Discussion Series

Natural Landscapes and Human Meaning

Part Three — The Forest

Tuesdays, from Sept. 19 to Nov. 14, at 4 p.m.

Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200

In the fall of 2022, the Humanities Center commenced an ambitious threeyear exploration of the connection between the human imagination and the diverse array of landscapes in our world. Having focused upon the ocean and the desert in the first two parts of this series, we turn now to a very different environment: the verdant and abundant life of forests and woodlands. Our two gallery exhibitions showcase the forest-themed work of Gregory Crewdson and Ori Gersht, while in a wide-ranging series of panel discussions and presentations, scholars from a wide range of disciplines will reflect upon the perennially alluring appeal of The Forest.

The Forest: Introduction and Opening Reception

Sept. 19

The Representation of the Forest

Sept. 26

The Forest in Thought and Literature

Oct. 3

The Architectural Forest

Oct. 10

The Lore of the Forest

Oct. 17

The Imagined Forest

Oct. 24

The Dimensions of Deforestation

Nov. 7

The Tree and Its Meaning

Nov. 14

Socially Responsible Technology

Thursdays, Sept. 21 and 28, Oct. 19 and 26, at 4 p.m.

Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200 This series will consider ways that the Humanities and the Arts lead discussions on understanding consequences for the use of emerging technologies, toward equity and the benefit of human society.

Forum on Technology for Social

Responsibility at USD

Sept. 21

Dr. Jeeyun Sophia Baik and Dr. Jillian Tullis, “Digital Death: The Afterlives of Online Data”

Sept. 28

Dr. Hannah Holtzman, “AI and the Death of Cinema”

Oct. 19

Dr. Sat Garcia, Department of Computer Science

Oct. 26

The Political Virtues: Are There Any and Why Does it Matter? Renaissance Perspectives and Beyond

Thursdays, Oct. 5, 12 and 19, at 6 p.m. Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200

It has been argued that our current political climate is one of a troubling crisis of civility and dysfunction. This situation invites us to consider whether there are certain modes of behavior that are more conducive to political flourishing than others and, indeed, if there are certain virtues that would be important for us as citizens to develop and practice.

Thus, this series will examine the notion of the ‘political virtues,’ specifically as this notion was discussed throughout the Renaissance and early modern period. It is hoped that examining these formative discussions from the past will shed light on what political virtue might be, and how it might be relevant for our time and place. Coordinated by Holly Hamilton-Bleakley, PhD, director of Medieval and Renaissance studies and lecturer in the philosophy department.

Machiavelli: Disrupting the Political Virtues

Oct. 5

Toleration as a Political Virtue: Early Modern Developments

Oct. 12

Lord Halifax and the Political Virtue of Moderation

Oct. 19

Frontiers in Frontiers: Indigeneity & Architecture

Additional Events

There’s More Live

Thursdays, Sept. 7, Oct. 12 and Nov. 9, at 4 p.m.

Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200

There’s More Live is a storytelling event where guests share meaningful experiences of the human condition. The series highlights USD’s liberal arts tradition, often by exploring the practice of changemaking. Listen to previous recordings of live stories at theresmore.sandiego.edu

University Galleries Art Walk

Thursday, Nov. 2, at 4:30 p.m.

Humanities Center Gallery, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall

Showcasing the University Galleries’ fall exhibitions, the Art Walk will include the Humanities Center Gallery, the Hoehn Family Galleries, the Fine Arts Gallery at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice and the Hoehn Print Study Room. Refreshments will be served.

Date and time to be confirmed.

Check website for details.

San Diego-Tijuana (U.S.-Mexico) has been named World Design Capital® 2024 as a result of the cities’ joint commitment to human-centered design and legacy of cross-border collaboration to transform the region’s natural and built environments. USD’s Humanities Center and the Department of Art, Architecture + Art History present a two-part project at the Humanities Center exploring how indigenous material practices, counter-mapping, and the creation of borders intersect and influence each other. Led by Marcel Sanchez Prieto, Adriana Cuéllar, and their invited guests.

Frontiers in Frontiers: Indigeneity & Land Labeling

Date and time to be confirmed.

Check website for details.

In advance of the fall holiday, this event is organized to highlight Native-Indigenous peoples who continue to resist erasure and defy the consequences of genocide. The Frontiers in Frontiers series, now in its third year, was first guided by its community partners on the U.S.-Mexico border, then by our community partners working in international migration. Our third year is guided by the notion of borderlessness and its precedence in Indigenous thought and practice. This session is led by USD’s Tribal Liaison, Sahmie Wytewa, and her invited guests.

ILLUME SPEAKER SERIES KNAPP LECTURE

Alexander Nemerov

Alexander Nemerov is the author most recently of The Forest: A Fable of America in the 1830s described by Annie Proulx as “one of the richest books ever to come my way,” and by Edmund de Waal as “an extraordinary achievement.” Nemerov’s previous book, Fierce Poise: Helen Frankenthaler and 1950s New York was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography. Nemerov has lectured widely and appears in The Price of Everything, the HBO documentary about the contemporary art world. He is the Carl and Marilynn Thoma Provostial Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Stanford University.

History and Averting the Disasters of the 2003 Iraq War: Lessons from the Humanities Two Decades Later

Ibrahim Al-Marashi, PhD, California State University, San Marcos

Monday, Sept. 18, at 5 p.m.

Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200

The disasters that ensued from the Iraq War are linked to groupthink among the U.S. and U.K. policy elites on the eve of the invasion, combined with the lack of knowledge of Iraqi society during the occupation. Ibrahim Al-Marashi will discuss how both failures are illustrated by the British government’s plagiarism of his research on the history of Iraq, a month before the war. This episode, known as the “Dodgy Dossier,” ultimately provides lessons on the value of the humanities, the debate on applied history and policymaking and the proper use of commas. Al-Marashi is an associate professor of Middle East history at California State University, San Marcos.

Alexander Nemerov’s The Forest : A Reading and Dialogue with the Author

Alexander Nemerov, PhD, Knapp

Chair

of Liberal Arts

Wednesday, Sept. 6, at 5 p.m. Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200

Alexander Nemerov is a renowned scholar and the Fall 2023 Knapp Chair in the Liberal Arts at USD. He is also author of more than a dozen books and exhibition catalogues on a wide variety of 19th- and 20th-century cultural topics. Nemerov has written persuasively about Frederick Remington and Diane Arbus, about 19th-century still life painting and classic Hollywood cinema, always with insight and poetic flair. Throughout his career, Nemerov’s work has been cited for its intellectual risktaking. His latest book, The Forest: A Fable of America in the 1830s (Princeton University Press, 2023), is based upon the 66th A. W. Mellon Lectures, which he delivered at the National Gallery of Art in 2017. The Forest has been praised as exceptional by academics and popular readers alike: “Neither history nor fiction, the book offers dozens of gem-like stories of [Americans’] last real encounters” with unspoiled landscapes. Nemerov will read excerpts from his highly original book, followed by a dialogue with Derrick Cartwright, PhD, an associate professor of art history at USD, who will explore his unconventional take on forest environments and their implications both within and beyond today’s academy. Copies of The Forest will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

The Dangers of Knowledge: An Art Historical Education

Alexander Nemerov, PhD, Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts

Thursday, Sept. 14, at 6 p.m.

Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall

In this talk, drawn from his experiences across 40 years of studying and teaching art history, Alexander Nemerov reflects on times when art represented a danger, a vanishing point, for him and for others, and how the shuddering sense of that danger remains a part of his thinking today.

ILLUME SPEAKER SERIES

The Illume Speaker Series features renowned faculty scholars, invited thought leaders and prominent public figures to advance the liberal arts and inspire lifelong learning.

ILLUME SPEAKER SERIES KNAPP LECTURE

Deep-sea Mining: What Are the Environmental Risks and Why Should We Care?

Jeff Drazen, PhD, Knapp Chair of Liberal Arts

Monday, Oct. 9, at 6 p.m.

Warren Auditorium, Mother Rosalie Hill Hall

The Humanities Center is delighted to welcome as Knapp Chair, Jeff Drazen, PhD, a USD alumnus and professor in the Department of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and senior fellow of the Joint Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research. Dr. Drazen’s research has explored the structure of deepsea and pelagic food webs and has evaluated abyssal fish and scavenger populations in areas that will be mined for metal resources. In this lecture, Dr. Drazen will explore the environmental hazards of deep-sea mining.

Minerva Lecture Series

The Minerva Lecture Series is designed to honor the ideas of retired and emeriti USD faculty members and to provide a showcase for their reflections on the life of the mind, such wisdom as is acquired after a lifetime of work in the field of education.

ILLUME MINERVA LECTURE SERIES

We Need to Talk About the Rule of Law

Del Dickson, PhD, JD, Professor Emeritus, Political Science and International Relations

Thursday, Nov. 16, at 5:30 p.m.

Humanities Center, Saints Tekakwitha and Serra Hall, Room 200

As author of the acclaimed books, The People’s Government and The Supreme Court in Conference: 1940-1985, Del Dickson’s distinguished academic career has been spent examining the place of the judicial system within the political life of the United States. In this Minerva lecture, Dr. Dickson will reflect upon lessons learned along the way and will assess recent events in the federal courts that have vexed longtime legal scholars and those who believe we should strive to be a nation of laws rather than will.

Knapp Chairs Of Liberal Arts

The Knapp Chairs of Liberal Arts contribute to the vitality and centrality of liberal arts in the college by teaching and interacting with students, collaborating with faculty members and presenting public lectures that engage our campus community.