These must be truly apocalyptic times if there is a need to explain why the humanities matter. Theodor Adorno’s famous phrase, “no poetry after Auschwitz”, comes to mind, as well as Walter Benjamin’s idea that there was no document of culture that was not as well a document of barbarism. Adorno was a humanist reflecting […]
All posts by Alan Liu
“This Democracy Needs Humanities”
Photo coverage by Melissa Ho of student protests in England against government plans to cut funding for higher education on a massive scale, November 12, 2010 (used by permission). For other photos of the demonstrations, see Melissa’s Flickr photostream.
Cathy Davidson: “Information Age Without the Humanities = Industrial Revolution Without Steam Engine”
The following is a statement posted on January 24, 2010, by Cathy N. Davidson, co-founder of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory), on her HASTAC blog. [Excerpt]: The World Wide Web is the steam engine of the Information Age. And without the humanities, virtually everything about the World Wide Web is a muddle. […]
“Humanities Matter” Petition in the U.K.
An initiative in the United Kingdom launches a petition drive to urge the British government, now planning to cut government funding to higher education by 80%, to recognize that the humanities and social sciences are a public good. Without a serious commitment to the Humanities and Social Sciences, our society will lack a serious commitment […]
James Rovira: An Instructor’s Ground-Level Defense of the Humanities to Students
James Rovira is an Assistant Professor of English at Tiffin University in Ohio. The following is a slightly revised version of a post he made to the Humanist list on October 29, 2010. [Excerpt] I currently teach in a university in which 90% of its students are either Business or Criminal Justice majors. I don’t […]
Andrew Prescott: Can the digital humanities help advocate for the humanities?
Andrew Prescott, Professor and Director of Research at the Humanities and Advanced Technology and Information Institute, University of Glasgow, originally sent this letter to the Humanist Discussion Group on October 23, 2010. (See original archived post.) The letter, which helped inspire the creation of 4Humanities, calls for the digital humanities community to support the cause […]
Advocacy statements, examples of the importance of the humanities, news about the humanities, and scholarship or studies about the past, present, and future of the humanities. We provide here a platform for the advocacy of research, teaching, innovation, and creative renewal in the history, language, literature, philosophy, the study of cultures, and other areas that […]