Three-dimensional artwork comes alive when experienced in the flesh, says art historian Nathaniel Jones. Guiding us around the Vatican Museums’ statue of the mythical Laocoön, he describes the storytelling twists and turns the sculpture reveals when viewed dynamically — an effect impossible to capture in a static representation.
With freshly published novel “My Beloved Life” in hand, Indian author Amitava Kumar, who now lives in the U.S., recently gave a talk at WashU. Comparative literature PhD student Jey Sushil caught up with Kumar to discuss the new book, writing for Indian as well as western readers and why a carefully curated bookshelf could improve your writing.
By starting with a common set of nonword symbols, the participants in the Abstract Comic workshop suddenly found they could speak the same language — despite their diverse backgrounds and disparate ideas, says graduate student Bailey Willden.
Coins are pocket-sized propaganda, communicating the political messages of the rulers who struck them. Even as they circulate in an everyday context — buying goods and services — they reinforce the ideals held most dear by their societies. Classics scholar William Bubelis examines the details of two ancient Greek coins to reveal the stories their minters wanted to sell.
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.
Read More About Our Mission and Our History
Pursuing new scholarly ideas about the world takes funding — whether it's for a two-month tour of research sites in Japan or a two-week trip to an archive to view materials available only there — that can be hard to find via regular channels. The Center for the Humanities fills this gap with a number of funding opportunities for Washington University faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. Learn more about their stories!
WashU graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences are invited to apply for a one-semester fellowship during the academic year 2024-25. The fellowship offers a workspace, the opportunity to workshop a portion of a dissertation (or job talk) and a $5,000 stipend. Applications are due Friday, April 12.
Application, dates & detailsThe Graduate Student Fellowship allowed me to make more progress on my dissertation in a single semester than I had been able to in the entire preceding year.
―Ann Marie Jakubowski Department of English, Fall 2023 Graduate Student FellowA pop-up workshop engaging the St. Louis community with a small but powerful public text: the pin-back button.
View EventHigh school reporters, librarians, educators and booksellers — Banned Books Fellows report on how various communities have responded to book bans across the U.S., as well as the frequent targets of bans.
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Keep up with all the news and events organized by the Center for the Humanities — and dive into some great feature stories from our blog, Human Ties. The newsletter is published monthly during the academic year, and events are promoted throughout the year. We welcome all readers!
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