In health and medicine, the humanities have a crucial role to play in cultivating wholeness for people, their families and their communities.

With a theme of "well-being," the University of Arizona College of Humanities' annual Tucson Humanities Festival in October will explore areas in which medicine and the humanities overlap. 

"There are numerous areas for the humanities to collaborate with the health sciences, and we see the constant conversation between these disciplines as fundamental for fostering human flourishing," said Alain-Philippe Durand, Dorrance Dean of the College of Humanities. "Just as the body and the mind cannot be separated, nor can storytelling, culture and language be ignored for their influences on how we feel. The Humanities Festival will also consider broader contexts, like community and environmental well-being." 

The festival will feature presentations by Dr. Andrew Weil, founding director of the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Brandon Som, as well as a salon discussing faculty research and a student-oriented health humanities fair. 

Coinciding with National Arts and Humanities Month, the Tucson Humanities Festival began in 2009 as Humanities Week and has grown into a monthlong series of guest speakers and special events. 

"The humanities provide us with the perfect lens to examine all aspects of culture and lifestyle, and we know health and wellness is a topic that concerns everyone," Durand said. "We're pleased to continue this thought-provoking series with a theme that can address the breakthroughs of modern medicine, ancient rituals and traditions, and everything in between." 

Festival schedule

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 6 p.m. 
Dr. Andrew Weil: Integrating Health and Humanities
Health Sciences Innovation Building, 1670 E. Drachman St. 

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Conventional medicine pays attention mostly to the body, limiting its understanding of the root causes of many disease conditions and its effectiveness in managing them. World-renowned leader and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine Dr. Andrew Weil, founding director of the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine and the Lovell-Jones Endowed Chair in Integrative Medicine, will discuss how integrative medicine views each patient as a whole person: mind and spirit as well as body. The discipline seeks to identify nonphysical causes of illness and embraces therapies that take advantage of the mind-body connection, promoting well-being and healthy aging. A book signing will follow the talk.

Thursday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m.
Brandon Som: Community and Belonging in the Borderlands
Helen S. Schaefer Building, 1508 E. Helen St.

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With "Tripas," his Pulitzer Prize-winning third collection, Brandon Som has written a book of poems built out of his multicultural, multigenerational childhood home. The book celebrates his Chicana grandmother, who worked nights on the assembly line at Motorola, and his Chinese American father and grandparents, who ran the family corner store. Som writes in dialogue with his family's languages and memories, creating a sense of well-being through cultural richness, at the confluence of history, struggle, hope, community and compassion.

Wednesday, Oct. 23, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
Health Humanities Fair and Café
University of Arizona Mall 

Join the College of Humanities and other campus partners for activities and information about how to enjoy a healthy college lifestyle. Meet faculty, advisers and student ambassadors and learn more about majors, classes and study abroad programs. Enjoy healthy beverages and snacks along with wellness-centered activities.

Tuesday, Oct. 29, 5:30 p.m. 
Faculty Salon: Humanities = Health
Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, 1502 E. Mabel St.

The College of Humanities is launching a Health Humanities Hub, a new initiative to highlight projects and partnerships at the intersection of health, wellness, medicine and the humanities. The Health Humanities Hub unites scholars and practitioners to explore the zone of discovery where medicine and the humanities overlap. To celebrate the opening of the Health Humanities Hub, College of Humanities faculty members Rae Dachille, Janice McGregor and Albert Welter will give brief presentations highlighting their research and teaching. After the presentations, guests will have an opportunity to mingle and engage in conversations with these experts and others in the field.