In 1947, Martin Heidegger wrote what is now known as his “Letter on Humanism,” which is rich and revealing. At the center of the Letter stands a singular, pointed claim: that all previous “humanisms,” have failed to recognize the “proper dignity of human being.” Drawn from a book in progress, this talk by Sean D. Kelly of Harvard University will explore questions of our proper dignity, and the threat to it posed by the technological age. This event is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.

Drawing on her forthcoming book, Disorienting Politics: Chimerican Media and Transpacific Entanglements, Fan Yang mines 21st-century media artifacts such as Firefly and House of Cards to make visible the economic, cultural, political, and ecological entanglements of China and the United States. This event is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.

With an eye to local Baltimore developments, like the Eager Park and UMB BioPark projects, Davarian Baldwin will discuss what he calls the rise of UniverCities—higher education’s growing control over the economic development and political governance of urban America. From housing and wage labor to health care and even policing, colleges and universities have become big business and our communities their company towns. He will explore the costs when our cities become campuses and how we can think through a more liberatory way forward. This event, a collaboration with the University of Baltimore's History Program, is part of the Spring 2024 Humanities Forum.