Arcade Colloquy with CESTA Mellon Sawyer Seminar Series Content is Published!

CESTA is proud to announce the launch of The Data That Divides Us Colloquy, a collaborative and thought-provoking exploration of the critical intersections between data and the humanities, published as part of Stanford Arcade Colloquia. This colloquy emerges from the Mellon Sawyer Seminar Series hosted by CESTA in 2023–2024, generously supported by the Mellon Foundation.

The Data That Divides Us invited scholars, librarians, archivists, graduate students, faculty, and data activists to reflect on the historical, cultural, and political dimensions of data in humanistic inquiry. Across disciplines, participants interrogated how data shapes and reflects modern divisions while uncovering opportunities to bridge them. Through a historical and transdisciplinary lens, the seminar explored questions of latent bias in historical data, its influence on contemporary divisions, and its potential as a medium for connection.

Explore the "The Data That Divides Us" Colloquy here!

The colloquy will feature:

• Video recordings of invited speakers’ presentations, capturing the insights and provocations from leading voices across diverse fields.
• Written responses by seminar participants, offering reflections and critical engagements with the talks.
• A synthesis piece by Dissertation Fellow Chloé Brault (PhD Candidate, Comparative Literature), summarizing key themes and conversations from the year.
• A post-seminar interview with the seminar’s PIs—Giovanna Ceserani (Classics), Mark Algee-Hewitt (English), Laura Stokes (History), and Grant Parker (Classics and African and African American Studies)—who reflect on the seminar’s insights and tackle the fundamental question: is data singular or plural?

This colloquy, co-curated by the Seminar's co-PI, Professor Giovanna Ceserani and Seminar's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr. Nichole Nomura, underscores the idea that data in the humanities is not merely a tool but a complex cultural artifact and a site of inquiry. It invites us to confront fundamental questions about knowledge, methodology, and collaboration across fields. By exploring data’s role in creating and contesting divisions, The Data That Divides Us brings critical perspectives into conversation, revealing new avenues for research and understanding. You can read about the successful seminar series in this Stanford Report article, and access the materials published on the colloquy categorized  by seminar sessions here.

We invite you to explore the colloquy and join us in examining how data can both divide and connect us. Access the colloquy here. Currently we have three pieces--the recording of the seminar session on "Catastrophe, Data, Transformation" with Dagomar Degroot and Jessica Otis, the written response to that seminar session by Alex Sherman (PhD Candidate in English at Stanford), and a synthesis essay from the Final Seminar Series Symposium by Chloé Brault (PhD Candidate in Comparative Literature at Stanford)--within the colloquy, and we will add more recordings, responses and reflections on the seminar series within the 2025 Winter quarter. Email us at cesta_stanford [at] stanford.edu (cesta_stanford[at]stanford[dot]edu) with any of your questions, thoughts, and engagements.