SWAG��Ƶ

The Fall 2019 semester will be a busy one for the SWAG��Ƶ’s Center for Global Humanities as it hosts eight events.

Now in its eleventh season, the Center will host most of its events in a larger venue than previously in response to the overflow crowds its lectures have attracted in recent years. Most events will now take place at Innovation Hall on the SWAG��Ƶ Portland Campus.   

As the schedule below details, the topics slated for exploration this semester include an examination of black trauma and its national effects, a discussion of the United States’ history of multiculturalism, and an exploration of the Electoral College and its role in deciding our presidential elections.

In addition, a special event on November 4, co-sponsored by the Portland Society for Architecture (PSA), will bring New York Times graphics editor and geographer Tim Wallace to campus to discuss the role new technologies are playing in reshaping our modern cities. 

These events and others promise to treat the SWAG��Ƶ community and visitors from across Southern Maine to the same thought-provoking discussions attendees have come to expect from the Center over the course of more than 100 lectures during the previous ten academic years.   

All lectures begin at 6 p.m. and are preceded by a public reception at 5 p.m. Lectures are also live-streamed at .

Fall 2019 Center for Global Humanities Lecture Series

September 30, 2019: “How to Be an Epicurean”

Catherine Wilson, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, City University of New York  

Innovation Hall, Portland Campus

October 7, 2019: “Shakespeare in the Arab World” – Portland Campus

Khalid Amine, Professor of Humanities, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tétouan, Morocco

Innovation Hall, Portland Campus

October 8, 2019: “Shakespeare in the Arab World” – Biddeford Campus

Khalid Amine, Professor of Humanities, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Tétouan, Morocco

Alfond Center for Health Sciences 106, Biddeford Campus

October 24, 2019: “Blood Libel in America”

Edward Berenson, Chair of the History Department, New York University

WCHP Lecture Hall in Parker Pavilion, Portland Campus

October 28, 2019: “Acknowledging Black Trauma and its National Effects”

Françoise Hamlin, Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies, Brown University

Innovation Hall, Portland Campus

November 4, 2019: “The City: Sensed, Imagined, and Realized”

Tim Wallace, Graphics Editor and Geographer for The New York Times

Innovation Hall, Portland Campus

November 25, 2019: “American Democracy and the Electoral College”

Robert Alexander, Professor of Political Science, Ohio Northern University

Innovation Hall, Portland Campus

December 9, 2019: “Dreaming of a Hemisphere without Walls and Borders”

Paul Ortiz, Associate Professor of History, the University of Florida                  

Innovation Hall, Portland Campus

SWAG��Ƶ the Center for Global Humanities

The offers lectures by leading scholars to help us better understand the challenges besetting our civilization and outline new solutions for nations and peoples to live together without prejudice. Global in perspective, the Center’s lectures are streamed live on the Internet, allowing our speakers to answer questions from any country. Because the Center believes in the vital necessity of a humanities culture to civic and democratic life, it works closely with the local community to encourage reading, discussion, and debate. The Center was founded in 2009 by SWAG��Ƶ scholar Anouar Majid, Ph.D., who serves as its director.