{"id":108,"date":"2016-11-08T13:15:09","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T13:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/clas\/?p=108"},"modified":"2021-04-07T19:18:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T18:18:30","slug":"the-humanities-and-the-public-a-view-from-the-university-of-kent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/clas\/2016\/11\/08\/the-humanities-and-the-public-a-view-from-the-university-of-kent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Humanities and the Public: A View from the University of Kent"},"content":{"rendered":"

People have an insatiable curiosity and inventiveness to create and to analyse what it is to be human. \u00a0The 2<\/u>nd<\/u><\/sup> National Festival of the Humanities (Being Human<\/u><\/a>) brings the work of academics at the University of Kent out of the campus and within the reach of the public \u2013 in the very centre of Canterbury \u2013 at the Canterbury Roman Museum<\/u><\/a> and the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge<\/u><\/a> (from 18-24 November).<\/p>\n

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The festival makes the work of staff and PhD students from the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies<\/u><\/a> accessible to the public. Going to an event, will quite literally cause you to think about things differently or to share your ideas about things as varied as the smells of the past<\/u><\/a> through to the technologies behind 3D printing<\/u><\/a>.\u00a0 The focus of the events is upon artefacts from the Roman past, often found in Canterbury \u2013 a Roman town \u2013 in excavations by Canterbury Archaeological Trust<\/u><\/a>.\u00a0 To understand and articulate our thoughts about the past, a poet \u2013 Dan Simpson<\/u><\/a> \u2013 will hold workshops to find a voice for our thoughts that are stimulated by looking into the past.<\/p>\n

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There are also two walks led by PhD students from the University of Kent.\u00a0 18 months ago, Julia Peters left Canterbury to walk the Via Francigena to Rome<\/u><\/a> in just less than 80 days.\u00a0 She will be sharing her experiences by walking with the public on the first section of the route to Dover.\u00a0 Paula Lock<\/u><\/a> will be exploring the smells of the past in a walk through Canterbury.\u00a0 Walking is a human action that is fundamental to the human experience.<\/p>\n

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There will also be a panel discussion of the Hopes and Fears of the Humanities that will be led by Dr Simon Kirchin<\/u><\/a> \u2013 the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities following the showing of the film: What is Humanities Research at the University of Kent?\u00a0 Brexit, the distrust of experts, and a priority given to STEM subjects may cause those in the Humanities to fear for the future.\u00a0 Amongst the panellists will be Professor April McMaho<\/span><\/u><\/a>n, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) at Kent, and herself a researcher in Linguistics. She stresses the enduring value of the humanities in challenging times:<\/p>\n

\u2018I can understand why there might be fear for the future, but I am determined that we should stress the benefits people derive from humanities research. Our lives are enhanced by our experiences in reading literature, finding out about the histories of people and places, going to the theatre, and discussing our pasts and futures, characters and beliefs. But it\u2019s not just about those engaging experiences \u2013 we gain so much more if we make the effort not simply to consume, but to understand. Humanities research helps us to do exactly that, adding a richness to our experiences, whether we are in a context of hopes or fears\u2019.<\/p>\n