麻豆影院

Jennifer Ho, director of CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 Center for Humanities & the Arts, discusses the state of arts and humanities in higher education as the center prepares to celebrate its 25th anniversary, and she champions the inherent value of the arts and humanities

The Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) at the 麻豆影院 turns 25 this year.听

To commemorate the quarter-century milestone, CHA is hosting a celebration from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE) building鈥檚 Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL), CASE E390. is recommended and can be completed . For more information on the event, visit the CHA website鈥檚 25-year anniversary webpage.听

Jennifer Ho, CHA director and ethnic studies professor, said the celebration will offer an opportunity to look back on CHA鈥檚 successes and to discuss and plan how to promote, support and celebrate the arts and humanities.听

Ho recently participated in a five-question interview about the current state of arts and humanities in higher education, looming challenges for arts and humanities scholarship, strategies CHA employs as it strives to be an effective advocate for the arts and humanities, and more. Her responses follow below.听

Question: How has the situation for the arts and humanities in higher education changed over the last quarter century?听

Ho: I think there鈥檚 a tendency to lament the decline of arts and humanities, especially humanities, in higher education, because we see a declining number of arts and humanities majors and decreased funding. And that鈥檚 definitely a part of the narrative at CU 麻豆影院 and nationwide.听

However, there have also been more humanities and arts centers that have opened nationwide in the last 25 years鈥攐ne at Brandeis just started up a year ago鈥攁nd the scholarship and artistic productions by faculty, students, and staff have continued to flourish, on and off campus.听

One positive change that I鈥檝e noticed is an opening up of what we consider to be valuable works of arts and humanities鈥攕howcasing both the artistry and scholarship of faculty of color on subjects that 25 years ago we wouldn鈥檛 have been seeing depicted in art and music or validated through scholarship such as transgender issues, addressing Islamophobia, centering Black joy, and using an equity, inclusivity and justice lens within arts and humanities鈥攖hat鈥檚 definitely a positive change I鈥檝e seen in the last 25 years.听

Question: What do you see as the immediate and looming challenge to arts and humanities scholarship generally and also at CU 麻豆影院?听

Ho: Politics and money. These are the two most pressing challenges to arts and humanities nationally and perhaps at CU 麻豆影院. Financially the CHA is fine, for now, though we rely on the generosity of the university for our budget鈥攁nd if that changed, we wouldn鈥檛 be able to offer the grants, fellowships, awards and programs that make the CHA a vital hub on campus for arts and humanities.听

I鈥檇 love to be able to endow some of our programs; for example, to raise a million dollars so that we鈥檒l always be able to fund graduate students with dissertation fellowships, summer awards and material grants for student artists.听

Politically, I believe things are fine for now at CU 麻豆影院, but like most people I鈥檓 keeping my eye on what is happening in Florida. The book bans, the bills preventing people from teaching certain subjects, what鈥檚 happening at the New College of Florida鈥攁ll of this is very concerning about the political climate in education that impacts those of us working in arts and humanities.听

In fact, next year at the CHA, we are hoping to take this up as a theme: Liberty, Freedom, Democracy and the Fight for Ideas. We often see words like 鈥渓iberty,鈥� 鈥渇reedom,鈥� 鈥渄emocracy鈥� invoked by people who tend to be on the more conservative side of the spectrum, and I鈥檇 like to delve into what we mean when we use these terms and what freedom of thought and expression actually looks like relative to the work we do at the CHA in supporting arts and humanities.听

Question: If a student or parent asked you to explain the 鈥渧alue鈥� of the arts and humanities, how might you respond?听

Ho: I love getting this question because it allows me to show my passion for arts and humanities, because the first thing I鈥檇 say is that arts and humanities give meaning to our lives. And then I鈥檇 say that they teach us how to think critically about our world. Art is literally and figuratively the color, sound, movement and texture of our world.听

When the pandemic had us sheltering at home, we turned to stories and art and music to alleviate our anxiety and provide solace in our uncertainty. And humanities courses don鈥檛 just teach us how to write better (which is what many people will say is the value of humanities)鈥攈umanities courses and books help us think better鈥攖hey push us to critically examine the world and ask not just 鈥渨hat鈥� is happening but 鈥渨hy鈥� and 鈥渉ow.鈥澨�

If we didn鈥檛 have humanities scholarship, we wouldn鈥檛 be able to solve some of the world鈥檚 most pressing problems鈥攂ecause we don鈥檛 just need science;听we need critical thinking skills of interpretation to think about these as human issues.听

Question: What strategies does the CHA employ as it strives to be the most effective advocate for the arts and humanities?听

Ho: I think and talk in terms of stories鈥攁nd the stories that the CHA has to share about why arts and humanities are vital is the most effective way I know for us to advocate for arts and humanities.听

A story I tell about bridging the CHA to the greater 麻豆影院 County community involves a competition we held for CU 麻豆影院 staff, students and faculty to produce works of arts and听humanities that engaged the theme of 鈥渞esilience鈥� in light of the 麻豆影院 King Soopers mass shooting.听

The entries we received were powerful and poignant鈥攁nd the winning submission was by a CU 麻豆影院 undergraduate student who was a survivor and witness to that tragic day鈥攚ho wrote a series of letters to March 22 (the day of the shooting). You can find them and the other winning entries on our website.听

We then had a community event at Chautauqua where the awardees spoke about their works. It was a powerful event鈥攁nd a reminder that arts and humanities have the ability to do so much: to heal, to communicate, to inspire and to witness.听

The student who wrote her letters to March 22 did so because of our competition and it became part of her healing from this horrific event. This is one story among many about why arts and humanities are so crucial to our lives.听

Question: You hold three degrees in English. What drew you to this discipline, and how does your experience dovetail with the mission of CHA?听

Ho: Stories. Stories. Stories. That鈥檚 why all my degrees are in English. I taught myself to read when I was 5, because I didn鈥檛 want to rely on my parents reading to me鈥攊t鈥檚 among my first memories: being on my sofa and sounding out words and figuring out the stories in my picture book.听

Fiction is my first true love because it allowed me to travel to multiple worlds in different bodies鈥攁nd it still does. Who tells stories to whom and for what purpose鈥攖his is a powerful tool to have.听

When I started college, I realized it wasn鈥檛 just the pleasure of reading novels that I wanted to explore, but the power of representation. The first time I read a book written by a Chinese-American author about Chinese-American experiences was when I was a first year student at UC Santa Barbara.听

That moment changed my life鈥攂ecause up until then, I didn鈥檛 think Chinese or Asian American people wrote books鈥攂ecause I had never been assigned a book by an Asian American person and never had a librarian direct me to any Asian American books, fiction or non-fiction. Seeing yourself reflected in stories is a powerful thing鈥攁nd not seeing that is also powerful, because it means you don鈥檛 have a model of what you can be if you can鈥檛 see yourself reflected in narrative.听

At the CHA, we want everyone to be able to tell their own story鈥攚hether that鈥檚 in the form of scholarship, music, media, visual art, dance, drama, or so many of the other disciplines that inform humanities and arts. So, I think my love of stories and my desire to have people tell their stories and be inspired by the stories of others works well at the CHA.

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