Defining the Humanities
What comes to mind when you hear the word humanities? This interactive discussion invites participants to explore two questions: What are the humanities, and what counts as a humanities project?
Through guided discussion, participants will work together to unpack assumptions, challenge boundaries, and build a shared working definition of the humanities that reflects the experiences, contexts, and perspectives in the state of Maryland. This session will broaden how we see and value humanities work in our everyday lives.
By the end of this session, participants will leave with an understanding of what the humanities are, why they matter, and how their own work and experiences connect to the arts.
What comes to mind when you hear the word humanities? This interactive discussion invites participants to explore two questions: What are the humanities, and what counts as a humanities project?Courtney Hobson
Courtney Hobson, M.A. ’14, graduated from Bowie State University with a Bachelor of Science in History and later earned her Master of Arts in Historical Studies with a concentration in Public History from UMBC. She has over 15 years of program management experience at various cultural institutions throughout the state of Maryland. In addition to working at the Dresher Center, Courtney serves on the Advisory Committees for the Orser Center for Public Humanities and the Critical Disability Studies Minor; as well as the Staff Advisor for The Garden – UMBC’s community garden.
Outside of UMBC, she works as a historical consultant, collaborating with organizations including The Southwest Partnership, Inc., Historical Research Associates, the National Park Service (NPS), the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and the National Council on Public History (NCPH). Courtney’s areas of expertise include Black history in Maryland and engaging with descendant communities. She is also a member of the Association of Black Women Historians, ASALH, as well as NCPH, where she currently serves on the Advocacy Committee of the Board.
In her spare time, Courtney is a foodie, amateur archer, collector of unread books, and queen of karaoke at her neighborhood bar in Baltimore where she has proudly lived for a decade.
Dr. Shauna Knox
Dr. Shauna Knox is a researcher, policy activist, philanthro-advocate, and thought leader in Black humanity by way of designated expertise in the decolonization and re-humanization of Black citizens of the Global South. Dr. Knox currently serves as Co-Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum for People of African Descent and has been professionally appointed Chief of (Racial Equity) Strategy at Associated Black Charities, a public foundation committed to the closing of the racial wealth gap in the United States through research and practice. Prior to this role, Knox served a five-year tenure at the U.S. Department of Education, during which she received a Breakthrough Award for her work on the team leading the charge to upskill the Department following the eighth reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965. She was also named the sole Subject Matter Expert for Human Trafficking and Child Labor Exploitation at the Department, and in this capacity, she led all of the agency’s inter- and intra-agency work related to Human Trafficking through the critical twentieth anniversary of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Dr. Knox was also responsible for the production of the Human Trafficking in America’s Schools: What Schools can do to Prevent, Respond, and Help Students to Recover from Human Trafficking Second Edition guidance document which was released in January 2021.