Uploaded April 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Defending the Imagination Presented by Joel Faflak, English & Writing Studies, Western University
What does it mean to educate our imaginations – and is it really something weshould be spending our time and money on?
Faced with a world of alternative facts, fake news, ChatGPT, geopolitical uncertainty, and climate change, the humanities are once again being asked to maximize their usefulness or perish altogether. Yet existential threat can be a potent spur to action. Perhaps the chronic anxiety about the viability of the arts and humanities – perhaps being defensive -- is actually the secret to our survival.
JOEL FAFLAK is Robert and Ruth Lumsden Professor of English at Western University and Visiting Professor at Victoria College, University of Toronto. He is author of numerous books, articles, and edited collections on literary Romanticism, psychoanalysis, and literary theory. He is recipient of the Polanyi Prize for Literature and the Edward J. Pleva and Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations awards for teaching excellence.
Filmed at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. September 20, 2023.
Defending the Imagination Presented by Joel Faflak, English & Writing Studies, Western University
What does it mean to educate our imaginations – and is it really something weshould be spending our time and money on?
Faced with a world of alternative facts, fake news, ChatGPT, geopolitical uncertainty, and climate change, the humanities are once again being asked to maximize their usefulness or perish altogether. Yet existential threat can be a potent spur to action. Perhaps the chronic anxiety about the viability of the arts and humanities – perhaps being defensive -- is actually the secret to our survival.
JOEL FAFLAK is Robert and Ruth Lumsden Professor of English at Western University and Visiting Professor at Victoria College, University of Toronto. He is author of numerous books, articles, and edited collections on literary Romanticism, psychoanalysis, and literary theory. He is recipient of the Polanyi Prize for Literature and the Edward J. Pleva and Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations awards for teaching excellence.
Filmed at Western University, London, Ontario, Canada. September 20, 2023.
