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The Humanities and COVID-19

Updated 4/5/21. The Glasscock Center team continues to serve and support the humanities and our Center community remotely during the current situation. Should you need to get in touch with us, please email glasscock@tamu.edu.

4/5/21 Update:

Our Global Health Humanities initiative is co-sponsoring a webinar with the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) on “The Role of Humanities in a Time of Pandemic” on April 21, 2021, 4-5pm CST.

This webinar offers insights from grant-supported projects in the humanities and humanistic social sciences that examine individuals’ stories regarding their own, lived experiences during a pandemic. We create a dialogue between these humanities projects and the scholarship and clinical experiences of medical doctors during COVID-19, which include considerations of empathy and telehealth. Join us and participate in this dynamic, cross-disciplinary conversation as these scholars present perspectives from the humanities and medical fields on the lived experience of patients, community members, and practitioners during a pandemic.

Learn more


1/25/21 Update:
(additional update on 2/22/21 to reflect new event date)

Our Global Health Humanities initiative is co-sponsoring a virtual symposium with the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs on “The Long-Term Impact of Pandemics: Ongoing Disruptions to Society, Families, and the Economy” on February 22, 2021 (rescheduled to March 1, 2021). This is a T3 Global Health Humanities Project, supported by the President’s Excellence fund, with additional support from the Department of English.

This half-day symposium is a joint collaboration between the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service and the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M. Topics and presentations will focus on social disruptions to individuals, society, and economies during and after epidemics. Panels will incorporate the perspectives of those with first-hand experience of epidemics, as well as humanities scholars and healthcare practitioners. The conference will consider stories of pandemics and epidemics that are less often heard and what happens after international attention and aid leave these communities, in order to highlight the significance of local and regional experiences.

To learn more and register for the Zoom Webinar, click here.


11/24/20 Update:

Our “Frontline Workers’ Stories During COVID-19” webinar series under the Global Health Humanities initiative has concluded for the fall semester. These webinars focused on how Health Humanities can engage the stories emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the experiences of frontline workers. Speakers addressed topics such as training challenges in the health professions, emotional and physical burnout, and priorities in patient care during a time of crisis.

Dr. Margaret Bosenbark (Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, Texas A&M) delivered a talk on “The Stories of Nursing Educators and Trainees During COVID-19” on October 8, 2020.

Dr. Rishi Goyal (Director of the Medicine, Literature, and Society Program and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center) delivered a talk on “Heroes and Villains: Moral Injury and Institutional Betrayal in the Era of COVID” on November 10, 2020.


9/14/20 Update:

Our Global Health Humanities initiative events this fall are engaging with COVID-19. See information on our virtual miniseries, “Frontline Workers’ Stories During COVID-19,” here.


6/26/20 Update:

The Glasscock Center has launched a new funding opportunity: the Virtual Co-Sponsorship Class Lecture grant.

As travel plans remain uncertain, visits to campus by guest lecturers are happening virtually. In an effort to support courses in the humanities and humanistic social sciences, the Glasscock Center is facilitating bringing the expertise and resources of scholars outside of TAMU to the virtual classroom with a new, responsive grant.

To learn more, and to submit your application, click here.


5/27/20 Update:

The Glasscock Center has launched a new funding opportunity: the Glasscock Online Writing Groups grant.

As faculty and students navigate their work on research projects amid continued instability from the pandemic situation, it’s important to facilitate the creation of routine and to establish patterns. Virtual writing communities offer a valuable opportunity to immerse oneself in academic inquiry.

To learn more, and to submit your application, click here.


5/19/20 Update:

COVID-19 Micro-Grants in the Arts & Humanities

Submissions for the grant are closed. We have awarded 11 projects. Keep an eye out for news about outputs from these projects.
Check our website soon for a new funding opportunity.


4/20/20 Update:

Check out the blog, “Health Humanities during COVID-19,” presented by our Global Health Humanities initiative.

The Health Humanities is the study of the intersection of health and humanistic disciplines (such as philosophy, religion, literature), fine arts, as well as social science research that gives insight to the human condition (such as history, anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.) (*Adapted from the National Library of Medicine’s definition for Medical Humanities).

The unfolding human suffering caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic invites those who study Health Humanities to contribute to discussions with health scientists, social services providers, and political leaders, about the role of the Humanities in a time of crisis. Undergraduate students enrolled in the senior capstone Health Humanities seminar at Texas A&M were tasked with addressing the question “what does the study of Health Humanities contribute to the current discussion of the coronavirus crisis?” Replies are anonymized and reproduced with permission.


4/20/20 Update:

Message from the Director

The Glasscock Center team extends their concern and support to everyone affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that you are well and safe.

In these extraordinary times, I have been struck by the tremendous response of the arts and humanities in providing much needed cultural support. Museums are offering virtual exhibitionstheatrical productions are streaming online and via social media, film festivals have become virtual, and the arts are striving to be more accessible in myriad ways. Teaching online is currently the norm, and libraries are making their collections more widely available to serve a range of needs. Humanities scholars, and many others from various disciplines, are responding imaginatively and critically to the unprecedented ways in which the pandemic has changed daily lives across the planet.

The Glasscock Center is developing ways to contribute, too. We continue our important mission of awarding grants and supporting faculty and student research, with necessary adjustments through digital and other means. Our colloquia series has been continuing online. The Global Health Humanities and Humanities: Land Sea Space initiatives have been active: check out the blog Health Humanities during COVID-19 and the upcoming discussion group on “Covid-19 and the Environment.” We are excited to announce a new, responsive grant, “Micro-Grants in the Arts and Humanities,” which is intended to encourage the documentation and creative interpretation of people’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage and welcome your participation in all of these activities!

The Glasscock Center will continue to work productively to find ways to be flexible, creative, and safe in line with our mission and these changing times.

Take care and best wishes,

Emily Brady
Susanne M. and Melbern G. Glasscock Director and Chair
Professor of Philosophy


4/17/20 Update:

The Glasscock Center announces COVID-19 Micro-Grants in the Arts and Humanities

The Glasscock Center invites proposals for a micro-grant program meant to encourage the documentation and creative interpretation of people’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Up to ten $500 micro-grants will be awarded, and applications will be open on a rolling basis. Any Texas A&M University student, faculty or staff member is eligible to apply for this grant.
To learn more and submit your proposal, click here.


4/13/20 Update:

HLSS Discussion Group on COVID-19 and the Environment

Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 2020
4:00-5:00 pm (CST), via Zoom

Click here for more information.


3/20/20 Update:

The Glasscock Center team continues to serve and support the humanities and our Center community remotely during the current situation. Should you need to get in touch with us, please email glasscock@tamu.edu.