View Source | January 7, 2019
A prominent British biographer, broadcaster, eco-critic and Shakespearean is visiting Arizona State University this spring to further elevate the university’s already top-ranked humanities research.
From January to February 2019, Sir Jonathan Bate, professor and provost of Worcester College, Oxford University, is distinguished visiting professor in ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability. He is consulting on an emerging medical humanities project, delivering several lectures on themes of sustainability and wellness — both on and off the ASU campus — and co-teaching an eco-literature course with ASU English Professor Mark Lussier.
The 2019 lecture series “How the Humanities Can Save the Planet” will discuss how humanities thought can help generate imaginative solutions to environmental concerns. Bate is set to deliver three addresses: “Paradise Lost,” ASU’s annual Environmental Humanities Initiative Distinguished Lecture, on Wednesday, Jan. 16, which will explore how “fall” myths are related to sustainability; “The End of the World As We Know It” on Tuesday, Feb. 5, which will address apocalypse narratives; and “Living Sustainably” on Wednesday, Feb. 20, which will argue for the importance of a humanities-science marriage in solving ecological crises.
Bate’s residency is supported by ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of English and Institute for Humanities Research.
Photo: Sir Jonathan Bate speaks at Old Main's Carson Ballroom during a visit to ASU in 2015. Photo by Bruce Matsunaga