The Oregon Humanities Center is the sole interdisciplinary umbrella organization for the humanities at the University of Oregon. We encourage scholars to articulate their ideas in language that is accessible both to scholars in other fields and to the general public. The OHC sponsors a wide array of free public programs designed to provide a forum for discussion of and reflection on important issues.
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Micah Jones is an assistant professor of History and Black Studies at the University of Oregon. She talks about her book project, "The Price of Freedom: Race, Consumption, and the Long Black Freedom Struggle, 1915-1970," which places Black shoppers at the center of histories of consumption, racial formation, and the Civil Rights Movement. Research Notes: Colin Koopman is a professor of Philosophy…
Work-in-Progress talks with Hessam Abedini, PhD candidate, Comparative Literature and 2025–26 OHC Dissertation Fellow. This project examines how to translate the Persian epic Shahnameh (AD 1010) without imposing Western literary conventions on it. Previous English translations have compared the Persian poet Firdausi to Homer, distorting the epic’s unique cosmological framework that blends…
Mérida Mehaffey is an interdisciplinary scholar based in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently a master’s student at Bard Graduate Center, where she studies museum ethics, curatorial practice, and Native American material culture. Mérida graduated from the University of Oregon in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies and History. She returned to campus on May 7th, 2026 to deliver…
Smadar Ben-Natan is an assistant professor of Global Studies in the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages at the University of Oregon. Originally from Israel, her research focuses on human rights, international law, Palestine/Israel, armed conflict, criminal justice, incarceration, and colonialism. Research Notes: Michael Allan is an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and…
At a time when social media and our societal structures demand our constant attention to the rigged algorithm, we’ve stopped paying attention to what really matters, the world around us. Using poetic examples and stories from real life, poet Ada Limón invites us to remember that we are alive and will help us reconnect to what matters. According to Limón, “Poets often are very good at the myopic…
Ada Limón is the former U.S. Poet Laureate. She reads a poem and discusses her work. On April 8, 2026, Limón will give a talk titled "The Unleaving: How Poetry Helps You to Not Miss Your Life" at the University of Oregon. Research Notes: Leah Lowthorp, assistant professor of Anthropology and Folklore, discusses her book "Deep Cosmopolitanism: Kutiyattam, Dynamic Tradition, and Globalizing Heritage…
Ramón Resendiz is an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Oregon. He discusses his work as a Visual Anthropologist and documentary filmmaker focusing on borderlands and Indigenous voices. Research Notes: Amy Swanson is an assistant professor of Dance Studies, Theory, and History in the School of Music and Dance at the University of Oregon. She discusses her book "Dancing…
Xan Holt is an assistant professor of German and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oregon. He talks about his work on German literature, film, and television; and his project focused on environmental humanities. He also talks about his teaching and the importance of language study for students. Nina Amstutz is an associate professor of the History of Art and Architecture at the University…
Fernando Gorab Leme is an assistant professor of Classics at the University of Oregon. He talks about his research on the significance and wedding songs in Greco-Roman antiquity and talks about the classes he teaches. Research Notes: Jessica Vasquez-Tokos, professor of Sociology and Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies at the UO, talks about her new book "Burdens of Belonging: Race in an Unequal…
A Books-in-Print talk with author Joyce Suechun Cheng. In this talk, Cheng focuses on chapter 4 "The Surrealists as Ethnographers: Possession, Aesthetics, Subjectivity" which explores the idea of possession as a form of performative mask, utilizing Michel Leiris's ethnographic study of Ethiopian Zars in the 1930s. Joyce Suechun Cheng is an associate professor of the History of Art and Architecture…
