Humanities at Large

Melissa Gismondi, Jackman Humanities Institute
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  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Biweekly

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

  1. Sep 9

    Music, Memory and the Armenian Genocide

    How can music give voice to a history that has been denied? Pianist and composer Eve Egoyan explores this question through In Stone, a deeply personal work shaped by her family's connection to the Armenian Genocide. Blending piano, her own voice and AI-generated sound, Egoyan turns to music to confront silence, memory and denial, and to imagine nature itself as a witness to history. Eve was the JHI's 2025-26 Artist in Residence. Watch Eve's performance of In Stone on YouTube.

    Music, Memory and the Armenian Genocide

  2. 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.

    Reimagining the Marshlands of Southern Iraq

  3. 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.

    Going Underground: The World of Natural Burials

  4. 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.

    Under the Cover of Canadian "Print Nationalism"

  5. 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.

    Unearthing the Songs of Black Cowboys

  6. 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.

    The Future of History is Indigenous

  7. 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.

    Fiery Transformations in Ancient Greece

  8. 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.

    Absence of Knowledge: Recovering Lost Narratives
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About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Melissa Gismondi, Jackman Humanities Institute
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    13
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Humanities at Large