What am I reading in ScholarWorks? December 2023

For this month’s What Am I Reading in ScholarWorks? I take you to my happy place: that fever state that overtakes one when they come across ideas that excite and spark an intellectual joy of unbridled curiosity and desire to know more. That is how I felt reading Spanish & Portuguese Professor Marguerite Itamar Harrison’s article “Human-Centered Design–Culture within Everyone’s Reach” If you are not aware of Lina Bo Bardi’s architecture and the ideas which her work represent for human-centered public spaces that democratize and anchor communities, start with this article which explores cultural centers as “third places” (not work or home) that serve and “dignify human presence.” Harrison’s article focuses on cultural centers in São Paulo from Bardi’s SESC Pompéia to Aparelha Luzia founded by Erica Malunguinho as examples of the power of public spaces to enrich our cultural experience and connect us to each other. So inspiring. Naturally I had to find images of these spaces and fell further into my fever dream of a better more beautiful world drawing us together rather than the usual factionalizing and isolating forces that drag us apart—after you read the article do a search for the photo “Sunny Sunday at SESC Pompeia,” by Marcelo Ferraz and you might catch the joyful fever too!

To read this work in Smith ScholarWorks, visit: https://scholarworks.smith.edu/spp_facpubs/12