Listen: Humanities Symposium explores what is being said, what is being heard, who is listening.
Vanier College is pleased to announce that this year’s Humanities Symposium taking place February 6-10, 2023, will invite attendees to listen to a variety of voices.
“The theme may be interpreted two ways,” says Vanier Humanities teacher and Symposium organizer, Lili Petrovic. “One way is to attract a wide range of people with different but equally important messages to communicate. Their common interest is to find an audience who will listen—from the environment, to the voices of the homeless, from storytelling and memory to the sound of birds. The other way to interpret this theme is to think about listening in a meaningful way.”
The week-long event will offer a variety of listening experiences such as the following.
Sage Goodleaf speaks as one Indigenous woman about the climate crisis, how she relates to it, and her experiences at a variety of international conferences including COP15. Mon. Feb. 6, 8:30 am, Auditorium
Terry Skolnik will speak on how the law fails to recognize the reality of people experiencing homelessness, creating a legal system which further disenfranchises them, and makes the very act of their survival a crime. Mon. Feb. 6, 2:30 pm, Auditorium
Author David Sax will participate in a Panel discussion with students on his latest book The Future is Analog (David Sax via Zoom, students in person, in the auditorium). Tues. Feb. 7, from 4-5:30pm, vanier.co/humanities
El Jones will discuss her latest book Abolitionist Intimacies that explores prisons, prisoners and power and where she listens to the voices of those imprisoned and amplifies them. Wed. Feb. 8, 10:30, (Zoom and auditorium). vanier.co/humanities
Sara Aronowitz and Shirin Fahimi will present an interactive conversation between a philosopher and an artist about the complexity of listening to stories and recollections. Thurs. Feb. 9, 1pm, auditorium
Finally, podcast host and Vanier teacher Sheila Das will be interviewed by fellow Vanier teacher Bruce Norton on what we can learn by listening to people. Fri, Feb. 10, 1:30.
Ursula Le Guin said “Words are events, they do things, change things. They transform both speaker and hearer”. The Humanities Symposium is an invitation to experience such a transformation through listening.