鈥淭ime,鈥 this year鈥檚 theme for the , was chosen to mark both Cornell鈥檚 sesquicentennial and the society鈥檚 50th anniversary. The society鈥檚 annual theme conference, Oct. 23-24 in the A.D. White House, was titled 鈥淐elebrating Society@50: Time, on the Critical Edge,鈥 and featured international speakers as well as Cornell faculty.
鈥淭he humanities are a transformational force, offering critical perspectives on the human condition,鈥 said Gretchen Ritter, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and 麻豆视频. 鈥淭he Society for the Humanities is a meeting-point of interdisciplinary dialogue and theoretical reflection, and it is a pleasure to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its important work at Cornell.鈥
The conference considered issues regarding time鈥檚 imprint on the humanities: the passing of time in life and cultural experience, how chronology impacts methods of history, how time is marked differentially in racialized contexts, and time鈥檚 articulations in literary and artistic performance. Plenary speakers provided added emphasis on the understanding of time in indigenous and African contexts.
鈥淲e took advantage of a concentration of fellows currently at the Society working on Africa to give additional attention to how African history and culture provides an opportunity to think about time differently,鈥 said Timothy Murray, director of the Society for the Humanities and professor of comparative literature and English.
Alumni speaking at the conference included Tejumola Olaniyan, M.A.鈥89, Ph.D.鈥91, this year鈥檚 senior scholar in residence for the society, who delivered the keynote address, 鈥淓nchantings: Modernity and The Time of the State in Africa.鈥 Other speakers included Sara Guyer, director of the Center for Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; Skawennati, co-coordinator of the Initiative for Indigenous Futures; and Premesh Lalu, director of the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of Western Cape, South Africa.
Cornell faculty from a broad range of humanities departments also spoke at the conference, demonstrating the society鈥檚 wide reach and impact at Cornell, noted Murray.
The conference included a naming ceremony to celebrate a new endowment by the family of Stanford H. Taylor 鈥50, Chem.Eng. 鈥51, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which created the Taylor Family Director for the Society for the Humanities. The ceremony, hosted by Ritter, included remarks from John Taylor 鈥78 and Philip E. Lewis, professor emeritus of Romance studies, former dean of the 麻豆视频 and 麻豆视频 and retired vice president of the Mellon Foundation. The ceremony also recognized the creation of the Stanford H. Taylor Postdoctoral Fellowships, which provide opportunities at Cornell for outstanding recent Ph.D. recipients to develop as scholars and teachers.
Linda B. Glaser is a staff writer for the 麻豆视频 & 麻豆视频.
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