Humanities Division

Picture a series of uniform mounds of earth, each about 6-feet high. Enclosing 50 acres, the mounds form an octagon that is connected to a circle. This is The Octagon Earthworks, located in central Ohio, and it’s one of thousands of Indigenous mounds across the eastern half of North America. Chadwick Allen is a professor of English and American Indian studies at the University of Washington, and he studies Native American earthworks and cultural erasure.

Centuries ago, writers depicted the natural world as terrifying and dangerous, no place for humans. But that fear, in the decades to come, gradually turned to appreciation, awe and joy, for poets and artists, sightseers and backpackers. This episode features Louisa Mackenzie, associate professor of Comparative History of Ideas.

The autobiography of Frederick Douglass, published in 1845, was a standard bearer of the abolitionist movement. Having escaped slavery as a young man, Douglass became a famous activist, orator, statesman and businessman. But it is another aspect of his story that is just as intriguing to Habiba Ibrahim, professor of English at the University of Washington: Douglass never knew, nor is there an official record of, his exact age.

“Dover Beach,” a poem by 19th century British writer Matthew Arnold, can be read as both a romantic lament and, as many scholars have concluded, a dark, existential commentary on the loss of religious faith. Through close reading, a way of reading for insight, not information, English Professor Charles LaPorte dissects “Dover Beach.”

What marks the start of the Anthropocene – the geological epoch marked by human impact on the planet? The debate hinges, in part, on how we define “signature events,” the important information left behind as clues. But finding signature events transcends the study of the Anthropocene; it’s how we read to make meaning of a text, a collection of data, even a piece of art. This episode features Jesse Oak Taylor, associate professor of English.

_{“Ways of Knowing” is an eight-episode podcast connecting humanities research with current events and issues. This season features faculty from across the humanities as they explore race, immigration, history, the natural world – even comic books. Each episode analyzes a work, or an idea, and provides additional resources for learning more.} 

"My parents had always encouraged me to go to college but as an Autistic kid from the middle of nowhere, I thought I wouldn’t be able to succeed in higher education and was destined for a small-town life. It wasn’t until Mr. Sugitan, my 10th grade English teacher, pushed the class to consider college and took our class on a field trip to UW that I could see myself succeeding in a big university like UW. Thanks to his encouragement, I dedicated myself to going to a university, preferably UW." - Sariah Burdett (B.A., History, Korean, and Asian Languages & Cultures, 2022), Program Coordinator, Department of French & Italian Studies

"As a transfer student, I was in a situation where I would not have been admitted to UW Seattle as a high school applicant. I needed that additional foundation at a community college to prepare me for the University and show the UW I was capable of academic achievement. After two years at the UW, I just felt like I wasn’t 'done' — so being here, belonging and becoming a staff member means being an example and showing how the differences in a diversity of backgrounds is what strengthens our entire community here at the UW." - Andrea Pardo (B.A., Comparative History of Ideas, 2006), Graduate Program Manager for Biology

"I researched what I did not find in academia. I sought out scholars already in the academy who practiced pedagogies that were aligned with my philosophy and understanding of the world.  With their work as a foundation, I have become more comfortable with the soundness of my own teaching/learning relationships and practices." - Jeanette M Bushnell (Ph.D., Women Studies, 2010; B.S.N., 1975; M.N., 1979), Faculty Instructor: Department of Comparative History of Ideas; Interdisciplinary Honors

In the College of Arts & Sciences, we are proud to celebrate our first-generation community through a collection of stories! We honor our faculty and staff, and their many contributions to our university community and beyond.

This week, learn why Emily Bender believes “AI” is a bad term, take part in the Dubal Memorial Lecture on ‘Race, Science, and Pregnancy Trials in the Postgenomic Era’, view the film screening of Tortoise Under the Earth, and more.

"Mostly, it's just comforting to meet others who have navigated similar obstacles. In terms of professional norms, knowledge, and expectations, I feel like it's taken me a few decades to catch up with my colleagues for whom higher education, and professional identity in general, was modeled in the family. Just the mechanics of an academic career, like applying to grad school, or even knowing the difference between an MA and a PhD, were all things I had to learn as I did them." - Louisa Mackenzie, Associate Professor, Department of Comparative History of Ideas 

Through public events and exhibitions, connect with the UW community every week. This week, attend gallery exhibitions, Dawg Daze events, and more. As the UW community returns to campus, consider taking advantage of campus perks available to UW employees and students.

Kick off the Autumn quarter and celebrate a return to campus with these can’t-miss recommendations from the College of Arts & Sciences.

Emily M. Bender doesn't consider herself an AI researcher. The professor of linguistics at the UW is, first and foremost, a linguist. But her gimlet-eyed research on the dangers of large language models and her withering cross-examinations of the AI hype cycle have made her one of the industry's most formidable critics.