Annual Humanities Theme

The Annual Humanities Theme is an initiative led by Colby College’s Humanities Division to celebrate the process of liberal learning by exploring a particular topic through exhibits, speakers, performances and coursework.  We organize year-long, campus-wide collaboration, highlighting the perspective Humanities can bring to the chosen theme while actively encouraging participation from departments outside of the Humanities.  Our goal is both to bring innovative programming to the Colby College campus and to highlight coursework and programming already underway.

2013-2014

Censorship Uncovered, the Annual Humanities Theme for 2013-14, is a year-long, campus-wide initiative designed to foster interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration. Through course work, performances, lectures, film screenings, exhibitions, and collegial conversation, Colby students, faculty, and staff across a broad range of disciplines and with widely varying perspectives will explore the fraught and provocative themes of censorship and free speech.

2012-2013

What is comedy? Seriously.  Is it more than laughter and humor? How is comedy related to other artistic genres, and how is it expressed in different languages, literatures, and art forms?  Is comedy specific to culture, or are some forms of comedy universal? How does comedy undermine or reinforce our attitudes towards race, gender, religion, class and ethnicity? Does what makes us laugh reveal our deep social norms and taboos?  What can biology and the social sciences tell us about what laughter means?

“Comedy, Seriously,” the Annual Humanities Theme for 2012-13, is a year-long, campus-wide initiative designed to foster interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration. Through course work, performances, lectures, film series, exhibits and collegial conversation, Colby faculty, staff and students celebrate the richness of the comic tradition and the vibrant place of comedy in our contemporary world.

2011-2012

What is terrorism? Is it true that one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter, or can we make ethical distinctions between instances of terrorism?  How does terrorism differ from other kinds of violence, for instance the violence of war or domestic violence? How do we distinguish between eco-activism and eco-terrorism, or criminal hacking and cyber-terrorism? How has terrorism shaped history, and how does it form the present?

2009-2010

The Metamorphoses Project is a campus-wide web of events linked to the Theater and Dance Department’s November 2009 production of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses. The goal of the Metamorphoses Project is to explore the broader theme of mythological narrative through history to contemporary life, and how myths operate in and through the various disciplines that make up a liberal arts environment. Join us this fall as we celebrate the process of liberal learning by exploring these questions through exhibits, performances and course work.