Robert Penn Warren Professor In The Humanities

In March, humanities advocates converged on Washington, D.C., for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to advocate in person for funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities. Elizabeth Meadows, associate director of the Robert Penn Warren Center, was joined by two undergraduate students and members of the RPW Student Advisory Council—Coco Randolph and Shunnar Virani—to discuss how the humanities are shaping their education.    Read More

The influence of Haitian vodou rituals on Colin Dayan's research on marginalized populations and the law is depicted in a performance monologue that she recorded for an international art exhibition. Read More

Stories of relationships between dogs and people and actions surrounding those relationships are relayed by Colin Dayan in a new book calling for greater empathy and engagement across class and racial lines. Read More

The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities will co-sponsor a special track of veteran-focused readings, discussions and performances at this year's Southern Festival of Books, which also features appearances by Vanderbilt faculty, staff, students and alumni. Read More

Yeu-Matchuc will perform ancient songs and dances from the indigenous Yoreme community of Sinaloa, Mexico, June 5 at noon on Vanderbilt University’s Library Lawn. Read More

There are any number of circumstances in which people can effectively lose some or most of their basic rights, says Colin Dayan, the Robert Penn Warren Professor in the Humanities. In her new research, Dayan argues that the law has been refined so that it can be used to deny the very rights it’s presumably there to protect. Read More

Watch a 12-minute documentary film highlighting the newly emergent study of the unique experience of people of African descent in Europe. Read More