Core Issues in Public Discourse on the Humanities

(Monday, November 14, 2011, 1-3 pm, South Hall 2509)

We have divided the readings according to four broad categories that might help frame our discussion on Thursday. We propose that we do as many readings as we can, and at least one per category, and then organize our thoughts and discussion around three guiding lines corresponding to the scope of our group:

1) Similar tropes, images, framings of the humanities across the readings
2) The story/ies these tropes tell about the humanities
3) The audiences implied by/addressed in these stories

1) The so-called “crisis” of the humanities (Fish, Davidson)

• Davidson, Cathy N. “Strangers on a Train.” Academe 97.5 (September-October 2011). http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2011/SO/Feat/davi.htm
• Fish, Stanley. “Bound for Academic Glory.” New York Times, Dec. 23, 2007. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/bound-for-academic-glory/
• —. “The Crisis of the Humanities Officially Arrives.” New York Times, Oct. 11, 2010. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/the-crisis-of-the-humanities-officially-arrives/
• —. “Will the Humanities Save Us?” New York Times, Jan. 6, 2008. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/will-the-humanities-save-us/

2) Defining the Humanities Today

• “AAAS Commission on the Humanities and Social Sciences.” Richard H. Brodhead, Steven Knapp, Diane P. Wood, David J. Skorton. American Academy of Arts & Sciences Induction Ceremony, 2011. http://www.amacad.org/events/Induction2011/VP/Briefing_BETC.aspx
• “The Importance of the Humanities and Knowledge.” Don M. Randel. American Academy of Arts & Sciences Induction Ceremony, 2011. http://www.amacad.org/events/Induction2011/VP/Briefing_Randel.aspx
• Liu, Alan. “Basic Research in the Humanities.” UC Commission on the Future. 2010. https://4humanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Basic-Research-in-the-Humanities.pdf

3) Emerging models for the Humanities of the present-future (Davidson-Goldberg, Shanks)

• Davidson, Cathy N. and David Theo Goldberg. “A Manifesto for the Humanities in a Technological Age.” The Chronicle of Higher Education: The Chronicle Review, Feb. 13, 2004. http://chronicle.com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:2048/article/A-Manifesto-for-the-Humanities/17844 (access through UCSB library proxy server)
• Shanks, Michael. “Stanford Humanities Lab.” http://documents.stanford.edu/michaelshanks/34
• —. “The idea of a Humanities Lab.” http://documents.stanford.edu/michaelshanks/218

4) Framing public discourse

• Ganz, Marshall. “The Power of Story in Social Movements.” Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. August 2001. (available as PDF in 4Humanities@RFG Private Library)
• Lakoff, George. “Framing 101: How to take back Public Discourse.” Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. White River, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2004. (available as PDF in 4Humanities@RFG Private Library)
• Mooney, Chris. “The Science of Why We Don’t Believe in Science.” Mother Jones, May/June 2011. http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/denial-science-chris-mooney
• Rifkin, Jeremy. “The Empathic Civilisation.” RSA Animate. May 6, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g

All readings available as PDF’s in 4Humanities@UCSB Private Library (For the password, please contact the 4Humanities@UCSB research assistant: Lindsay Thomas.)