|
 The
long-range goal of the planning process is to establish a regional
humanities center that will serve our community and our region and
contribute to a broader understanding of southern history and culture
as central to the American experience. Needless to say, establishing
at Tulane a regional humanities center for the Deep South also meshes
with the existing structure of humanities institutions at the
university. It would also contribute significantly to Tulane’s
mission to be a regional and national leader in areas where it has
preexisting strengths.
Like
the flat, spreading plain formed by the Mississippi River, continuous
ethnic layering has created a demographic and cultural landscape
unlike any other in the nation. Because of its location near the mouth
of the River, the ethnically diverse population has remained largely
anchored in New Orleans, where the blending of humanity and the
marriage of cultures achieves the greatest complexity. Its centrality
to the cultural and economic development of the region make New
Orleans a fitting location for a humanities center.
We
envision the center as a laboratory where the chalk lines between
disciplines and between the academy and the community are completely
rubbed out, where the regions’ past and present are analyzed and
interpreted in relation to Europe, Africa, the West Indies, and Latin
America. The primary mission of the center will be serve as a forum
for intellectual exchange and innovation, to make its research and
resources available to the schools, libraries, museums, and cultural
tourism that form the cultural base of the region, to serve as an
informational clearing house for the historical and cultural
initiatives undertaken by local, state, and national agencies.
The
Regional Humanities Center will serve as a major site for interaction
between the education and humanistic communities with local, state and
national agencies to promote and advance the dissemination of
information, curriculum development, professional workshops and the
development of interactive web ware. During the planning phase the RHC
will work in partnership with existing programs to plan professional
development workshops and service learning programs. It will build
upon successful programs already in place, expanding them to include a
multicultural and cross-regional focus. |
