Humanities at Large

Melissa Gismondi, Jackman Humanities Institute

5.0 (1)
Society & Culture
Updated Biweekly

Humanities at Large features Jackman Humanities Research fellows and their work on a particular theme.

11/12/2025

Reimagining the Marshlands of Southern Iraq

Seeing a place through someone else's lens can shape how we imagine it. In this final episode of Series 2, photographer Tamara Abdul Hadi revisits the Iraqi Marshes, layering her own images, family archives, and crowdsourced photographs over a colonial-era photo book that once defined the region in the global imagination. Her project develops a decolonial vision of a landscape central to Iraq's cultural identity and to her own. Tamara was the JHI's 2024-25 Artist in Residence. View some of Tamara's photos on the Doris McCarthy Gallery website.
10/29/2025

Going Underground: The World of Natural Burials

Talking about death is never easy, but how we handle it says a lot about how we live. Chris Miller examines the rise of natural burials, from simple shrouds to human composting, and what these eco-friendly practices reveal about our relationship with death and nature. His work invites us to see endings as part of a wider cycle of life. Chris was our 2024-25 CDHI/JHI Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow.
10/15/2025

Under the Cover of Canadian "Print Nationalism"

Julien Lefort-Favreau explores print nationalism, the government-funded system that keeps Canadian publishing alive, and the new pressures it faces from neoliberalism, Amazon, and algorithm-driven culture. His research considers why literature remains central to Canada's public life and how publishing connects to democracy, freedom of speech, and the idea of culture as a public good. Julien was the JHI's 2024-25 Visiting Public Humanities Faculty Fellow.
10/01/2025

Unearthing the Songs of Black Cowboys

The cowboy is usually imagined as white, but that story erases a much deeper history. Through the songs of Black cowboys, Karina Vernon uncovers a hidden archive that stretches from the Canadian prairies to Texas cattle drives and back to West Africa. Her work brings forward voices that reframe belonging, survival, and identity on the North American frontier.
09/17/2025

The Future of History is Indigenous

Indigenous history is not a side story but the foundation of how we understand the past. Aroha Harris explains why all history is Indigenous history, and how Māori ways of thinking about time, place, and connection can reshape our shared future. Her perspective highlights how Indigenous approaches open up new possibilities for history and for how we relate to one another today. Aroha was the JHI's 2024-25 Distinguished Visiting Indigenous Faculty Fellow.
09/03/2025

Fiery Transformations in Ancient Greece

Fire was more than warmth and light in the ancient world. Archaeologist and JHI Faculty Research Fellow Sarah Murray explains how cremation, animal sacrifice, and the birth of iron technology reshaped ideas of life, death, and rebirth in the centuries after the Bronze Age collapse. Her research reveals how fire transformed what it meant to be human in ancient Greece.
11/20/2024

Absence of Knowledge: Recovering Lost Narratives

In this last episode of Series 1 of Humanities at Large, Kamari Maxine Clarke joins host Melissa Gismondi for a discussion about Clarke's work on absences in historical knowledge and archives, particularly in the context of Black and Indigenous lives. They explore Clarke's interest in documenting and making visible forms of knowledge and memory that are often rendered invisible or unintelligible, such as oral histories, stories, and everyday experiences. She advocates for more interdisciplinary and imaginative approaches to exploring knowledge and social memory, including the use of "critical fabulation" to fill in gaps in the historical record. She also discusses her work analyzing the use of satellite imagery and other technologies to document human rights abuses, noting the limitations of these tools in capturing the deeper structural and historical contexts of violence. Kamari Maxine Clarke was one of the JHI's 2023-24 Faculty Research Fellows and her research project examined the problem of absence-presence in the Black Atlantic World.
11/06/2024

Absence of Artifacts: Stolen Indigenous Objects

Olivia Shortt is a classically trained saxophonist and multi-disciplinary artist known for their bright, bold performance attire, experimental music and immersive experiences that invite the audience to interpret and engage with the art. In this conversation with host Melissa Gismondi, Shortt talks about the rematriation/repatriation of Indigenous artifacts as well their diverse influences—from an exploration of the "weird" to Meatloaf to Indigenous trickster figures. As the JHI's 2023-24 Artist in Residence, Shortt worked on an immersive opera focusing on the rematriation/repatriation of cultural objects and ancestors as well as the conversation between institutions and Indigenous communities. Shortt's work aims to create spaces for dialogue and reflection on the historical and ongoing impact of colonialism and efforts to reclaim Indigenous histories and identities.
10/23/2024

Absence of Water: Touring Toronto

Landscape architect Jane Wolff and Indigenous scholar Jennifer Wemigwans guide host Melissa Gismondi on a tour that explores how water is hidden in Toronto's urban landscape. They examine the city's relationship with water, from buried creeks to the impact of climate change and discuss the need to shift from controlling water to living in a reciprocal relationship with it, and to recognize water's spiritual and ecological significance. This episode highlights how cities can overlook or undervalue water, and the potential consequences of that absence. Jane Wolff was one of the JHI's 2023-24 Faculty Research Fellows and her activist research draws on her education in landscape architecture and documentary filmmaking; it uses drawing, writing, walks, and public installations to decipher and represent the web of relationships, processes, and stories that shape the everyday landscapes of the Anthropocene.
10/09/2024

Absence of Evidence: Uncovering Udayana

Nilanjan Das joins host Melissa Gismondi for a conversation about the philosophical prowess of Udayana, a Sanskrit philosopher from the late 10th and early 11th centuries, who Das compares to Immanuel Kant and Aristotle in terms of his influence on Indian philosophy. Das also discusses the need for a broader understanding of philosophy that includes different traditions and perspectives, arguing for the importance of studying Sanskrit philosophy in philosophy departments rather than religious studies departments. Nilanjan Das was one of the JHI's 2023-24 Faculty Research Fellows and his research focused on the problem of induction in the history of Sanskrit philosophy—the problem of how we can justifiably draw conclusions about what we haven't observed on the basis of what we have observed. Host Melissa Gismondi was the JHI's 2020-21 New Media and Public Humanities Fellow.
09/25/2024

Absence of Information: Secrets & Rumours in Modern Egypt

Chloe Bordewich joins host Melissa Gismondi for a conversation about the role of secrets and information in shaping political relationships and historical narratives. Bordewich reflects on her experiences in Egypt during the 2013 coup and the spread of rumours during times of political turmoil. This episode also explores the history of information control in Egypt and the impact it has on public understanding and trust, emphasizing the importance of understanding the circulation of information and its relationship to historical and contemporary inequalities. Chloe Bordewich was the JHI's 2023-24 JHI-CDHI Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow and her research focused on the gaps between what the public has the right to know, and what the state is entitled to conceal; between official propaganda and what members of the public know to be true. Host Melissa Gismondi (she/her) is an award-winning writer and audio producer. She holds a PhD in American history and was the 2020-2021 New Media Public Humanities Fellow at the Jackman Humanities Institute.
08/27/2024

Absence of Intelligence: the Science and Fiction of AI

Teresa Heffernan joins host Melissa Gismondi for a conversation about artificial intelligence (AI). They discuss topics like the public's perception of AI, as well as AI's limitations, environmental impact, and its relationship with fiction. They also touch on the narratives and hype surrounding AI, the concentration of wealth and power in the tech industry, and the need for regulation and ethical considerations in AI development. Teresa Heffernan was the JHI's 2023-24 Visiting Public Humanities Faculty Fellow and her research questioned what it means to speak of human-like qualities, like creativity or intelligence or ethics, in the absence of life. Host Melissa Gismondi was the JHI's 2020-21 New Media and Public Humanities Fellow.

12 Episodes

Humanities at Large features Jackman Humanities Research fellows and their work on a particular theme.

Creator

Melissa Gismondi, Jackman Humanities Institute
Years Active

2024 - 2025
Episodes

12
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© 2024
Show Website

Humanities at Large