Campus Digest

HKBU Endowed Chair Professor John Erni shares insights on critical diversity at inaugural lecture

11 Sep 2018

HKBU held an inaugural lecture yesterday by Professor John Erni, Head of the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, who was awarded the title of The Fung Hon Chu Endowed Chair of Humanics, on “How Do We Inhabit Openness? Rethinking Whole Person Education”.

Citing his research and community service on ethnic minorities, Professor Erni shared his thinking on the question of “openness”, which he believes can reinvigorate the ethos of Whole Person Education, particularly through the concept of “critical diversity”. Discussing inclusion and the “strangers” around us, Professor Erni said that from a humanistic, anthropological and cultural perspective, the designation of the “whole person” demands our ability to navigate among the boundedness of society, the groundedness of our lived experience, and the openness of a seemingly boundless horizon.

The Fung Hon Chu Endowed Chair of Humanics was established with the generous donation from the Fung Hon Chu Foundation in 2006.