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.
Recommended Citation
Sisson, Annette PhD, "Practicing Resurrection: Wendell Berry, the Humanities and the Problematics of Electric Wire and Screens" (2016). Humanities Symposium. 4.
https://repository.belmont.edu/humanities_symposium/2016/2016/4
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.
Comments
Convocation Credit: Society and the Arts and Sciences