The Halifax Humanities Society is delighted to announce that we have launched the Humanities Today Lecture Series! The Humanities Today Series examines the role the humanities play in our lives and the lives of communities on the periphery of or excluded from the traditional avenues of humanities education. This series is supported by funds donated in the memory of Renate Usmiani, a professor of the Department of English at Mount St. Vincent University, remembered and beloved in her support for and teaching of the humanities.
On March 11, 2023, Dr. Roosevelt Montás of Columbia University presented the inaugural lecture “Human, Humanity, Humanities: Reflections On Our Condition“ at the Halifax Central Library. With a packed audience, Dr. Montás explored what it means to be human and what do the humanities contribute to our experience of ourselves. He reflected on why the humanities are both so important and so elusive, and why they are critical to who we are, and yet so imperiled in our society.
About Roosevelt Montás
Born in the Dominican Republic, Roosevelt Montás moved to the United States as a teenager and found that his early encounters with, and later study of, great books would have a profound impact on the course of his life. Dr. Montás is Senior Lecturer in American Studies and English at Columbia University and the former director of Columbia’s Center for the Core Curriculum (2008-2018). He is director of the Center for American Studies’ Freedom and Citizenship Program, which brings low-income high school students to the Columbia campus to study political theory and aid them in preparing successful college applications. Dr. Montás also helped to launch a branch of the Clemente Course of the Humanities—the program that inspired the creation of our own Halifax Humanities Society—and has shown a lifelong commitment to the study of the humanities.