Humanities Café
Humanities Cafe is a bi-weekly program which brings together presenters to discuss important issues affecting Americans.
The goal of this program is to be informative and conversational — to discuss issues and bring about a greater understanding of the complexities that lie beneath these issues.
Upcoming Humanities Café Topics
Feb 27 | Doris Ann Mears, Sarah Jones-Lutter, and Hanna Glissendorf – Literacy Rates in South Dakota: What’s Going On? – Doris Ann Mertz, library coordinator for the Custer School District & school chair for the South Dakota Library Association (SDLA); Sarah Jones-Lutter, library director & past president of SDLA, and Hanna Glissendorf, director of the Black Hills Reads program at the United Way of the Black Hills, join SDHC to talk about the current status of youth literacy rates in South Dakota, including what can – and needs – to be done to turn things around.
March 13 | Dr. Jenna Borseth and Dr. Lucas Wiscons – South Dakota’s Criminal Justice System: Incarceration, Education, and Reentry – Dr. Jenna Borseth, assistant professor of Political Science at the University of South Dakota, and Lucas Wiscons, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Northern State University, join SDHC to talk about current incarceration trends in South Dakota, the recently adopted SAFER SD Reentry Initiative, and the importance of meaningful programming for those incarcerated in South Dakota prisons.
March 27 | Dr. Craig Howe – Lakota Star Knowledge – Dr. Craig Howe, founder and director of the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies (CAIRNS), joins SDHC to discuss the importance of Lakota Star Knowledge and its relationship to mainstream space science, including the primary understandings of Lakota Star Knowledge, its relationship to the Spring Equinox, and how NASA/mainstream science has taken an interest in this knowledge.
April 10 | (Guests TBA) – Indigenous Identity, Part II: Beyond Blood Quantum – Invited guests join SDHC to continue and expand upon the February 13th discussion of Indigenous identity – what it is, what defines it, and how it impacts Indigenous communities.
April 24 | Andrew Kightlinger & Sean Covel – Staying Positive – and Connected – in Challenging Times: The Magic of Cinema – South Dakota filmmakers, Andrew Kightlinger (Tater Tot and Patton, and – most recently – Lost on a Mountain in Maine) and Sean Covel (most notably, Napoleon Dynamite), join SDHC to talk about the magic of cinema and its ability to foster hope, perseverance, and meaningful connections in challenging times.
May 8 | Dr. John Little – Everywhere and Nowhere: Moving Beyond Mascots, Stereotypes, and Cultural Appropriation – Dr. John Little, director of Native Recruitment & Alumni Engagement at the University of South Dakota, filmmaker, and enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, joins SDHC to discuss the persistence and presence of Indigenous peoples, moving beyond mascots, stereotypes, and cultural appropriation.
May 22 | Dr. Richard Kyte – The “Mean-ing” of Society & The Need for “Third Places” – Dr. Richard Kyte, author, Director of the D. B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, and Endowed Professor of Ethics at Viterbo University, joins SDHC to discuss why Americans are seemingly so cruel to each other, what happened to empathy, compassion, understanding and community, and how we can work to get it all back.
June 5 | (Guests TBA) – Native Tourism in South Dakota – Invited guests join SDHC to talk about a move toward increased Native Tourism in South Dakota – what it means and why it’s so important to the state.
June 19 | HOLIDAY – NO PROGRAM
NOTE: SDHC expects program participants to behave respectfully. Any questionable conduct may be considered grounds for removal from program participation.