4Humanities Values and Definitions
Monday, November 26th, 5-7 pm, South Hall 2509
As we discussed at our previous meeting, this year we are following up on last year’s conceptual and early project-oriented work by identifying the core values of the humanities we want our projects to communicate, the best “frames” to use in communicating those values, and the nature of our audience. The goal is to help advance our projects on more solid ground and with effective materials.
Our Meeting #8 will focus specifically on “values” and the definition of the humanities they imply. To prepare for this meeting, please look over the following existing 4Humanities projects and posts, as well as an example of a digital humanities project from another organization, Duke´s Haiti Lab:
- Humanities Showcase: http://humanitiesshowcase.wix.com/4humanities-showcase#!HOME/mainPage
- Humanities, Plain & Simple post by Christine Hensler: https://4humanities.org/2012/09/christine-henseler-looking-for-a-job-cash-in-on-the-humanities/
- Humanities, Plain & Simple post by Alan Liu: https://4humanities.org/2012/07/alan-liu-the-humanities-and-tomorrows-discoveries/
- Humanities, Plain & Simple post by Valerie Barr: https://4humanities.org/2012/01/stem-and-humanities-it-isnt-either-or/
- Duke´s Haiti Lab:
- Humanities Laboratories at Duke: http://www.fhi.duke.edu/labs
- 19th- Century Caribbean Cholera TimeMap: http://www.duke.edu/web/haitilab/cholera4/cholera_timemap11.html#zoom=5¢er=20.13847031245115,-74.3994140625&date=1832-06-05
As you read and explore each site/post, please consider and come prepared to share responses to the following questions at the meeting:
- What values of the humanities do you see these statements, projects, or sites communicating? (And what is missing?
- What key words, images, or ideas in these materials evoke those values and imply a definition of the humanities?
- How do you see “the humanities” defined in these materials?
As you think about the values of the humanities, you may also wish to review the bullet list defining “Basic Research in the Humanities” that was synthesized from a survey of UCSB humanities faculty by Alan Liu during the work of the UC Commission on the future. (See https://4humanities.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Basic-Research-in-the-Humanities.pdf)
Also: take a look at the results of the recent crowdsourced Allourideas poll run by 4Humanities, which harvested many suggestions for the value of the humanities: http://www.allourideas.org/4humanities/results .