Upcoming Cleveland Humanities Festival Events

Genealogy 101

The internet is a vast resource for genealogical research.

Scam and Identity Theft

Rachel from Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People will share how to recognize scams, fraud and exploitation. Virtual program.

Catfish Scam

What is catfishing? How do you know if you are being catfished? Danelle from the Cuyahoga County Department of Consumer Affairs will provide answers to these questions plus share ways you can protect yourself from being catfished online. Virtual program. Registration required.

Click HERE to register.  

This event is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library.

Desktop Dialogue: An Art Anthology, Chapter One with Eric Coble

Click HERE for more information. 

This event is sponsored by Cleveland Museum of Art and Literary Cleveland.

A Virtual Ralph Pruitt Lecture and Presentation: Employing Cleveland Black Her-story in Creative Works

Personality Tests; Fact or Fiction

Popular “personality tests” promote a deeper understanding of self. Or do they?  Dr.

How the Buddhist Teaching on Non-Self Offers a Path in These Uncertain Times

Building Trust through Representation: At the Intersection of Disability, Race and Parenting

This event is co-sponsored by the Schubert Center for Child Studies and the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities.

Rick Guidotti & Positive Exposure: Recognizing Beauty in Difference

This event is co-sponsored by the Schubert Center for Child Studies and the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities.

Who Names the Neighborhood? A Question of Identity

Pretty/Funny: Women Comedians and Body Politics

Cats, Dogs, Teens, and Soldiers: Reflections on the Virtue of Obedience

Presenter: Pauline M. Shanks Kaurin

This event is sponsored by the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.

In Our Own Words: PEARLS Ambassadors & Youth Advocacy

This event is sponsored by the Schubert Center for Child Studies.

 I Am: A Crowdsourced Video Poem on Identity 

Literary Cleveland and the CSU Poetry Center are partnering to present a crowdsourced video poem on the theme of identity created by Kamden Hilliard, Anisfield-Wolf Fellow at the CSU Poetry Center, using lines submitted by writers in greater Cleveland. 

The final video poem will premiere online on March 27 at 7:00 pm, bringing unique individual voices together in through poetry to reveal Northeast Ohio's complex diversity of identities.

A link to the video will be posted when available.

Flavors of the World: Uzbek Plov

Mrs. Selbi Muhammetberdiyeva will demonstrate how to make delicious and flavorful Uzbek Plov, the national dish of Uzbekistan. Plov is a rice pilaf cooked with lamb or beef, onions, garlic, raisins, and carrots. Restaurants serve Plov with bread, tea, and a selection of side salads. 

Registration opens on March 1, 2021.

This event is sponsored by Rocky River Public Library.

A Conversation with Joy Harjo

Critically-acclaimed indigenous poet Joy Harjo discusses her work with David Lucas, Poet Laureate of the State of Ohio and lecturer in the Department of English. Harjo, a member of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation, is the author of several books of poetry, as well as collections of interviews and conversations, children’s books, and collaborative art texts.  She is the 23rd U.S. poet laureate  and the first Native American poet to serve in that position.

Understanding Alzheimer's and Dementia

Cynthia Davenport from the Alzheimer’s Association Cleveland Area Chapter will provide basic information that everyone needs to know about memory

Designing Victory

Award-winning architect Robert Madison was the first African-American to graduate from Case Western's School of Architecture, as well as the first to gain a degree in architecture in Ohio.  His firm, Robert P. Madison International, has been both the lead and associate architects for the design of major projects including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Great Lakes Science Center, and Cleveland Museum of Art.  His memoir, Designing Victory, co-written with journalist and author Carlo Wolff, tells the story of his hard-fought struggle to overcome racism and excel in his chosen field.

Indigeneity and Disability: Futures of Personhood, Care and Consent

What dreams for the world whisper through the cracks of this world that is breaking? This event brings together Ella Callow, Jen Deerinwater, Juliet McMullin, AM Kanngieser, and Petra Kuppers, with panel facilitator Marina Tsaplina, to delve into how the embodied realities of both indigeneity and disability open political, cultural, medical and spiritual imaginaries about body, land, practices of care and consent.

Doctors, Suffragists, Socialists, Eugenicists: Identities and Politics in the Early Birth Control Movement

Lauren MacIvor Thompson, Ph.D. presents the 2021 Skuy Lecture, "Doctors, Suffragists, Socialists, Eugenicists: Identities and Politics in the Early Birth Control Movement."  

This event is sponsored by the CWRU Dittrick Medical History Center.

Folksong and Ethnic Cleansing in Central Europe

The study of folksong in Czechoslovakia became increasingly enmeshed with research on race and ethnicity through the twentieth century. Folk melodies appear alongside studies of phrenology and blood type as early as 1905. By the 1920s, the “purity” of folksong was understood to evidence the “purity” of a region’s people and, by extension, their political boundaries.

Desktop Dialogue: An Art Anthology, Chapter Two with Sarah Lohman

Click HERE for more information.

This event is co-sponsored by Cleveland Museum of Art and Literary Cleveland.

A Conversation with Kevin Young

Kevin Young, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture and poetry editor of The New Yorker, discusses his work with Ben Vinson, Hiram C. Haydn Professor of History and Provost and Executive Vice President at Case Western Reserve University.  Young is the author of thirteen books of poetry and prose and is the editor of nine other collections.  He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was named a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2020.  

The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard: Incorporating Truth while Writing Fiction

This event is co-sponsored by the Schubert Center for Child Studies, Cleveland Public Library, and the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women.

Campus Conversations of Justice

Presenter: M.R. Sauter

This event is sponsored by the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.

Catfish Scam

What is catfishing? How do you know if you are being catfished?

Adult Rocky River Readers Book Club: "The Vanishing Half" by Brit Bennett 

Spanning from the 1940s to the 1990s, this unforgettable novel follows twins, light-skinned Black sisters Desiree and Stella Vignes, who run away together from their racially-fixated small Louisiana town, only to separate a year later, when Stella decides to begin passing as a white woman. Register to receive an emailed invitation to join in our virtual discussion.

Click HERE to register.

Scam and Identity Theft

Rachel from Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People will share how to recognize scams, fraud and exploitation. Virtual program.

Desktop Dialogue: An Art Anthology, Chapter Three with Mourning [A] BLKstar 

Click HERE for more information.

This event is co-sponsored by Cleveland Museum of Art and Literary Cleveland.

Animal Affinities" Structuring Identity in Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts

Personality Tests; Fact or Fiction

Popular “personality tests” promote a deeper understanding of self. Or do they?  Dr. Keriazes from MetroHealth will help you explore how real these tests are and what we can learn from them. Virtual program. Registration required.

Register HERE.

This events is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library.

Booked by the Police Chief: "Homeland Elegies" by Ayad Akhtar 

Read this inventive, fiction story inspired by the author’s personal experiences, to explore life as first-generation American-born Muslim man. Police Chief George Lichman will lead the discussion as we consider what creates personal and cultural identity. Register to receive an emailed invitation to join in our virtual discussion.

Click HERE to register.

The event is sponsored by Rocky River Public Library.

The LatinX-Perience

While all Latinx individuals have varied backgrounds and unique family histories, we also encounter common threads that tie us together. Join us for a discussion exploring our shared and contrasting experiences as Latinx individuals growing up in the United States. Registrations required.

Register HERE.

This event is sponsored by Cuyahoga County Public Library.

Virtual Panel Discussion: Slovenian Neighborhoods of Cleveland

Cleveland is home to the largest settlement of Slovenians outside of Europe. Slovenian-Americans took advantage of the resources the city made available to them to build families and institutions and develop a lively cultural scene. Each of the city’s Slovenian neighborhoods was anchored by an imposing cultural Hall or majestic church (or both), surrounded by tidy homes and thriving businesses. Many high-profile Clevelanders emerged from those neighborhoods to leave their mark on the city.

Contemplating the Sublime

Presenter: Tara Cuthbertson

This event is sponsored by Binghamton University, SUNY.

Scam and Identity Theft

Rachel from Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People will share how to recognize scams, fraud and exploitation. Virtual program.

Desktop Dialogue: An Art Anthology, Chapter Four with Kamden Hilliard

Click HERE for more information.

This event is co-sponsored by Cleveland Museum of Art and Literary Cleveland.

Catfish Scam

What is catfishing? How do you know if you are being catfished?

Understanding Alzheimer's and Dementia

Cynthia Davenport from the Alzheimer’s Association Cleveland Area Chapter will provide basic information that everyone needs to know about memory