Cosponsored by VIU’s Liberal Studies program and the Alexandro Malaspina Research Centre, The Compass Rose presents undergraduate responses to the broad scope of human questions arising out of the liberal arts. What is the best way for a human being to live? What is one’s ultimate responsibility to their society? What is beauty? These are fundamental human questions that have been discussed through the lens of countless disciplines, eras, perspectives, and mediums. The journal seeks works from students in the Social Sciences, Arts, Humanities and other disciplines which succeed in transcending the compartmentalization of discipline and address matters of importance to the human whole to which the great works in the liberal arts tradition point us.
A compass rose—at once beautiful and useful, a human convention which points to nature’s permanencies—is the device by which we orient our map as we set out on our explorations. The true ship’s pilot pays “careful attention to year, seasons, heaven, stars, winds, and everything that’s proper to the art” of navigating. The Compass Rose hopes to chart eddies and currents in the intellectual conversation flowing between past and present, individual and community. It is about fathoming the depths and sounding out ideas, ultimately providing students of all interests with invaluable practice discussing and bridging ideas which eminently matter.
Submissions will be accepted from students currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree at an accredited university. Essays should be between 1000 to 2500 words and clearly address a topic associated with the works, authors, and artists primarily, but not exclusively, from the Western intellectual tradition. Essays which elucidate and explore interesting questions within a single text are welcome as are essays which place these primary works in dialogue with contemporary authors, themes, problems, and questions. Only authors whose manuscripts have been selected by the editorial board for further consideration will be contacted.
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