Inaugural lecture Mr Prof P. Valdivia: The Fictions of the Tribe and the New Humanities

In a recent article published in October 2018 under the title of “How Melvyn Bragg made high culture highly popular”, The Economist stated that while Globalization has divided our societies into winners and losers, social media has divided the population into solipsistic tribes. Maybe these words could be considered as part of a too broad assertion. However, it is possible to agree that social media has proven to have an effect different to the one that was initially expected. Instead of improving our channels for listening to the other and for being exposed to ideas we might not agree with (which is at the base of the principles of any democratic culture) social media has efficiently created bubbles: actually as many compartmentalized bubbles as there are users.

In this inaugural lecture, Prof. Dr. Pablo Valdivia will elaborate on what he believes is the key problem of our contemporary society, the cultural tribalization of our societies, and the manner in which what he calls the “New Humanities” is ready to help, the solutions literary scholars can bring to the table of our societal challenges and how the study of literature as a “transformative research-based” discipline has the potential to bring hope where there is currently despair.

More information

• Inaugural lecture: Mr Prof P. Valdivia
• Title: The Fictions of the Tribe and the New Humanities
• Chair: European Literature and Culture
• Faculty: Arts
• Register at the latest one week in advance by returning the replycard or by filling in the registration form