The Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Teresa Vallés, participated in the annual conference of the Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC), held in Atlanta on 15 April. Dr Vallés presented a study that was undertaken with Andrea Rodríguez, who is also a Professor at UIC Barcelona.
The paper she presented was on the search for meaning in suffering in the book of poetry entitled Fragmentos del libro de Job [Fragments from the Book of Job] written by Carlos Pujol. Dr Pujol was a poet and humanist who was formerly a Professor in the Faculty of Humanities.
In his book, Pujol picks up on the biblical figure of Job in order to deal with the subject of human suffering and the desire for a rational explanation of pain. Although Job must accept the fact that the feeling of pain is a mystery that surpasses the limits of reason, he finds peace again through the experience of the closeness of Yahweh.
On the other hand, the entity organising the conference selected and awarded some funding so that Teresa Vallés and Andrea Rodríguez could participate in a seminar which will take place between 12 and 25 June in the universities of Chicago and Columbia (New York). The aim of this seminar will be to transmit the pedagogical experience of courses based on significant cultural works (core texts) and support projects in new teaching programmes that implement this teaching methodology.
