The Humanities and the Brain

The Humanities and the Brain

Announcing the IHC public events series for 2015-16: “The Humanities and the Brain”

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Seat of consciousness and the unconscious; motor of knowledge, memory, judgment and problem-solving; locus of language and creativity; regulator of movement and emotion; processor of sense perception – the brain reigns sovereign over human cognition and sentience. The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center’s 2015-16 public events series “The Humanities and the Brain” will explore the workings of the brain from perspectives deriving from the humanities and fine arts, as well as from newer interdisciplinary fields such as neuroesthetics and neuroethics. The program will bring humanists and neuroscientists into dialogue to consider diverse analyses and representations of this most elusive organ.

We solicit suggestions for speakers, panels, conversations, performances, artist talks, and film screenings relating to “The Humanities and the Brain,” on themes such as:
Artificial intelligence
Autism
Brain injury
Consciousness and the unconscious
Criminal justice and brain imaging
Decision-making
Dreaming
Emotional states
Historical understandings of the brain
Life stages and the brain
Literary representations of mental states
Mapping the brain
Memory and forgetting
Mental health and education
Music and the brain
Narrative and the brain
Performance and the brain
Poverty and brain development
Religious experience and the brain
Representations of the brain in popular culture
Visual arts and the brain

Please contact IHC Director Susan Derwin or Associate Director Emily Zinn with your suggestions for productive and creative collaborations.