Voices For the Humanities

4Humanities is a platform for people from different parts of society and the world to give voice to the enduring and contemporary importance of the humanities. Why study and creative expression in such areas as literature, history, languages, philosophy, classics, art history, cultural studies, and others (see “What Are the Humanities?”) so valuable to individuals and societies? The voices gathered here say why.

* 4Humanities seeks out both original and reposted statements about the humanities from people in business, the sciences, entertainment, universities, high schools, and other sectors. We also report on significant developments and initiatives related to the humanities.

* Listen to the voices in our sections on “Advocacy Statements & Campaigns,” “The Changing Humanities,” “Student Voices,” and “International Correspondents.”

* Also listen to the voices gathered in our special projects “Humanities, Plain & Simple” and “Backpack Mini-documentaries.”

For those wishing to consult resources in framing their own statement for the humanities, 4Humanities offers a “Guide to Issues in Humanities Advocacy” and its “The Humanities Matter!” infographic.

#libroelectrónico: What Mexico’s eBook Symposium Backchannel Tells Us

The “Second International Symposium The eBook in Spanish”, took place in Mexico City 11-14 September 2012. It was live streamed and the backchannel was active with the #libroelectronico or #libroelectrónico hashtags.

Nestor’s Semester

By Oeendrila Lahiri The Union Minister for Education, Mr Kapil Sibal, has been pushing for the ‘semester system’ in India. Earlier, the Delhi University, like all other undergraduate universities in the country, had three annual exams to assess the progress of students under a structure divided into Part I, Part II, and Part III. After […]

Active Citizenship and the Humanities: The Victorian Model

By Marcella Sutcliffe A recently funded AHRC project, carried out at the University of Cambridge, has provided a historical perspective to the current debates on the role of the humanities in civil society (http://www.hist.cam.ac.uk/research/research-projects/modern-british/active-citizenship ). It is in the mid-Victorian era that the belief in the civic value and moral power of the arts and humanities […]

Why Do the Humanities Matter? Answers from the 2002 St. Francis College Humanities Day

With permission from Professor Gregory F. Tague of St. Francis College, 4Humanties here republishes the keepsake brochure from the St. Francis College Humanities Day of February 7, 2002. The brochure is entitled, “Humanities in Action at St. Francis College: In the Spirit of Humanity: Why the Humanities Matter Today” [pdf],. It includes “reflections and observations” […]

Webinar on “The Global Crisis and Promise of Higher Ed” Co-sponsored by Kean U. and 4Humanities

The Kean University Faculty Seminar in partnership with 4Humanities will be running an online faculty and professional webinar series on “The Global Crisis and Promise of Higher Education” with eight video conference meetings September 2012 to May 2013. (See announcement flyer) Designed to be a think tank on changing directions in higher education, the webinar […]

Jerome J. McGann, “Memory Now”

« Italian translation of post » “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” —William Faulkner             In humanities research and education we speak of critics and scholars. Both, once upon a time, were understood to practice what was called philology, or in August Boeckh’s famous definition, Die Erkenntnis des Erkannten — “the knowledge of what […]

Call for “Humanities, Plain & Simple” Contributions

Dear Friends of the Humanities, Please consider contributing to an exciting 4Humanities campaign called “Humanities, Plain and Simple,”. This is a comprehensive and targeted project that calls out to individuals and groups inside and outside of academia to write statements, create short videos or audio recordings, produce eloquent photographs or drawings as to why the […]