As part of its expanding array of programming, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is delighted to announce a new program called Big Ideas @ TU. Once each semester, the Center will host a public discussion of a single book, film, exhibition, or performance led by an expert. The first participants to sign up will receive free books or tickets, though everyone is welcome to attend the discussion itself.
“The idea,” said OCH Director Sean Latham, “is to encourage debate about the kind of complex, often unsettling issues that art, literature, and history can raise. We typically think better when we think together, and these bi-annual events here at the Center will give us a way to create a public seminar where we practice the art of civil debate and critical analysis.” By giving away books or tickets, the Center hopes to lower some of the barriers to participation, while the public aspect of the event is meant to link TU’s campus to the larger community. As Latham notes, “when we read a book, see a play, or visit an exhibit, we often want to talk about it—to share our own ideas and to be surprised by what others have seen or thought.” This new program will provide an opportunity for just this kind of exchange with the helpful moderation of both local and visiting experts.
Big Ideas @ TU kicks off with Associate Professor of English and Humanities Research Fellow, Robert Jackson, leading a discussion of Dave Eggers’ 2013 novel, The Circle. Set in a California technology company that links its users together through promises of sharing and openness, the novel follows the career of an idealistic young woman who seems to land the ideal job. As the company’s utopian promises grow increasingly frightening, the book becomes both a thriller and a mediation on our rapidly changing ideas about privacy, technology, and identity.
Big Ideas @TU: The Circle will take place on Monday, April 6 from 5:00-7:00pm in McFarlin Library’s Faculty Study. It is free and open to everyone, though you are urged to reserve a space by emailing humanities@utulsa.edu.