them? What stories are missing, which have been subverted? Through stories, we reaffirm the centrality of the humanities to civic life. The humanities direct the stories that science tries to tell, that economics tries to quantify; the humanities are the cornerstone to understanding who we’ve been, who we are, and who – mustering the best of human learning – we can become.

Your short pieces will be due a week ahead of the conference so we may distribute them to all participants. Using this collective text, we hope to begin to articulate a working definition of “Public Humanities” and begin to explore how FIU can harness these disciplines in service of the public.

May 15, 2020 (Full day)

9 AM

Registration and light breakfast

10 AM

John Stuart welcome to the FIU Miami Beach Urban Studios

10:15 AM

Dr, Rebecca Friedman welcome to The Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab

10:35 AM

Campbell McGrath introduces Richard Blanco

10:40 AM

Richard Blanco “Unkeynote”

11:30 AM

Q&A and Discussion of Public Humanities

12 Noon–1 PM

LUNCH

1:00 – 5:00 PM

PUBLIC HUMANITIES TOPIC CONVERSATIONS

1:00 PM

PLACE: Andres Viglucci (Miami Herald) and Dr. David Rifkind (FIU)

1:40 PM

VISUALS: Dr. Jacek Kolasinski (FIU) and Fereshteh Toosi (FIU)

2:20 PM

PERFORMANCE: John Stuart (FIU) with Dr. Orlando Garcia (FIU) and Dr. Vanessa Garcia (Playwright)

3:00 PM

TIME: Ray Elman (FIU) and Dr. Enid Pinkney (to be confirmed)

3:40 PM

JOURNALISM: Ana Menendez and Nadege Green

4:20 PM

HUMANITIES: Dr. Phillip Carter with Dr. Rebecca Friedman

5:00 PM

RECEPTION AND DISCUSSION

May 16, 2020 (Half day)

May 16, 2020, 9 AM–1 PM

Using a Zoom interface with European partners, participants will discuss their visions for public humanities, storytelling, digital humanities, and the future of the human condition and communication in local and global contexts.

RSVP to reserve your place at the forum

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For more information, please email Rebecca Friedman, Director of the Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab.  Email: friedmar@fiu.edu.