Practicing Resurrection: Wendell Berry, the Humanities and the Problematics of Electric Wire and Screens

Location

Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094

Presentation Type

Presentation

Start Date

13-9-2016 3:00 PM

Description

Using as her launch point Wendell Berry’s Luddite-like denunciation of electric wire and electronic screens and his proclamation that we should endeavor to “practice resurrection,” Dr. Sisson will investigate various positions taken by commentators on humanity’s relationship with technology and the many ways our society has engineered itself to create a human experience that is increasingly, as psychologist Sherry Turkle claims, “alone together.” She will draw from literature (Margaret Atwood, Mary Oliver, Kazuo Ishiguro, etc.) as well as research in the social sciences and humanities (Robert Putnam, Sherry Turkle, James Howard Kunstler, Bill McKibben, Nicholas Carr, Diana Butler Bass, etc.) in order to test Berry’s position against those of other scholars and writers who are, in their own ways, also proponents of humanism. This talk will be peppered with marvelous poetry, occasional jokes, digital images and audience participation.

Comments

Convocation Credit: Society and the Arts and Sciences

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Sep 13th, 3:00 PM

Practicing Resurrection: Wendell Berry, the Humanities and the Problematics of Electric Wire and Screens

Janet Ayers Academic Center, JAAC 4094

Using as her launch point Wendell Berry’s Luddite-like denunciation of electric wire and electronic screens and his proclamation that we should endeavor to “practice resurrection,” Dr. Sisson will investigate various positions taken by commentators on humanity’s relationship with technology and the many ways our society has engineered itself to create a human experience that is increasingly, as psychologist Sherry Turkle claims, “alone together.” She will draw from literature (Margaret Atwood, Mary Oliver, Kazuo Ishiguro, etc.) as well as research in the social sciences and humanities (Robert Putnam, Sherry Turkle, James Howard Kunstler, Bill McKibben, Nicholas Carr, Diana Butler Bass, etc.) in order to test Berry’s position against those of other scholars and writers who are, in their own ways, also proponents of humanism. This talk will be peppered with marvelous poetry, occasional jokes, digital images and audience participation.