The Humanities at Your Fingertips
By Kathleen Kuo
“What are the humanities?” As someone who recently passed her three-year milestone of working at Nevada Humanities, you would think that by now I would have an answer ready for this question. But I like the spontaneity that comes with not having a canned elevator pitch—my answer is a genuine reflection of my current thoughts that shifts depending on who I am speaking to, just as my own lived understanding of the humanities continues to evolve over time.
One of the things I love most about working for Nevada Humanities is that we hold an egalitarian view of the humanities—the humanities are for everyone. They help us lead fuller lives, shape our everyday thoughts and activities, and connect us with one another in meaningful ways. As a program manager, I find myself constantly asking myself how to find ways to share our mission with the people of Nevada, especially as we continue to navigate through the aftermath of COVID-19 in our communities and its disruption of our communications and former routines. One of the ways in which we have sought to address this is through the creation of our newest program series, Humanities at Play.
Program Manager and Humanities at Play host Kathleen Kuo’s streaming setup for Twitch. The laptop on the left monitors chat, the monitor in the middle is for OBS streaming software and gameplay, and the vertical monitor on the right holds Zoom and Discord calls with guests.
In April of this year, we launched Humanities at Play, which pairs gameplay and other interactive activities with thoughtful, engaging, and educational conversations about the humanities. This has been a hugely experimental endeavor thus far, as we have created a Twitch channel (not your usual humanities council meeting place) where our online programming is live-streamed twice a week, sometimes more. For those unfamiliar with Twitch, think of it as a television—an idea that is reflected in the URL for the website itself (twitch.tv). Instead of having to register for individual Zoom events and the formalities of receiving reminder emails, a single free account on Twitch enables you to tune in any time we are live and participate at your own comfort and convenience. Whereas Zoom can sometimes feel like the virtual re-enactment of a work conference room or an academic lecture where panelists and speakers are talking down to the audience, I like to imagine Twitch as a cozy gathering of friends where we are all sitting around a virtual table or family room as we play games, cook, make art and poetry, and gather together for worthwhile conversations.
The format of most of our streams is generally divided into about an hour of gameplay with our featured guest followed by a one-on-one interview/Q&A welcoming questions from the chat community. I have also loved those streams which break the mold of our usual humanities programming. Some of my favorite moments on stream thus far include:
Playing the interactive story Florence together with Las Vegas-based artist and community convener Hue, where we chatted about their work with the Cloud House as a community space as well as about Asian diaspora and life experiences.
Creating tonkas, haikus, and couplets inspired by our playthroughs of Gris (a gorgeous platformer about the five stages of grief) and Child of Light with City of Reno Poet Laureate Dustin Howard.
Streaming from my kitchen alongside Suyash Kumar Neupane, an ethnomusicology student and food and sound studies scholar, while learning how to make chatpate, a popular Nepalese street food, and having the most fascinating conversations about rock salt that taste like egg yolks, synthwave and vaporwave, time zones in other countries, and more.
These streams are archived on Twitch for a week, and then saved to our YouTube channel for those who might not have been able to view the event live, but the beauty of Twitch is truly in engaging with the streamer, guest, and other community members in real time.
While Humanities at Play will include in-person events across our state soon, our online Twitch channel is really where I hope to see our community gather and grow over time. We are especially excited to reach a younger, more diverse audience through this new programming, as there has been a significant generational rise in—and normalization of—video game use and tabletop role-playing game participation for youth and young adults. But play is for everyone, regardless of age! We hope that our online and in-person programs create accessible, accommodating spaces where dialogues about the humanities, social issues, and other important topics can take place. I encourage you to embrace the digital unknown, to let yourself relax, and welcome more play into your life. If you are dipping your toes into the water for the first time, let us know. Don’t be afraid to say hello in chat, and I hope to see you soon at our upcoming Humanities at Play events.
Learn more about Humanities at Play and our streaming schedule here, see previous recordings of Humanities at Play streams on our YouTube channel, and create a free account to follow along with and participate in Humanities at Play on Twitch.
Kathleen Kuo is a Program Manager for Nevada Humanities and host of Humanities at Play streams on Twitch.
Photos courtesy of Kathleen Kuo.