The Center for Humanistic Inquiry (CHI) provides resources for Amherst faculty, staff, and students to engage a broad vision of the role humanistic thinking can play in scholarly and public life. Each year we invite several fellows into residency at the Center to conduct research and collaborate with each other under the rubric of a resonant theme. The Center also hosts performances, forums, exhibitions, digital interventions, conferences, and workshops designed to foster humanities inquiry.
As part of Amherst College, CHI is uniquely positioned to connect cutting-edge research with a broader audience. One goal of liberal arts education is to promote critical thinking in ways that can be communicated effectively across disciplines, constituencies, and ways of knowing and being. The Center not only pursues such goals at Amherst, but also in the course of national and international conversations about the critical importance of the humanities in higher education and public life.