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humanities



  • The Hypocrisy (and Futility) of English-Only "Decolonization"

    by Eric Adler

    The peril the liberal arts face today is exemplified by calls to dislodge the centrality of "dead white men" from the curriculum; universities are happy to accept this as a cheap way to pander to diversity as they gut language requirements and departments that would enable students to have a deeper engagement with world cultures.



  • We Can't Accept a Vocational Training Model of College

    by Bret Devereaux

    Neither politicians nor students have any factual knowledge of which majors prepare students for the work force, but that hasn't stopped the institutional dismantling of the humanities and the elevation of the needs of corporations over those of the polity. 



  • Moral Panics Around the Humanities Reflect Long-Developing Paradigm Shift

    by Steven Mintz

    The ferocity of attacks on the humanities and academic research as "indoctrination" reflect the recent integration of ideas with long histories in academia into highly visible protest movements. Can humanists connect newer thinking to the established concerns of the humanities for understanding justice or the good life? 



  • How History Came to Matter

    by Steve Mintz

    Academic historians' worthy insistence on cultivating expertise and methodological rigor can't come at the expense of working to alter public understanding of the past now that the stakes of that understanding are so high. 



  • Is the Narrative Impulse Dangerous (Review)?

    by Timothy Snyder

    Jonathan Gottschall's book proposes that human intellect is a captive of the structure of stories. Reviewer Timothy Snyder is skeptical of his case. 



  • Good News for Humanities Funding?

    "While the prospect for robust funding looks better now than it has over the last four years, advocacy remains crucial to the task of making clear how the humanities connect to the challenges of our current moment."



  • ‘Whiteness’ and the Humanities

    by Simon During

    Trends in antiracist scholarship are not the cause of the crisis of the humanities, but a response to it. Resolving the impasse between tradition and revisionist scholarship can only come from outside the academy through action to secure the place of the humanities in the university curriculum of the future. 



  • College Cuts in the Green Mountain State

    by Dan Chiasson

    "Data-driven" decisions to cut programs in the humanities are based in unstated assumptions of value that point to a troubling direction in higher education. 



  • What Is College For?

    by Steven Mintz

    Two new books argue for a robust and engaged humanistic study as indispensable to higher education. 


  • The Decline of the Humanities and the Bleach-Drinking Epidemic

    by Lior Sternfeld and Mana Kia

    When Donald Trump hinted that injecting "disinfectants" could cure COVID-19, he was displaying a lack of critical thinking skill that is endemic in a society where learning is valued only in economic, rather than civic, terms.



  • Germany Enlists Humanities Scholars to End Coronavirus Lockdown

    Germany has done more than other nations to enlist the advice of philosophers, historians of science, theologians and jurists as it navigates the delicate ethical balancing act of reopening society while safeguarding the health of the public.