HumIn Focus

As part of the Humanities Institute’s mission to publicize the social relevance of Humanities scholarship, we present HumIn Focus, an educational web series that asks scholars to reflect on the ideas lying behind pressing social issues. In each episode, we ask scholars to reflect on ideas in their work in ways that expand and enrich questions of current concern. In so doing, we hope to both broaden and deepen conversations about those questions in ways that emphasize how what we do in the Humanities matters crucially for all of us.

Episodes

We examine the history of the American carceral system and ask what happens to the human being behind bars. We hear from humanities scholars, legal experts and prisoners, focusing on just solutions that might reduce prison populations and restore the humanity of prisoners while preparing them for life after prison.

Posted on February 6, 2022

 

Nurse

The COVID 19 pandemic has provided a stress test for the American healthcare system. In Rethinking Care, we view healthcare through the lens of the humanities, focusing on ways to repair some of the inequities of the system, and provide better care for healthcare workers and patients alike.

Posted on April 18, 2021

 

equality flag

Penn State humanities scholars explore the ongoing quest to achieve the promise of American democracy despite the many past, present and future obstacles to equality and social justice.

Posted on September 10, 2020

 

woman carrying child

Humanities scholars at Penn State reflect on migration, mobility and the ethics of hospitality so as to better understand the context of the debate on immigration and refugees in the US and around the world.

Posted on September 9, 2020

 

More from WPSU

An image of a Pennsylvania forest with a title image that says Keystone Stories in the foreground.

Keystone Stories is a television and digital series that takes viewers to the breathtaking, interesting, quirky and sometimes hidden gems around central Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s beautiful landscape serves as the backdrop for an exploration of the people, places and culture that make the region unique.

Posted on May 1, 2023

 

You Can't Say That

Experience a class where people say the things you aren’t supposed to say; where students participate in a quiet revolution toward cross-cultural understanding; where the philosophy is simple: conversation can change the world.

Posted on April 9, 2015

 

Grange Fair

This Emmy® award-winning documentary chronicles a vanishing piece of Americana, one of the last remaining agricultural encampment fairs in the country, and the families who spend months preparing for this unique rural phenomena.

Aired 08/24/26