Xi Tfisser Tkun Bniedem? – an interdisciplinary publication co-edited by Robert Farrugia and Kurt Borg, features eleven conversations around a central question: ‘what does it mean to be a human being?’ Lara Zammit sits with the editors to discuss

LZ: The book Xi Tfisser Tkun Bniedem? first posed this question to a series of guests on a radio show that aired on Campus FM between October and December 2021. These conversations addressed the question in disparate ways, whether spiritual, political, artistic or social. Why did you feel it was important to invite guests from such diverse fields to address this question?

Robert Farrugia

RF, KB: From day one, the main aim of this project was to pose a central question and grapple with it by adopting an interdisciplinary approach. That meant having conversations with guests who are professionals and specialists in specific areas within our university who touch upon this question from their own camps, having distinct research methods, ideas and vocabulary.

By doing so, we wanted to both rethink together the question of what the human is and show how multi-layered it actually is. Both of us presenters – and now also editors of the published book version of these conversations which has just been released – research and work within the university setting.

We felt the need to bring academics in dialogue with each other so as to provide discussions that can appeal to both the academic audience but also to the public.

Kurt Borg

LZ: What have you reaped from these conversations? How have these shaped your understanding of the question ‘what does it mean to be a human being?’

RF, KB: On a personal level, this project allowed us to both build bridges with others and also deepen our understanding of this perennial question. We have learned from each and every conversation. It also made us more aware of how rich and multifaceted such a theme is while also recognising how many changes are going on around us that have an impact on what it means to be human.

We did not shun from the negative aspects that are currently directly affecting our own humanity, such as issues related to climate change or social marginalisation. This exercise has helped appreciate who we are, who we are meant to be and who we could also possibly be.

This project definitely showed us that such a question remains inexhaustible and, hence, remains a continuous, incessant task.

Robert Farrugia (left) during the Campus FM radio episode in conversation with Charlo Camilleri.

LZ: Why is it important to address the question of what it is be human? What is the effect of not contemplating this question?

RF, KB: In an age of ready-made answers, we believe it is both wise and subversive to rethink such a question. Who we are affects what we do and how we, ultimately, live. It is not merely a question of how much one knows but rather how aware one is.

Depth is scary but also true and real as we do not create it ourselves but discover it and acknowledge it. This was the aim behind such a project. When we settled for the printed version, we wanted to make clear in the introduction that answering the question from different points of view should not undermine the wholeness of the human being and lead to fragmentation and disjointedness.

Rather, as it turned out, when listening or reading such conversations, we come to realize how closer we are and how we enhance each other’s thoughts. This does not, of course, eliminate the possible contradictions that come to the fore.

We intentionally wanted these to also become evident. But, by the end of it, we experienced more interconnectedness than disparity. Addressing the question of what it is to be human is, ultimately, not an exercise done alone but with others. That’s what became more evident to us.

Xi Tfisser Tkun Bniedem, co-edited by Robert Farrugia and Kurt Borg was published by Horizons Malta.