The Task of the Liberal Arts in Troubled Times (original) (raw)

Liberal Arts for Social Change

Humanities

The author makes a strategic argument for the liberal arts grounded in realpolitik (that is, the “realistic” manipulation of the levers of power). In a time of neoliberal university governance, it is useful for fields of study to base appeals for their continued existence on their utility to their institutions. The growth of equity and diversity initiatives in the academy, particularly in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, gives us a means of making this argument, as the liberal arts have utility in questioning the structures of white supremacy and received history and values. By exploiting the cognitive dissonance between the demands of neoliberal governance and the need for diversity and equity, we can make a persuasive case for reinvestment in the liberal arts. Further, this reinvestment ought to be democratized and carried out through all levels of higher education, including, and especially, non-selective, vocationally oriented institutions.

Higher Education in the Time of Trump and Beyond: Resistance and Critique

Qualitative Inquiry, 2023

The current Qualitative Inquiry partial special issue titled "Higher Education in the Time of Trump and Beyond: Resistance and Critique" is based on a similarly themed plenary panel that was to take place at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry in 2020. Alas, like so many other events, it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Global Liberal Arts Challenge

Ethics & International Affairs

The democratic backsliding that has accelerated across the globe over the past decade has included a rollback of liberal arts and sciences (LAS) as a system of university education. This essay explores the origins and goals of the global LAS education reform movement. I argue that while the movement is under threat largely due to its principled value of educating democratic citizens, it still has powerful potential and global impact; in part because LAS education is primarily an indigenous phenomenon adapting to local circumstances. I also argue that U.S. universities could contribute more constructively to the movement if they conceived of their role as global civic actors that conduct themselves in the spirit of mutuality and reciprocity, not as multinational corporations that channel neoliberal tendencies to maximize revenue. U.S. critics of the global LAS movement should also pay heed to the United States’ own history. Specifically, they can learn from historically Black college...

Oh the Humanities!: The Consequences of the Conservative Infiltration of the Post-9/11 University

While the war on higher education started long before the terrorist attacks and the ensuing War on Terror (H. Giroux 141), the aftermath of these events have led to the attempted dismantling of the university and the defamation of the Liberal Arts. When coupled with the aggressive form of neoliberalism that underscores our lives and renders the individual a consumer and virtually everything else a commodity, it is important for the university to understand its role in the formation of critical, intellectually-responsible students. Instead, this obligation has been dismantled in the face of anti-intellectualism, spawning a detrimental response from the conservative public and even Humanities academics alike.