How is Islam like Hinduism? What is a defensive jihad? How does the concentration of Muslims in the Global South affect their perception worldwide? Aria Nakissa — a scholar of Islamic law and philosophy, contemporary Muslim societies, and classical Islamic texts — unpacks a trio of truths about this fast-growing faith.
With no governing body to confirm proficiency, medical practitioners in the 2nd-century CE Greco-Roman world made their cases in the public square. In sophisticated street-corner demonstrations, they aimed to persuade their audiences of their expertise with dramatic experiments and heated debates with rivals. Classicist and scholar of the history of medicine Luis Alejandro Salas introduces us to the paragon of the practice, Galen of Pergamum.
With film credits like Modern Times (1936), High Noon (1952), and Raging Bull (1980), United Artists has been a major force in Hollywood since its founding in 1919. Film scholar Gaylyn Studlar writes about the company’s creation and the men — and woman — behind it all.
In “The Vampyre” (1819), the titular bloodsucker Lord Ruthven leaves a trail of “ruined” women across Europe. That storyline would have hit close to home for its often-misattributed author, Lord Byron, who was well known at the time for his illicit affairs. Was that just the way the true man behind the pen, John Polidori, planned it? Scholar of nineteenth-century British literature and culture William McKelvy looks at the enduring legacy of the Byronic vampire.
The human fingerprint maps our identity, the ties that bind us, the lingering traces we leave on this earth. As humanists, we explore the durability as well as the fragility of the human condition — opening windows onto worlds near to home and oceans away, worlds we interpret through stories and images, poems and performance, history and narratives, sounds and silence. At Washington University in St. Louis, the Center for the Humanities facilitates the labor of humanists by nurturing innovative research, transformative pedagogy, and vibrant community engagement locally and globally.
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The humanities center facilitates the labor of humanists by nurturing innovative research, transformative pedagogy, and vibrant community engagement locally and globally.
Learn More