September
September 5 - John M. Perkins: Justice for All -A sharecropper's son who grew up in Mississippi amidst dire poverty, he fled to California after his older brother's murder at the hands of a town marshal, vowing never to return. However, after converting to Christianity in 1960 he returned to Mississippi to share and live out the gospel of Christ. His leadership in Civil Rights work resulted in repeated beatings and imprisonment. Despite dropping out of grade school, he has written 12 books, been awarded 12 honorary doctorates, and founded two national organizations: the Christian Community Health Fellowship and the Christian Community Development Association. *Co-sponsored by the College of Health Sciences and the Social Entrepreneurship Program. Neely Hall, 10am to 10:50am, contact benita.walker@belmont.edu for more information
September 10-12 - Margaret Feinberg: Life Together - A popular speaker at national conferences, Margaret Feinberg was named by Charisma magazine as one of the "30 Voices" who will help lead the church in the next decade. She has written more than two dozen books and Bible studies, including The Organic God, The Sacred Echo, and Scouting the Divine. 9/10 - Neely Hall 10am to 11am AND 3pm to 4pm, 9/11 - Neely Hall, 3:30pm to 4:30pm, 9/12 - Neely Hall, 10am to 11am, contact benita.walker@belmont.edu for more information
September 17 - Dan Miller: Wisdom Meets Passion - Millennials have relied on passion as the guiding principle for their version of success whereas Baby Boomers relied on wisdom to pave their way. According to Dan Miller and Jared Angaza, co-authors of Wisdom Meets Passion: When Generations Collide and Collaborate, this is not bad news – it simply leads us to new kinds of jobs and other creative opportunities. This father-son team addresses issues like how do you “make a difference?” Can you really do work “that matters” and still make a living? Their concepts may make you think differently, but ultimately you will be inspired as you find – or create – meaningful, fulfilling and profitable work. This is the Kickoff Event for Belmont & Beyond (Career Services). Neely Hall, 10am to 10:50am, contact patricia.jacobs@belmont.edu for more information
September 19 - Robert Kaita: One Truth - Dr. Kaita is the Principal Research Physicist for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and the Program Chair for the American Scientific Affiliation’s 2013 National Conference at Belmont University, the largest annual meeting of Christians in the sciences. *Co-sponsored by the Physics Department. Neely Hall, 10am to 10:50am, contact benita.walker@belmont.edu for more information
September 21 - Stephen Mansfield: Mormon America - A New York Times bestselling author of 17 books, Stephen will speak about his recently published book The Mormonizing of America: How the Mormon Religion Became a Dominant Force in Politics, Entertainment, and Pop Culture. *Co-sponsored by the Political Science Department. Neely Hall, 10am to 10:50am, contact benita.walker@belmont.edu for more information
September 24 - Dr. Marcia McDonald: The Content of Civilty -Given that the title of this year’s symposium recalls Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents, this talk will begin by reflecting on Freud’s proposal that most of what makes us “civilized” makes us unhappy. This talk will consider civility as one of the civilizing processes and explore the range of meanings of “civility”—its content, if you will, with emphasis on the first syllable—and its representation in key works of the humanities. We will then shift the emphasis to the second syllable—content—and consider what these representations show us. This talk seeks to pose questions we can reflect on throughout the Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 10am to 10:50am, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 24 - Dr. Charmion Gustke: The Haunting (Dis)Obedience of Jezebel in Willa Cather's Sapphira and the Slave Girl - Sapphira and the Slave Girl is a reflection of the way in which the memory of slavery, and the postcolonial discourses this memory constructs, are at once intensely political and fiercely imaginative, predicated on the inherent anxiety of returning home. Linking the wholly private pursuit of writing with larger discursive political practices, Dr. Gustke suggests that Sapphia and the Slave Girl is a critique of the transgressive ideology of empire, encouraging readers to recognize the way in which racial anxiety is fueled by a discourse of civility to create a haunted vision of the South. An event of the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 11am to 11:50am, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 24 - Any Time you Quit Hearin Sir and Mam the End is Pretty Much in Sight: The Code of Civility in Southern Literature- One of the defining characteristics of Southern culture and its literature is its emphasis on manner. Southern manners may account for our charm and they certainly provide a sense of unity and social stability. However, Southern manner is a complex system of social codes that can also be limiting and destructive. William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy consider the paradox inherent within the Southern code of civility. Each suggests that while Southern manners may provide both social and moral structure, especially in times of social turmoil, they can also be a tool of the privileged that can destroy both those who embrace civility and those who challenge it. An event of the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 1pm to 1:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 24 - The Civil War and Southern Civilities in Faulkner's the Unvanquished- William Faulkner's The Unvanquished, because of its historical setting in the Civil War and Reconstruction South, offers a unique opportunity to explore how different Southerners might have changed or adapted their preexisting senses of morality and manners to fit a situation where the rule of law and civil society was almost entirely absent. The aristocratic pretensions of some Southern antebellum elite meant a society characterized by a heightened, almost parodic attention to civility and honor, which invariably came loaded with a peculiar set of assumptions about race, gender, class, and the proper uses of violence. The Civil War and Reconstruction tested these assumptions. Faulkner mines this chaotic historical terrain with telling tragicomic effect, representing the South in a way that enriches the historical record. An event of the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 2pm to 2:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 24 - Rude and Proud? The Value of Incivility in and out of the Creative Writing Classroom- Moderator: Dr. Gary L. McDowell, Department of English, Belmont University Presenters: Amanda White, Charlie - Is there value in incivility? Perhaps not in culture at large, but in the creative writing classroom and on blank pages across the world, there is. Writing students from Belmont's Bachelors and Masters programs in English will here discuss the relationships between civility and creative writing, between being rude and being proud. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 3pm to 4:30pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 24 - Writing the World: Poetry of Witness - Join us for a poetry reading by Traci Brimhall and Keith Montesano, whose work examines the intersection of violence and nature, humanity and ruin. Brimhall and Montesano seek to understand the unknowable through language, exploring elegy, myth and every form of rapture. In addition to their reading, Brimhall and Montesano will entertain questions and discussion. An event of the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 7pm to 8:30pm, contact gary.mcdowell@belmont.edu for more information
September 25 - Digital (In)Civility and Social Media - A panel discussion featuring Dr. Sybril Bennett and Dr. Kevin Trowbridge, Department of Media Studies, and Jason Stahl, Director of the Speech and Debate Program - This panel will discuss issues related to the theme of this week's Humanities Symposium, "Civility and Its Discontents" with a special focus on social media and other digital forums. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 10am to 10:50am, contact jason.lovvorn@belmont.edu for more information
September 25 - Dr. Jason Lovvorn: Digital Race Theory? Racial Narratives, Digital Storytelling, and Civility - Digital storytelling, a multi-modal narrative genre blending image and sound, has become an important venue for practitioners to develop critical perspectives in service of civility. In this presentation, Dr. Lovvorn will examine this potential by way of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a theoretical lens that privileges narrative as a means to social justice. Foremost, he will examine how digital storytelling serves as a practice-based testing ground for CRT. Using two publicly available digital stories as examples, he'll draw together theory and practice, and within this mix, consider how digital compositions can offer important counter-narratives regarding race at the same time they argue for a more civilized and just society. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 11am to 11:50am, contact jason.lovvorn@belmont.edu for more information
September 25 - Dr. David Curtis: Benjamin Franklin's Civil Engineering: What Education for Civility Looks - Even before Benjamin Franklin became involved in the project of creating the United States of America, he had given a lot of thought to what a civil society looks like and how people would have to be educated in order to bring that about. In this talk, Dr. Curtis will explore Franklin's most important ideas about education for a civil society and speculate about whether they might extend any wisdom to us. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 1pm to 1:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 25 - Dr. Ronnie Littlejohn: "Revisiting Why Bertrand Russell Was Prevented from Teaching at CCNY" - Dr. Littlejohn recounts the events surrounding first the offer of a distinguished teaching position to Russell at the City College of New York and its subsequent withdrawal. He explains the functions and impact of incivility in this all-too-real case and consider the causes for the resort to such strategies. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 2pm to 2:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 25 - "Civility in the Classroom" - a panel discussion with Dr. Kent M. Weeks - Continuing with this week's theme of "Civility and Its Discontents," author and attorney Kent M. Weeks, Belmont Faculty, and Belmont students will discuss the challenges, costs, and benefits involved in creating civility in the classroom. How do we define the civil classroom? Does incivility have its place? To what extent does educating people to be civil in an uncivil world help or handicap them? An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A & B, 3pm to 4:30pm, contact jason.lovvorn@belmont.edu for more information
September 25 - Dr. Kent M. Weeks: In Search of Civility - Dr. Kent M. Weeks, author of the book In Search of Civility: Confronting Incivility on the College Campus explores the topic of civility and its application to living, learning, and leading in an academic community. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 7pm to 8:30pm, contact jason.lovvorn@belmont.edu for more information
September 26 - "Civility Abroad" - a panel discussion by Belmont CCSA students, moderated by Dr. Maggie Monteverde - Students will discuss some of the particular challenges and rewards of studying abroad, especially as these intersect this week's focus on the theme of civility. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 10am to 10:50am, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 26 - Tom Lin: One World - Tom is the Director of Urbana, a triennial gathering of 18,000 college students and 250 world missions organizations, to be held in St. Louis Dec. 27-31, 2012. He is a graduate of Harvard University, the author of Losing Face, Finding Grace, and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s V.P of Missions. Tom served for four years as country director in Mongolia for the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. *Co-sponsored by the School of Religion. Neely Hall, 10am to 10:50am, contact benita.walker@belmont.edu for more information
September 26 - Kathy Skinner: "Creating 'Cultural Capital'" - Cultural mishaps, innocently insulting others whose traditions and ways are different from ours, occur when one uses his/her cultural assumptions to interact with another culture. As we travel into less explored destinations it is a behavioral minefield and the possibility of offending increases. Cultural mistakes can make one appear rude, reveal one’s unfamiliarity with other cultures, or even cause lost business deals. Learning a few key cultural clues can help you to welcome the Other and to be welcomed by the Other. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 11am to 11:50am, contact regine.schwarzmeier@belmont.edu for more information
September 26 - Dr. Qingjun Li: "Chinese Philosophy's Influence on Thoreau's Thought" - Lin Yutang says that Henry David Thoreau was the “most Chinese of all American authors” and that he could translate passages of Thoreau into Chinese and pass them off as original writing by a Chinese author without raising any suspicion. Dr. Li's presentation will consider whether Thoreau’s sentiments such as "That government is best which governs not at all,” are influenced by his extensive reading of Chinese writings through which he was familiar in French translation. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 2pm to 2:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 26 - Remziya Suleyman: "Other" to Neighbor: The Changing Face of Immigration - As Director of Policy Administration at the American Center for Outreach, Remziya Suleyman's talk/Q&A will focus on the changing face of Tennessee as new immigrants continue to make this state home and share her personal story as a Kurdish refugee. She will highlight legislative initiatives such as the Alabama copy-cat and other anti-immigrant legislation which been introduced based on fear and a need to address the so called "problem" of rapid immigration. She'll share specific examples of how civil discourse has helped shape dialogue and the changed perception of the "other" to neighbor in our community. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 3pm to 4:30pm, contact regine.schwarzmeier@belmont.edu for more information
September 26 - Fred Evans: Citizenship and Public Art: The Political Aesthetics of New York's 9/11/01 Memorial - Dr. Fred Evans, Professor of Philosophy and Coordinator for the Center of Interpretive and Qualitative Research In the United States, will address the political aesthetics of the 9/11/01 memorial in order to derive a criterion for judging it and other public art as acts of citizenship or, to use the terms of the Belmont Humanities Symposium, “democratic civility.” At the core of this project is the issue of the meaning of democracy and the degree to which the 9/11 memorial reflects or deepens our understanding of it in the context of death and mourning as well as international relations. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 7pm to 8:30pm, contact melanie.walton@belmont.edu for more information
September 27 - Dr. Melanie Walton: "The Civil Self: Authenticity without Alienation" - Civility is the respectful disposition to others and ideas that permits true community by opening space for productive critique and collective deliberation. However, existential authenticity depends upon determining the self’s identity free of social expectation, influence, and bias. Can we be authentic without being alienated from community? An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 10am to 10:50am, contact melanie.walton@belmont.edu for more information
September 27 - Philologoi: A Philosophical Discussion - Philologoi is Belmont's weekly philosophy discussion group, open to all. Topics discussed in Philologoi are student chosen and range from the ethical to the metaphysical. For this meeting of the Philologoi, following our usual format, a Belmont student will open the discussion by asking an extended question that relates directly to the Humanities Symposium theme of "Civility and Its Discontents." All members of the audience are strongly encouraged and warmly invited to participate. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 11am to 11:50am, contact melanie.walton@belmont.edu for more information
September 27 - Dr. Clifford G. Lee: "The Courage of Civility" - In this paper, Dr. Lee aims to offer a model of understanding civility that ties it to individual responsibility and the courage of philosophical self-reflection. He finds the sources of his insight in the foundational pillars of Western Civilization, Plato and Aristotle, whose efforts to define and aspire to the good life are argued to have much to teach us today. Most importantly, he'll connect incivility with vulgarity and thus find its antidote in a model of philosophical reflection that creates room for experience in things beautiful, thus acknowledging the aesthetic component of public discourse. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 1pm to 1:50pm, contact melanie.walton@belmont.edu for more information
September 27 - Dr. Annette Sisson & Allison Belt - "The Heart of Wendell Berry's Discourse: Progress and Preservation Through Right Relationship" - The works of Wendell Berry, at their heart, are about relationships: relationships with the earth; with loved ones; with the past, the present and the future. Ms. Allison Belt and Dr. Annette Sisson will discuss Berry’s use of these relationships in his writings as a means of engaging his readers in a larger dialogue about progress. In the end, Berry’s vision is not simply reformist or “anti-progress,” but rather acknowledges that progress is inevitable and insists that it can be sustainable, kind, and redemptive. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 2pm to 2:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 27 - "A Life of Activism, Peace, and Forgiveness" - Hector Black, Civil Rights Activist and Organic Farmer - Hector Black is remarkable for many things—he was an organic farmer for more than 30 years and a civil rights activist whose arrest was protested by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But he is perhaps best known for this response to his daughter’s murderer during the sentencing phase of his trial: “Love seeks healing, peace and wholeness. Hatred can never overcome hatred. Only love can overcome hatred and violence. Love is that light. It is that candle that cannot be extinguished by all the darkness and hatred in the world…My wish from my heart is that all of us who have been so terribly wounded by this murder, including [the murderer], is that God would grant us peace.” Come hear Hector Black speak about his extraordinary life and times and about the power of forgiveness. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 3pm to 4:30pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 27 - Stephen L. Carter - Belmont's First Year Seminar speaker and part of Belmont's Humanities Symposium, Stephen Carter, is one of America’s leading public intellectuals. Throughout his career, Professor Carter has helped to shape the national debate on issues ranging from the role of religion in our politics and culture to the role of integrity and civility in our daily lives. He is the author of seven critically acclaimed nonfiction books on law, ethics and politics, and has published five novels. Stephen Carter is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University. He served as a law clerk for two of the great veterans of the civil rights movement, including Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Law Institute, and he holds seven honorary degrees. Curb Event Center, 7pm to 8pm, contact jennifer.wells@belmont.edu for more information
September 28 - Symposium Speakers' Panel featuring Stephen L. Carter, Fred Evans, Clifford Lee, and Remziya Suleyman - Please join our guest speakers as they share ideas and participate in a panel discussion on the symposium's theme, "Civility and Its Discontents." An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 10am to 10:50am, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 28 - Clancy Smith - "American Gadflies: The Shadow of Socrates in the Philosophy of King and Peirce" - The emphasis on dialogue and the love of learning, central to Plato's iconic protagonist Socrates, is dispersed throughout American philosophy. From the oratory and writing of Martin Luther King, Jr. to the central tenets of Charles S. Peirce's pragmatism, Socrates' insistence on perpetuating knowledge through dialogue and inquiry is an integral component of American philosophy with enduring socio-political significance. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 11am to 11:50am, contact melanie.walton@belmont.edu for more information
September 28 - Dr. Kristine LaLonde - "All Civility Is Local: Local Politics as a Model for Friendship and Discourse" - As a member of Nashville’s Metro Council, LaLonde found that the ties of respect and friendship in the governing body were the building blocks of civility. In a time when social ties among those with whom we disagree are dismissed, if not actively discouraged, encouraging greater civility through social bonds is downright radical. It might also be the key to restoring civility to our politics. LaLonde will explore how we might restore our national discourse by starting with the small exchanges of civility. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 1pm to 1:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 28 - Dr. Nathan Griffith - "Democracy by Dostoyevskii: Morality and Civility in Politics" - In The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevskii presents two tales, each of which has a lesson to teach about the role of morality and civility in politics. The first, and most well known of these, is Ivan’s tale of the Grand Inquisitor; the second is Alexei’s recording of the life story of Elder Zosima. This presentation will explore how these tales illustrate the importance of morality and civility in politics, especially as presented in Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and Niebuhr’s Children of Light and Children of Darkness. An event in the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 2pm to 2:50pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 28 - A presidential debate conducted by Belmont students, moderated by Dr. Nathan Griffith - What issues will be driving college students to and (potentially) away from the polls this Fall? As part of the 11th Annual Humanities Symposium, Dr. Nathan Griffith will moderate a student debate and, time permitting, a discussion focusing on this year's presidential election. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 3pm to 4:30pm, contact david.curtis@belmont.edu for more information
September 29 - Acts of Civility: Community Service with Hands On Nashville - Get out and practice civility by getting involved in community service through the Humanities Symposium and Hands On Nashville. Opportunities include gardening at a local urban farm, working at Second Harvest Food Bank, or helping the homeless by volunteering with Room at the Inn. Volunteers participate from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, contact cynthia.cox@belmont.edu or misty.wellman@belmont.edu for more information
September 30 - Writing Our Voices - The Consensus of Civility: Humanities Symposium Writing Workshop, with Dr. Gary McDowell - Join us for a workshop wherein we’ll generate writing (stories, poems, etc) from multiple perspectives. Every story can be told from ad nauseam points-of-view, but how do we choose the one that best represents the real story? “Civility ensures true unity,” yes, but at what cost to the voices we cultivate in our writing? All are welcome! Bring a pen, some paper, and your courage. Let's write! McWhorter Hall Room 110, 2pm to 4pm, contact gary.mcdowell@belmont.edu for more information or to sign up ahead of time
September 30 - Reading and Celebration of Winning Entries, 2012 Humanities Symposium Writing Competition - Join us for a reading of prose and poetry featuring Humanities Symposium Writing Competition winners. Beaman Meeting Rooms A&B, 4pm to 6pm, contact gary.mcdowell@belmont.edu for more information
September 30 - Film Viewing and Discussion: Sophie Scholl: Die letzten Tage / Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005; German with English Subtitles) Dr. Regine Schwarzmeier - Sophie Scholl: The Final Days is the true story of Germany's most famous anti-Nazi heroine. Sophie, along with her brother Hans and other students in Munich, formed a resistance group called the White Rose. Dedicated to the fall of the Third Reich the students distributed anti-Nazi leaflets uncovering the ideology and uncivil actions of the Nazis. On one of these dangerous missions Sophie is arrested. During her interrogation, trial, and sentence she never breaks down. Loyal to her convictions and the White Rose and finding strength in her faith Sophie boldly delivers a call for freedom and personal responsibility, for staying civil in uncivil times. Join us for a viewing of this powerful film. LCVA, 6:30pm to 9:30pm, contact regine.schwarzmeier@belmont.edu for more information