Mobilizing the humanities. Notes on the relevance of the humanities in the contemporary world (original) (raw)
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Over the past four decades, the humanities have been subject to a progressive devaluation within the academic world, with early instances of this phenomenon tracing back to the USA and the UK. There are several clues as to how the university has generally been placing a lower importance on these fields, such as through the elimination of courses or even whole departments. It is worth mentioning that this discrimination against humanities degrees is indirect in nature, as it is in fact mostly the result of the systematic promotion of other fields, particularly, for instance, business management. Such a phenomenon has nonetheless resulted in a considerable reduction in the percentage of humanities graduates within a set of 30 OECD countries, when compared to other areas. In some countries, a decline can even be observed in relation to their absolute numbers, especially with regards to doctorate degrees. This article sheds some light on examples of international political guidelines, laid out by the OECD and the World Bank, which have contributed to this devaluation. It takes a look at the impacts of shrinking resources within academic departments of the humanities, both inside and outside of the university, while assessing the benefits and value of studying these fields. A case is made that a society that is assumed to be ideally based on knowledge should be more permeable and welcoming to the different and unique disciplines that produce it, placing fair and impartial value on its respective fields.
Abstract: This article comments on the discussion on the humanities, mainly by looking at the strategies of Arizona State University in the US, Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in Norway. The three strategies are reviewed on the background of important trends in university education: competition for staff and students, a call for relevance from society, but also from the students, and the strengthened position of science and technology. Aims and ambitions for education and research at the three universities have much in common. All of them focus on interdisciplinary work, both in education and research. But there are also important differences. ASU has a strongpoint in collaborations with their surrounding community, UU most consequently seek excellence, and NTNU is meeting the call for relevance. The article gives some concrete examples on how the humanities actually are performed at state universities of today. No crisis is spotted, but a need for changes or adjustments is argued.
Humanities: State and prospects
Sign Systems Studies, 2008
The developments in the humanities over the recent years could be characterised by the following three tendencies: florescence of methodological "turns", increasing importance of interdisciplinarity, and extensive travelling of concepts. Looking at the list of titles of the books and articles produced in humanistic and social disciplines over the recent years one is led to believe that we are living in a time of "turns". New methodological turns are announced time and again, for instance, most recently, the performative turn, the spatial turn, and the iconic turn. Although each of these turns was first announced within a particular discipline, the ambition has usually been greater, proclaiming changes in the humanistic and social sciences in general. Evidently, scholars are eager to find methodological platforms to bridge the current classifications of sciences and to create new interdisciplinary fields of research. Clifford Geertz has aptly termed the process "blurring of genres". As has been argued by Mieke Bal, interdisciplinarity in the humanities mainly relies on concepts. Progress in the humanities means, first and foremost, emergence of new concepts and change or expansion of the semantic space of the old ones. The last few years indeed appear to have been the heyday for travelling concepts. In order to give a survey of the new "turns", emergent interdisciplines and travelling concepts in the humanities, Estonian academic journal Keel ja Kirjandus ("Language and Literature") recently published a special issue on "Humanities: States and Prospects". The editor of the special issue, Marek Tamm, also interviewed at this occasion several internationally renowned