There's a common thread among the distinguished speakers appearing in this season's Lowell Humanities Series at Boston College, which kicks off on February 5.
“They all tackle issues of justice in their work: justice and religion, climate justice, global (in)equity, and social justice related to race and ethnicity,” according to the series' director, James Smith, an associate professor of English.
Smith urges faculty to incorporate the series into their classroom by utilizing the Resources for Teachers and Students featured on the Lowell Humanities Series website and to encourage their students to attend the events.
Lowell Humanities Series presentations are free and open to the public. The series is sponsored by the Lowell Institute, BC’s Institute for the Liberal Arts, and the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculties.
Sarah Coakley
Sarah Coakley: “‘For Mine Eyes Have Seen Thy Salvation’: Spiritual Perception and the Works of Justice in Christian Tradition.”
February 5, Gasson 100, 7 p.m.
The annual lecture this year features Sarah Coakley, an honorary professor at St. Andrews University and visiting professorial fellow at Australian Catholic University. Recent publications by Coakley—whose research interests are disciplines related to systematic theology, including the philosophy of science, the philosophy of religion, patristics, and feminist theory—include a series of her 2012 lectures titled Sacrifice Regained: Evolution, Cooperation and God. The event is co-sponsored by the Boston College Theology Department.
Amitav Ghosh
Amitav Ghosh: “Embattled Earth: Commodities, Conflict and Climate Change in the Indian Ocean”
February 12, Gasson 100, 7 p.m.
Ghosh’s writing, which includes nine novels and six works of nonfiction, has been translated into more than 30 languages and appeared in publications including The New Yorker, New Republic, and New York Times. In addition to his latest book, last year’s Gun Island, recent works include The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable and Flood of Fire, the concluding novel of his Ibis trilogy. He is the first Indian English-language writer to earn the Jnanpith Award for outstanding contributions to literature. Co-sponsored by Boston College Asian Studies, History, and English departments, with the support of an Institute for the Liberal Arts Major Grant Award, this event is related to the current McMullen Museum exhibition, “Indian Ocean Current: Six Artistic Narratives.”
Mae M. Ngai
Mae M. Ngai: “The Chinese Question, the Gold Rushes and Global Politics”
February 26, Gasson 100, 7 p.m.
A U.S. legal and political historian interested in questions of immigration, citizenship, and nationalism, Ngai is the author of the award-winning Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America and The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America. Among other publications, she has written on immigration history and policy for the Washington Post, New York Times, and The Nation. Her current projects include The Chinese Question, a study of Chinese gold miners and racial politics in 19th-century California, Australia, and South Africa; and Nation of Immigrants: A Short History of an Idea. Ngai is the Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and Professor of History at Columbia University. The event is co-sponsored by the Boston College History Department.
Min Jin Lee
Min Jin Lee: “Pachinko”
March 25, Gasson 100, 7 p.m.
Boston College Fiction Days presents Min Jin Lee, author of National Book Award finalist Pachinko and Free Food for Millionaires. Lee has received fellowships in fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, NPR’s Selected Shorts, and in other publications. Lee is a writer-in-residence at Amherst College, serves as a trustee of PEN America, and as a director of the Authors Guild. Co-sponsored by BC's American Studies and Asian American Studies programs.
Claudia Rankine
Claudia Rankine: “Citizen: An American Lyric”
April 1, Yawkey Center Murray Function Room, 7 p.m.
Rankine is the author of five collections of poetry, including Citizen: An American Lyric and Don’t Let Me Be Lonely; two plays: “The White Card” which also was published; and “Provenance of Beauty: A South Bronx Travelogue.” The editor of anthologies including The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind, she co-founded The Racial Imaginary Institute in 2016. Her numerous awards and honors include the Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, the Poets & Writers’ Jackson Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, United States Artist, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and the Yale University Frederick Iseman Professor of Poetry. The event is co-sponsored by BC's American Studies and African and African Diaspora Studies programs, the English, History, and Sociology departments, and Boston College PULSE: Celebrating 50 Years of Service; with the support of an Institute for the Liberal Arts Major Grant Award.
Ada Limón
Ada Limón: “The Carrying”
April 22, Devlin 101, 7 p.m.
Boston College Poetry Days presents Ada Limón, whose five books of poetry include The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and was named one of the top five poetry books of 2018 by The Washington Post. Her book, Bright Dead Things, was a finalist for the National Book Award, the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Limón serves on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency MFA program, and the online and summer programs for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center.
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