Syracuse Symposium™ is a semester-long festival celebrating the interdisciplinary humanities at Syracuse University. The 2009 Symposium will celebrate “Light.” Whether understood as a subtle element from which grosser bodies are composed, a fire first lit in the human eye by Aphrodite, a word uttered on the second day, a fundamental disturbance in the material universe, or the elementary quantum of an electromagnetic field, light comes from many sources and appears as the most universal of human ideas. The 2009 Syracuse Symposium explores the protean meaning of light in all of its senses and myriad of forms, including music, painting, dance, film and visual culture, philosophy, religion, and science; and also attempts to bring new meanings to light through a diverse array of lectures, performances, exhibits, symposia, and other special events.

Syracuse Symposium™ is organized and presented for the College of Arts and Sciences by the SU Humanities Center.