This is a critical time for higher education and for our world. In this context, the humanities have a crucial role to play, both in sustaining vital forms of research across history, literatures, and cultures, and in helping to frame generative inquiry into the many challenges that confront humanity.

Building on a long history of excellence in the liberal arts, Brown is at the forefront of humanities research and learning. To take simply one indicator: this past spring, the institute hosted a celebration of more than 40 faculty books published in the humanities since the start of 2024. We were thrilled to honor publications from 19 different departments across numerous genres and modes of writing.

Included among the many fascinating titles were Andrew Laird’s Aztec Latin: Renaissance Learning and Nahuatl Traditions in Early Colonial Mexico; Seth Rockman’s Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery; Jinying Li’s Anime’s Knowledge Cultures: Geek, Otaku, Zhai; and Dietrich Neumann’s Mies van der Rohe: An Architect in His Time. Attendees came away from this event deeply inspired by the opportunity to explore colleagues’ work and to witness the unexpected connections on display between different departments and research areas.

More generally, the Cogut Institute’s new home, Andrews House, has been a transformative investment. During this past year, we’ve seen this beautiful and historic building come alive with activity. Every day, the building hosts a configuration of courses, lectures, reading groups, meetings, workshops, and individual study and research. Our newest additions to the institute — the collaborative lab on AI and the Humanities and the Center for Environmental Humanities at Brown — have drawn in a vibrantly diverse group of students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the greater Providence community and researchers and creators from across the U.S. and beyond.

The work of our scholarly community attests to Brown’s commitment to dynamic research that deepens understanding and contributes to positive change. Our 2024–25 fellows pursued projects on topics such as the legacy of the Cold War in South Asia, the politics of diet and wellness culture, and artistic models that prefigure AI. Our courses covered topics such as afrofuturism, archive theory, the dissemination of Latin texts in colonial Mexico, and more. Our flagship Greg and Julie Flynn Cogut Institute Lecture Series featured a timely talk by historian Timothy Snyder (on contemporary threats to democracy) as well as a reading and conversation by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natalie Diaz. A conference sponsored by the Economies of Aesthetic initiative explored the provocative question “For Whom Do We Read,” and our lab on AI and the Humanities hosted a two-day workshop on “Models: Humanities at the Edge of the Human.” These are just a few among the many programs featured by our initiatives and centers: I hope you will take the time to explore the broader array of our activities in the report.

We’re committed to continuing our work fostering and disseminating innovative humanities research. Given the many threats facing the humanities and the university more generally, it is imperative that researchers across the disciplines come together to support basic research, collaborative inquiry, and innovative teaching. We’re very fortunate that Brown, its alumni, and its community partners remain deeply invested in the humanities and our cultivation of a rich and pluralistic research commons. This is a time when both vocal and material support of the humanities are more important than ever.

Thank you for your support of the Cogut Institute and of the humanities at Brown.

Explore the 2024–25 Annual Report Give now to the Cogut Institute