Episode #139 - How Art Shapes Empathy with Dr. Mary McCampbell

In this episode we talk about the role of art and the imagination in shaping empathy with Dr. Mary McCampbell, Associate Professor of Humanities at Lee University in Tennessee and the author of Imagining our Neighbors as Ourselves: How Art Shapes Empathy (published by Fortress). As Dr. McCampbell explains, the origin for the idea of the book is the quote by Graham Greene, “Hate was just a failure of imagination.” Over the course of our conversation she unpacks for us why she felt that this book was necessary now, in our current moment, and we discuss both the ways that art can open us up to empathy and also how bad art, like the God’s Not Dead franchise, can constrict our imagination. Since Dr. McCampbell’s book addresses several artistic examples from literature, TV, film, and music, we look closely at a few examples, including: Sufjan Stevens’s albums, The Age of Adz and Carrie and Lowell, and the recent backlash against the casting decision for the new Little Mermaid live action film. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. Amber Bowen and Dr. John Anthony Dunne.

Dr. Mary McCampbell’s website is https://marywmccampbell.com/and her substack is https://marymccampbell.substack.com/

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