Project News

Once the coronavirus outbreak morphed from a slightly alarming news story into THE news story, the ONLY news story, I asked Neal Lester if COVID-19 concerns had dramatically impacted his usual schedule.

ASU Project Humanities/Service Saturdays, the outreach program to distribute needed clothes, shoes, and hygiene items to homeless individuals will suspend services immediately stated the programs architect Dr. Neal Lester in a written communication to the many volunteers knows as ambassadors of goodwill.

Soccer coach Ron Jans and racism? The Netherlands is hard to imagine, but in America the term he used is more than a word. 

That has a historical reason. For centuries, black Americans were dehumanized by white countrymen with that n-word. It was intended to put them inferior, and was often accompanied by brutal violence. ,, This word can have such a deep, almost physical impact on people. It is so permeated with violence, with negative history, with the dehumanization of brown and black people, "describes Neal Lester, an English professor at Arizona State University who is researching the n-word. "Too many people think that if you sing or quote a song, you can."

Neal A. Lester has always looked beyond his classroom walls, beyond disciplinary definitions, to exemplify the importance of the humanities.

Neal A. Lester has always looked beyond his classroom walls, beyond disciplinary definitions, to exemplify the importance of the humanities.

Are_the_Humanities_Really_In_Crisis.pdf

Arizona State University’s Project Humanities partnered with the Black Theatre Troupe, a multi-ethnic performance organization, to honor author Toni Morrison in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The sun is barely over the Phoenix horizon one morning in June, but the temperature already is inching its way to 105 degrees. Despite the heat and the early hour, about 150 men and women experiencing homelessness line up along the sidewalk spanning 12th Avenue between Jefferson and Madison streets.

ASU Professor Neal A.Lester brings diverse people together to examine these questions as part of Project Humanities, a unique, donor-supported, community-oriented ASU initiative. Read about his work on page 18.

Hair is ASU English professor Neal Lester’s domain. He’s studied it, written about it, and he recently sat down with The Show to talk more about why hair means a lot more than we think.