The Center’s programs connect to extensive discussions about the arts and humanities in public life.

Viet Thanh Nguyen to deliver Norton Lectures

Nguyen, who will be delivering this year’s Norton Lectures, knew writing a memoir would be difficult. He also knew he wanted to confront his fears. The forthcoming A Man of Two Faces weaves Nguyen’s personal story with larger ideas of refugeehood, colonization, and Vietnamese and American history, and will be the subject of one of his talks.

Thinking about having a baby? Even during climate crisis?

November 28, 2023

Heather Houser, who studies the intersection of climate and reproduction, says it’s difficult for researchers to track the reason couples choose to go childless, noting there’s often a big gap between intentions with fertility and actions ultimately taken.

Michael Pollan, laughing, sitting at a table while lecturing

Front of mind for Michael Pollan: psychedelics

November 21, 2023

Author with an experimental side says new generation of researchers will inform medicinal, religious, recreational use.

Creation of ‘genre-defying, sort-of-uncategorizable’ books

November 21, 2023

“Because I’m a British boy, there is no getting away from the First World War. I mean it’s there, every level, it’s all around you.” Writer Geoff Dyer talks with Maya Jasanoff about history, memory, and life on the USS George H.W. Bush with 5,000 new friends.

Harvard launches new Study of Psychedelics in Society and Culture

October 16, 2023

The study, an interdisciplinary effort across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Divinity School, seeks to transform the psychedelics research landscape by producing cutting-edge scholarship and convening faculty, students, and experts to engage in discussion around their far-reaching implications.