As our College looks to address some of the most pressing questions of the 21st century, let’s not forget that many of them echo through millennia. The issues may take new form, but their themes endure: how cultures and identities evolve, questions of belonging, political turbulence, how language and art mirror society, and how we can seek truth in the face of competing narratives.
It’s not implausible to suggest that there can be no higher end than thinking about what we do, why we do it, and perhaps what we can learn from how we have done it in the past. This can come from all sorts of angles, whether it’s Music, Linguistics, Ethics, Medieval Literature, Fine Art, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and so forth.
As a theme title, ‘Values & Society’ is deliberately broad, like the names of most of our themes, because we need to capture the idea of what we’re doing without being reductivist. In general, it can cover pretty much anything anyone ever does. In subjects across the Values & Society theme at Reuben, we’re holding space for many subjects in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.
The beauty of an Oxford college is also that it is inherently interdisciplinary. We speak to each other across disciplines because we believe that cross-fertilisation is mutually beneficial.
Our college facilitates this in very systemic ways: we make sure that these conversations are given fertile ground to happen accidentally, but also in an organised fashion (for example, in our weekly talks). Through this, we affirm that the subjects we study are more than the sum of their parts, yet each subject also carries its own worth.
This is what the Values & Society theme represents: a commitment to the study of culture, ideas, and human expression in all forms for both its own sake and as a partner in interdisciplinary exchange.
This thematic expansion marks a new chapter for Reuben, in which we more firmly solidify the humanities as a core part of our College, affirming that here, they are intrinsically valuable, valued, and pursued in an environment of open enquiry. At the same time, it looks to the future, ensuring that humanities and arts perspectives shape both our College culture and the ways in which we respond to the challenges of the 21st century.
