“A worthy thing to do:” Alongside Emily Esten (MA’18) on some paths taken

As an alumnus of the Public Humanities program at Brown University, I was thrilled to be interviewed by a current student about my experience in the Public Humanities program, my practicum placements, and the work I’m doing now.

How do you define the “public humanities”?

The question everyone tries to avoid! I think about it as a conglomeration of museums, cultural institutions, and local organizations, and how they work with the public to think about facilitating a discourse around ideas. I think part of public humanities is talking about [these ideas], building these kinds of projects, having these conversations, and it’s all the things that lead up to it all.

So, for example, how are you able to have those conversations, how do you interface with people, how do you use objects? It is these are overarching things, and everyone is able to take them into different aspects in the way they want to use it. Especially—you’ll notice in the MA program— everybody has a different reason for being there, and wants something different out of it. But you’re all connected by this idea that working for and with the public is an important [part] of what we are doing, and that it is a worthy thing to do.

Read the whole interview at the Public Humanities Blog.