Humanities Society

Humanities Society

The Humanities Society talks provide a forum for stimulating ideas across the boundaries between the Humanities and other fields of study.

Humanities Society

Our Society

The Humanities Society is made up of a lively group of students, researchers and fellows, who come together throughout term to discuss exciting developments in the arts, humanities or social sciences.

Who can join

All College members (students, Fellows, Visiting Fellows, and scholars) are welcome to attend our events and join our society. The talks are also open to the wider University community and the general public. We define the Humanities in a broad sense to include history, religion, philosophy literature, languages, law, economics, political science, music and fine arts.

What we offer

We offer a programme of international and interdisciplinary interest, featuring talks on a range of cultural contexts and themes, from a range of historical periods and perspectives. The talks provide a platform both for eminent academics as well as early and mid-career scholars at the forefront of their disciplines.

Many of our speakers are from Cambridge, creating interactions between Wolfsonians and the wider scholarly community at the University, but we also invite speakers from further afield including, in recent years, from Italy, Germany, Israel, South Africa and the US.

How talks work

The talks are organised and coordinated by the Humanities Society Committee. We do our best to make our events informal and inclusive. For each event there is an opportunity to mix with the speaker and other attendees over drinks before and after the talk. Following the talk we usually take the speaker to Formal Hall, and College members (and their guests) are very welcome to join us and continue the conversation over dinner.

 

Easter Term 2024

Tue 30 AprProfessor Patricia MacCormackThe Difficult Joy of Death Activism
Tue 7 MayRichard W. Hayes‘Bomb Site, Building Yard, Classroom: Practical Training at the Architectural Association after World War Two’
Tue 21 May  
Tue 28 MayDr Christina MakaronaShow me your bowl and I’ll tell you who you are
Tue 4 June  

Keep up to date with our events by signing up to our mailing list.

 

Committee Members

Please feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions about our events or suggestions for speakers.

What's on

Three skeletons depicted in a dance-like pose on a grassy field, from a historic illustration.

The Difficult Joy of Death Activism

30/04/2024 at 17.30

How we can develop ‘death activism’ – a variety of tactics and posthuman practices which celebrate death, its inevitability, its forms, from the slow to times of crisis, and how can trauma and mourning emerge as their own forms of expression, or even activism?

Two sets of hands making a pot on a pottery wheel

Show me your bowl and I’ll tell you who you are

28/05/2024 at 17.30

How can material culture be used to reconstruct ancient human stories?