The 10th Annual Conference of the Global Academy of Liberal Arts was hosted by the founding institution, Bath Spa University, during 13-15 September 2024. The conference theme was ‘How can the liberal arts help a world in crisis?’. It responds to how the world has changed over the past decade and the context in which we now find ourselves — a world marked by global polarization, ecological crisis, and the rise of disruptive technologies, placing humanity itself under threat worldwide. The sub-themes of the conference included Environmental Crisis; Art for Social Change; Digital Threats and Opportunities; Indigenous Voice and Justice; and Power, Peace and Healing.  With plenaries, papers, performances, roundtables and workshops from colleagues from 17 countries, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ethiopia, England, Germany, India, Italy, Ireland, Kenya, Maldives, Namibia, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States of America, it was a truly international conference. 

Friday 13 September 2024  

Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, 16-18 Queen Square Bath BA1 2HN 

 

9–9.30am Tea/Coffee (Elwin room)  

 

9.30–10.30am Plenary (Elwin room)  

Introduction by Ian Gadd and Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus 

Roundtable by founding members of the Global Academy of Liberal Arts including Antonella Riem (Udine University, Italy), Josh Goode (Claremont Graduate University, USA), Bambo Soyinka (Bath Spa University, UKww) and Claudia Egerer (Stockholm University, Sweden). 

 

10.30–11.30am Session 1 (2 parallel sessions) 

Art for Social Change (Duncan room) 

Samuel Nyanchoga, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya (online): Beyond the Books: Can Liberal Arts Education Nurture Responsible Citizenship in Kenya?  

Shilpa Das, National Institute of Design, India: How a Liberal Arts Programme sits in a Design Institute in India: Historical trajectories and Identity Politics  

 

Power, Peace and Healing (Elwin room) 

Tamara Cincik, Bath Spa University, UK (online): The Creative Wellbeing Economy  

Wesley Beal, Lyon College, USA: Personal Transformation for a World in Crisis  

  

11.30am–11.45 Refreshments (Elwin room)  

 

11.45am–12.45 Session 2 (2 parallel sessions) 

Environmental Crisis (Elwin room) 

Steven H. Corey, Columbia College Chicago, USA: Environmental Humanities as the New Liberal Arts  

Claudia Egerer, Stockholm University, Sweden: Thinking human-nonhuman relationships with a liberal arts perspective  

Digital Threats and Opportunities (Duncan room)  

Priya Thapa, Bath Spa University, UK: Equipping students with digital literacy and creative problem-solving skills.  

Tina Rozsos, University College Roosevelt, Netherlands: Promoting data literacy across the liberal arts curriculum  

 

12.45–2pm Lunch break (Duncan and Lonsdale rooms)  

 

1.00–1.30pm Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution Talk (Elwin Room)  

Andreas Wasmuht, ‘The World in 2050’ — optional event 

 

2–4pm Session 3 Workshop (Lonsdale room)  

Separate sign-up required 

Publishing your postgraduate dissertation, led by Dr Simon Strange, Bath Spa University, UK (separate sign-up). 

 

 

2.30–4.30pm Mayor’s Walk (starts in BRLSI foyer) — pre-registration required 

A 2-hour walking tour of Bath, ending in front of Bath Abbey. 

 

5.00–6.20pm – GALA Conference Boat cruise — pre-registration required 

Pulteney Weir, Bath 

 

Note: It is a 15-minute walk from Pulteney Weir to Burdall’s Yard  

 

6.45–8.30pm GALA Conference Reception with refreshments and pizza 

Burdall’s Yard, 7A Anglo Terrace, Bath 

 

To include between 7.15–8pm: ‘The Stray Mongrel Dog: an autobiographical illusion, or Guaipeca’, a musical performance written and directed by Leandro Maia and performed by Maria Falkembach, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil, with special guests. 

Part of a ‘A Brazilian perspective of resisting through dance and songwriting’. 

Saturday 14 September 2024 

Newton Park Campus, Bath Spa University 

 

8.30–9am Tea/Coffee (Commons, Foyer)  

 

9 -10am Keynote (Commons, G23) 

Juliet Thondhlana, University of Nottingham, UK, UNESCO Chair in International Education and Development: Developing strategic partnerships for tackling global emergencies: challenges and opportunities  

 

10–11am Session 4 (2 parallel sessions) 

Environmental Crisis (Commons, G24)  

Alessio Malcevschi, University of Parma, Italy: Living in the age of the polycrisis: how complex crises emerge and how humanities can confront them.  

Julia Bistrova, Riga Technical University, Latvia/Herens Quality Asset Management & Colinne S. Bartel–Truffle Time/Herens Quality Asset Management, Germany & Romanus Shivoro, University of Namibia, Namibia: The Importance and Implementation of ESG Standards in African Stock Listed Companies  

 

Power, Peace and Healing (Commons, G23)  

Douglas Andrews, The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa: An exploration of how school leaders navigate the possible tensions between the ‘ideals of inclusion’ and the ‘ideals of excellence: a CHAT perspective.  

Gavin James Bower, Bath Spa University, UK: The Future of the Humanities: Crisis or Opportunity  

 

11am–11.30 Refreshments (Commons, Foyer)  

11.30am- 12.30: Session 5 (2 parallel sessions) 

Power, Peace and Healing (Commons, G23) 

Tanja Sakota, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa: Unveiling hidden memories: exploring the relevance of autoethnographic film for social change  

Sheku Ahmed Fofanah, Bath Spa University, UK: A Framework for Building a Responsive Local Government System in Sierra Leone: Integrating Felt Needs Fulfilment Model with the Hybridity of Paramount Chiefs  

 

Digital Threats and Opportunities (Commons, G24)  

Yara Gawrieh Ekmark, Stockholm University, Sweden: The Ecocritical Instapoet: Digital Media Ecofeminist Poetry  

Luca Cossettini, Udine University, Italy: For whom the algorithm tolls? 

 

12.30–2pm Lunch & networking (Commons, Foyer)  

 

12.45– 1.45pm Delegates meeting with lunch (Commons, 119)  

 

2–3.30pm Session 6 (2 parallel sessions) 

Liberal Arts Across Borders (Commons, G24)  

Joshua Goode, Graduate University, USA  

David Sprott, Claremont Graduate University, USA 

Astrid Swenson, Natalia Brazao-Cortas, Claremont Graduate University, USA 

 

Indigenous Voices and Justice + Power, Peace and Healing (Commons, G23) 

Hayley Haynes-Rolando and Phethile Zitha, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa: The stories of a community-based intervention, collaboratively addressing the violence in a Johannesburg township high school in South Africa.  

Mattia Mantellato, Università degli studi di Enna “Kore”, Italy: Shaman Caliban: Shakespeare’s The Tempest as a Native/Indigenous Narrative to Rethink the Other and the World  

Agata Vitale, Bath Spa University, UK, & Helena Enright, Art Practitioner, Limerick, Ireland & Husam Abbed, Bath Spa University, UK: The role of art in supporting minority groups to heal from prolonged trauma.  

 

3.30– 4.30pm Session 7 (2 parallel sessions) 

Digital Threats and Opportunities (Commons, G23)  

Samson Mekonnen, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Media and Peace: Towards Constructive Journalism Philosophy in Ethiopia  

Małgorzata Wójcik, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poland: RESQL: A Digital Solution for Addressing Bullying and Cyberbullying in Schools  

 

Art for Social Change (Commons, G24)  

Jennifer Clark, University of Adelaide, Australia: ‘Re-Dressed’: Using an artistic response to study historic collections in the Foundling Museum, London  

Alemtsehay Lemma Tadesse, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia (Online): Invisible theatre for social change  

 

4.30–5pm Refreshments (Commons, Foyer)  

 

5–6pm Session 8 (2 parallel sessions)  

Art for Social Change (Commons, G24) 

Penny Hay, Bath Spa University, UK: Forest of Imagination as an Aesthetic Imaginary  

Renzo Filinich Orozco, The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa: Towards a possible future of Latinamerican Cosmotechnics  

 

Environmental Crisis (Commons, G23)  

Abere Fenta Getie (online), Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia: Heavy metal levels in water and sediment samples of Dire and Aba-samuel Reservoir Ethiopia  

Engdaye Mersha Weldemariam, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia: Repercussions of land use and land cover on natural ecosystems and socioeconomic systems 

 

6.00–6.15pm Introduction to EMBLAZE (University Theatre)  

Introduction by Dana Saxon, Artistic Director of EMBLAZE  

6.15–7.00pm: Performance (University Theatre)  

Bitch: a dance spectacle 

Written and directed by Alexandra Dias and performed by Maria Falkembach, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil. 

Part of a ‘A Brazilian perspective of resisting through dance and songwriting’. 

 

For delegates returning to central Bath, the U5 bus leaves at 7.30pm; we will pay for tickets. This gets back to the city centre by 7.55pm  

 

For delegates attending the conference dinner, transport will be provided. 

 

7.30–10pm An evening with EMBLAZE — pre-registration required 

Fairfield House, 2 Kelston Rd, Bath BA1 3QJ  

This includes a 3-course meal (served from 8pm) and features several guest speakers: Roger Griffith, MBE; Ras Benji; Talking Tekla. 

 

Sunday 15 September 2024  

Locksbrook Campus, Bath Spa University
 

9.30–10.00 Tea/coffee (Corridor)  

 

10.00- 11.00am Session 9 (2 parallel sessions) 

Environmental crisis (Room 201)  

Paul Reid-Bowen, Bath Spa University, UK: Teaching in the Ruins: from collapsology to collapsosophy 

Renée van de Schaft, University of Utrecht, Netherlands: Between Human Guilt and Hopeful Shadowplaces: Purity, Chemosociality and Multispecies Relations in Ned Beauman’s Venomous Lumpsucker 

 

Power, Peace and Healing (Room 207)  

Camilla Pontiggia, The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa: The Hi-Stories of whitenoisewhitegirl: Unravelling a Colonial Blueprint  

Mohamed Mahid Shareef, Visiting Lecturer, Cyrix College, Maldives, Understanding Leadership Role in Local Councils for Effective Service Delivery: A Staff-Centric Approach  

 

11.00am–12.30 Session 10 (2 parallel sessions) 

Crowdsourcing a Manifesto for the Humanities. (Room 201) 

Workshop led by Rebecca Di Corpo, Bath Spa University, UK and  Joshua Goode, Claremont Graduate University, USA 

 

Power, Peace and Healing (Room 207)  

Anusia Govender-Elshove, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa: The Silent Dancers  

Aklilu Dessalegn Zewdu, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia (online): South African post-apartheid literature: shaping a better future for the next generation of South Africans  

Obsu, Fiseha Moreda, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia (online): Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Liberal Arts: Bridging Gaps and Addressing Global Challenge  

 

12.30–1.30pm Lunch (Corridor and outside)  

 

1.30–2.30pm: Session 11 (2 parallel sessions) 

Art for Social Change (Room 201)  

Amanda Bayley, Bath Spa University, UK (In-person) & Perminus Matiure, University of Namibia, Namibia (online), Transforming Lives through Ethnomusicological Engagement in Kwando, Namibia  

Leandro Ernesto Maia, Bruna Oliveira & Maria Fonseca Falkembach, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Brazil: Cultural Policies as Social Change: from dance mapping towards arts policies  

 

Environmental Crisis (Room 207) 

Sarah Hayes, Bath Spa University, UK (online): Postdigital Citizen Science and Humanities: how do citizen researchers understand their roles and contributions towards helping a world in crisis?  

Shimelis Gizachew Desalegn, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia(online): Sustainable supply chain management in the agricultural sector in Ethiopia  

 

2.30–3.30pm Plenary Conclusion & Next steps (Room 201)  

 

3.30pm conference ends 

Conferencing organising team 

• Ian Gadd 

• Rebecca McGuire-Snieckus 

• Gin Darcy 

 

Conferencing Planning Group 

• Jennifer Clark, University of Adelaide 

• Alexandria Dias, Universidade Federal de Pelotas 

• Samuel Nyanchoga, Catholic University of Eastern Africa 

• Ruksana Osman, University of the Witwatersrand 

• John Strachan, Bath Spa University 

 

We are also grateful to: Bath Spa University’s Conferencing Team  of Sascha Smallcombe and Lydia Harman-Verrell; the room hire team at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution; Dan Lewis-Jones and the team at Burdall’s Yard; Suzanne Harris and Scott Rogers from Bath Spa Live; Felix Colbert, Lucy Heard, and Tony Williams from Bath Spa University’s technical support team; Daniel Ginsburg and Bambo Soyinka from EMBLAZE; Ras Benji and colleagues at Fairfield House; the Mayor’s Guides.