Braniff Graduate Student Association Hosts 4th Annual Conference in the Liberal Arts
Scholars Gather to Explore the Nature of the Imagination
Date Published: Jan. 3, 2018
What is the imagination? This great question has been wrestled with in a myriad ways throughout the Western
intellectual tradition, whether it be by philosophers, poets, political theorists
or psychologists. In the upcoming annual Braniff Conference in the Liberal Arts (Jan. 26-27), the students and faculty of Braniff Graduate School will enter into this dialogue,
discussing the role and function of the imagination from a whole host of perspectives
and disciplines across the liberal arts.
The highlight of the conference, which takes place Jan. 26-27 at the University of
Dallas will be the keynote address, given by Eva Brann, former dean and the longest
standing tutor at St. John’s College in Annapolis. Not only is Brann a widely renowned
scholar, being a recipient of the National Humanities Medal and having earned degrees
from both Brooklyn College and Yale; she has also published extensively on both the
role and purpose of the liberal arts and the theme of imagination, making her a perfect
fit for this year’s conference.
“We invited Eva Brann because her methodology is very much in line in our great books
approach, as well as she’s published on the imagination,” said James DeMasi, President
of the Braniff Graduate Student Association. “One of her works, The Paradoxes of Education in a Republic, is even taught in our Core in Dr. Hanssen’s and Mr. Papadopoulos’ ‘History of Liberal
Arts Education’ course.
Regarding the choice of this year’s theme, DeMasi said that it came after a realization
of the powerful presence of the question of the imagination, one that traverses multiple
disciplines and subject areas: “When we were thinking this year about a theme that
must be accessible to all disciplines and important to all disciplines, we all arrived
at the imagination because it seems to be a concept that is so prevalent in the Western
tradition, whether under the auspices of fancy or in trying to understand what poetry
is or when thinking of the philosophers of the mind.”
After discovering this “pressing reality of the presence of the imagination,” DeMasi
said that he and his fellow committee members realized that while they had many questions
regarding the imagination, they found themselves at a loss for answers to those questions.
“That is always the birth of this conference: getting together these questions and
then soliciting these outside voices to come in and dialogue from multiple disciplines
and multiple institutions to carry on a conversation that everyone will benefit from,
and then also pick a keynote who can give authoritative and insightful comments on
whatever the theme is.”
Not only will the conference prove invaluable in beginning this intellectual dialogue
to answer these lingering questions; it also will provide graduate students an opportunity
to gain experience in conferencing and an occasion to interact with faculty and students
both from within and outside the University of Dallas community.
“One of the main missions [of the BGSA] is to provide the intellectual environment
for the kinds of conversations that contribute informally to our formal education,”
reflected DeMasi. “And so the conference is supposed to provide space or an opportunity
to interact with voices and disciplines that are not your everyday voices and disciplines,
in such a way that it allows you access to different modes of thinking.”
While this conference greatly benefits Braniff graduate students, DeMasi also encouraged
members of the undergraduate community to attend. “This conference is a great time
to come and have conversations with graduate students that are in your own institution
who you might otherwise never meet, and the material will definitely be accessible
and pertinent to every University of Dallas student,” he said. He also stressed that
students should take advantage of this rare opportunity to hear Eva Brann speak and
encouraged them to come simply to hear her keynote address, adding that the event
will not at all conflict with the Groundhog festivities also held that weekend.
“Brann has established herself as a voice in the conversation, a contemporary who
is inundated and completely saturated by the Western tradition, who has published
and joined the public dialogue in the most effective way possible concerning this
question of what the imagination is and why we should care what the imagination is,
both the ‘what’ and the ‘ought’,” he said. “They might never have another chance to
hear her speak again.”
The conference will be held from January 26-27, 2018 on the University of Dallas
campus. It will begin on Friday evening with a plenary address given by Dr. Dennis
Sepper, Ph.D. from UD’s philosophy department, followed by a day of presentations
by scholars from other academic institutions, with responses by Braniff students and
faculty. The event will conclude with the keynote address from distinguished visiting
scholar, Eva Brann.
Learn more about the 4th Annual Braniff Conference in the Liberal Arts »