Photo by Hannah Davis

When it comes to discussing the humanities, one of the most common responses includes confusion: What are the humanities? What can be done with the humanities? Why should I care about the humanities?

The humanities, in short, are areas of academic disciplines focusing on exploring human culture and the act of processing the human experience. Humanities include but are not limited to: language, literature, political science, religion, philosophy and the arts.

“People aren’t quite sure what the humanities are,” says Julie diLiberti, humanities professor and festival coordinator, ”We are hoping students can see they are infused in just about every other discipline. We want to break down those discipline barriers.”

From Feb. 12 to 18, College of DuPage faculty talent and members of the surrounding community will host various presentations and interactive activities in this year’s humanities festival, “The Noise of Culture.”

The festival begins on Mon. Feb. 12 at noon. Presentations will follow every day of the week from around 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Events include: “Fake News: Consider the Source”; “The Sounds of Culture”; “Business Without Humanities is Inhumane”; “Freud and YOU,” as well as a tour at Fermilab showcasing the connections between art and science.

Having begun last year in 2017 under the theme “Transformations,” the festival will return to campus to bring the humanities aspects from every academic discipline to light for students, faculty and community members to reflect upon. This year’s festival will also incorporate the sciences, business, architecture, mathematics and seemingly every other content area offered at COD.

“We, by nature, are interdisciplinary. We want to model that and say ‘look at all of the disciplines that are having a dialogue with the humanities everyday,’” said diLiberti.

The festival will offer subject matter that pertains to every student, despite their intended major or career path. There will be something for every student to take home from attending the festival.

Another goal of the festival is to relay the message to students that faculty here at the college are here to help students during their time on campus.

“We [faculty] are broader than the walls of our office and our classrooms,” said diLiberti.

She hopes  the festival will allow students to see faculty at the college are interdisciplinary and hold knowledge that can help any student who needs it.

The festival will return in the 2018-2019 school year as well.

“We want to make this something  the county can look forward to every February,” said diLiberti. A full list of the events can be found at:http://www.cod.edu/news-events/pdfs/18_humanitiesfestival.pdf.