Category: upcoming events

1. GHI Forum Series

Join our online 2025 GHI Forum Series to hear about GHI’s research and action plan for each pillar from our pillar coordinators, explore common passions and interests, and discuss how you can join our efforts and particular projects.

We convene each month on a mid-month Thursday or Friday from 10 am to 11:30 AM EST.

1st GHI Forum

• Title: Cognition, Learning & Human Flourishing
• Date: February 21, 8:00–9:30 AM EST
• Speakers: Jonas Mago, Justus Wachs

• Title: The Good Life: Religions, Philosophies & Sciences
• Date: April 11, 10:00–11:30 AM EST
• Speakers: Rafal K. Stepien, Simran Jeet Singh, Andreas Ohlemacher, Wiebke Denecke

• Title: Good Governance in Bad Times
• Date: June 6, 10:00–11:30 AM EST
• Speakers: Wiebke Denecke, Johannes Makar, Michael Puett

• Title: Public Literacies: Civic Systems, Media & Emotional Intelligence
• Date: On July (TBD), 10:00–11:30 AM EST
• Speakers: Richard Eberhardt, Gabor Hollbeck, Mikael Jakobsson

2. Roundtable

Humanisms & Renaissances across World History–a Timely & Casual Conversation

• Time: March 21, 4:00-5:30 pm
• Location: MIT Hayden Library, Nexus Space 14S-130

A Roundtable with

Laura Ashe (English Literature, Oxford University)
Jason Chen (MIT’25, Mechanical Engineering & Literature)
Wiebke Denecke (East Asian Literatures and Thought, MIT)
Johannes Makar (Arabic Thought, Harvard University)
Ugo Mondini (Byzantine and Greek Studies, Oxford University)
Václav Zheng (History of East-Central Europe, Johns Hopkins University)

---

3. GHI Comparative Global Dialogues

Join GHI members of our Area Expert hub, as they join GHI project leaders in comparatively exploring a particular research topic across millennia of human experience on our planet. Our Dialogues series will be kicked off in May.

4. Launch events

• Launching the “Legacies for Our Future” Challenge: Celebrate the Planet with Mike Block, [TBC], and Korean Folk Painting Experience
  • With Kim Jae-Hui, the Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Boston
  • Chung Byungmo, Director of the School of Minhwa (Korean Folk Painting)
  • Kwak Yunmi, Minhwa Artist
    • Time: May 14 2025, 5:00-7:00 PM
    • Location: Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building @ MIT
    • Organizer: MIT Comparative Global Humanities Initiative (GHI)
• CELEBRATE: Launch of the Asian Hub of  MIT’s Global Humanities Initiative at Korea University
  • Location: Korea University, Seoul
  • Date: April 24-25, 2025

5. 4^th Annual Conference of the MIT Comparative Global Humanities Initiative.

• Title: “Creating Desirable Legacies for Our Future in an Age of STEM & Big Tech”
• Location: Korea University, Seoul
• Date: November 20-21, 2025

On March 26, 2025, Profs. Nasser Rabbat and Margery Resnick will hold an event at the International Institute in Madrid, Spain to bring together experts across the field of Islamic Iberia and to set the stage for further global activities in this sphere.

This meeting of experts in the fields of architecture, music, art history, literature, archeology, history and urban studies will not only highlight aspects of  Islamic Iberian culture, but will situate these studies in today’s world.  The crucial shaping role of Islamic Iberia in Europe and the Middle East and how that role is studied in today’s context will form the nexus of this encounter.

The range of speakers, (see below)  the variety of expertise they represent, and their geographic diversity will draw students in the field from across the Iberian peninsula. It is our hope that a new generation of Islamic Iberian scholars will meet each other in this encounter.

This event marks the start of our mission of bringing the legacies of Islamic Iberia, in all their creative forms, into educational curricula and cultural institutions—schools, universities, museums, exhibits, concert halls.  The range of experts at our March 26^th event will emphasize the breadth of this legacy.

We aim to establish a framework for collaboration between MIT and US scholars, Spanish scholars, Middle Eastern scholars and Latin American scholars on the legacies of al-Andalus, by creating a network of interested individuals.  The Madrid event marks the beginning of this endavor.

Presenters at the March 26^th encounter in addition to Profs. Rabbat and Resnick:

• Susana Calvo Capilla
  Department of Art History
  Faculty of Geography and History
  Complutense University of Madrid

• Hames Bitar
  Professional oud player;  expert on al-Andalus music

• Pedro Buendía
  Department of Linguistics and Oriental Studies
  Area of Arabic and Islamic Studies
  Faculty of Philology
  Complutense University of Madrid

• Maria Jesus Viguera Molins
  Professor of Arabic Studies
  Complutense University of Madrid
  Academy of History

• Julio Navarro
  School of Arabic Studies (CSIC)
  Specialist in Islamic Archaeology, particularly in Murcia
  School of Arabic Studies, CSIC, Granada

• Dr. Antonio Orihuela
  Research Professor
  School of Arabic Studies (CSIC)
  Laboratory of Archaeology and Architecture of the City (LAAC)

• Luis J. García Pulido
  Senior Scientist
  School of Arabic Studies (EEA), CSIC
  Laboratory of Archaeology and Architecture of the City (LAAC)

You are cordially invited to join a globe-spanning conversation on Humanisms & Renaissances across world history sponsored by the MIT Comparative Global Humanities Initiative (GHI) and Ancient and Medieval Studies (AMS).

• TIME: March 21 2025 @ 4.00 – 5.30 pm US Eastern Standard Time
• LOCATION: MIT Hayden Library, Nexus Space 145-130 and hybrid
• (Optional) REGISTER FOR ZOOM: https://mit.zoom.us/meeting/register/oiIbIifwQ2it3CI3OFOYYw

CONVERSATION TOPIC:

Humanism is a belief system or attitude that appreciates the agency of human beings in this world. Proponents of humanism believe that humans have the capacity to reach their full potential through a process of self-examination and self-awareness, without the intervention of gods or other powers. They believe in the dignity of humans and in the value of their accomplishments. Forms of humanism thus typically emerged in historical moments when people looked back to a history of collective cultural achievement in order to seek political and moral guidance and cope with the challenges of an ever more complex present.

Although the Latin-derived word humanism is typically associated with Renaissance Europe, intellectual movements that believe in the creative power and inherent ability of humans for self-realization have existed in various cultures and periods across world history. Our panel expands the inquiry strategically far beyond Europe, including “humanisms” in Byzantium, East-Central Europe, the Arabic world, and East Asia, asking:

1. What distinctive forms have humanisms and renaissances assumed across time and space—and how and why?
2. How were humanisms and renaissances variously shaped by domestic and cross-cultural developments?
3. How did socio-technological developments, such as the invention of printing, changes in religious institutions, or colonial governance, shape humanisms and renaissances?
4. How can we collectively develop new research and pedagogical programs based on a deeper understanding of the diverse manifestations of humanisms around the world?
5. What are lessons from world history’s various humanisms and renaissances for our historical moment?

LIGHT SNACKS AND DRINKS WILL BE PROVIDED

For inquiries and questions please reach out to Johann Noh at noh1214@mit.edu.