RSS Parrot

Public Humanities, Then and Now

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.51?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: January 8, 2025 00:00

This essay considers how the nineteenth-century idea of the university as a refuge, constructed by thinkers like John Henry Newman, continues to shape contemporary universities and the field of public humanities. This vision of the university has lasting…

Against Hope Labour in the Public Humanities

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.30?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: January 8, 2025 00:00

This article argues that the number of tenure-line academic positions has been shrinking for decades, and that non-tenure track workers are being asked to do more un- and under-compensated publishing, editing, and peer review labour this labour. This is…

“The Public Practice of Humanity”: How Antislavery Writing Matters Now

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.40?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 23, 2024 00:00

Henry David Thoreau and Frances E. W. Harper offer a historical model for the public humanities grounded in racial justice and moral education. For both Thoreau and Harper, the “public practice of humanity” that Thoreau identifies in “A Plea for Captain…

Can Chatbots Be Authentic?

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.29?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 23, 2024 00:00

With recent leaps in large language model technology, conversational AI offer increasingly sophisticated interactions. But is it fair to say that they can offer authentic relationships, perhaps even assuage the loneliness epidemic? In answering this…

Humanities Decline in Darkness: How Humanities Research Funding Works

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.39?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 23, 2024 00:00

Humanities research is underfunded, and the institutional sources and intellectual effects of this underfunding are insufficiently appreciated. The paper gives an example of the negative effects of a humanities discipline’s lack of research infrastructure…

Ten Years of Being Human

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.37?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 23, 2024 00:00

The Being Human Festival, celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2024, is the UK’s national humanities research festival, held every November to engage local communities with creative and participatory events that are free to attend. Over its first decade,…

Why European Social Sciences and Humanities Advocacy Matters

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.49?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 23, 2024 00:00

This article highlights the importance of European scientists, particularly in the social sciences and humanities, in shaping global research policies through active advocacy in science policy. The European Union (EU) is a significant transnational…

Public Humanities Before Public Humanities

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.45?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 19, 2024 00:00

This article makes the case for unearthing a long history of public humanities. The story begins with the very emergence of universities in the United States and continues through key moments where people of color and Indigenous people have shaped the…

What Can the Public Humanities Learn about Impact from the Environmental Humanities?

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.36?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 19, 2024 00:00

We present two examples of how the environmental humanities have built bridges with governments and made effective policy interventions. Lessons can be drawn about how public humanities can help develop social and cultural understanding and societal…

Look Back to Live Ahead: Connecting the Power of Museums and Journalism for a Stronger Democracy

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.50?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 19, 2024 00:00

Museums and news organizations make up major parts of the structure that maintains an informed community essential to democracy. As resources for both of these institutions dwindle, it’s more important than ever for these sectors to work together toward…

The Birth and the Unanticipated Evolution of the Public History Movement

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.11?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 19, 2024 00:00

The public history movement in North America that was born amid the academic job crisis of the late 1970s aspired to a radical reformation of professional history’s audience from an inward focused conversation among professionals to one working with…

The Corruption of “Corruption”

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.43?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 19, 2024 00:00

Our contemporary understanding of political corruption draws from two different sources, a modern view that corruption occurs where officials follow improper procedures and a more ancient view of corruption as a systemic failure to live up to political…

Sparking Freedom: Enslaved Resistance in Fredericksburg and Stafford, Virginia

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.44?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 2, 2024 00:00

Inspired in large part by the author’s residence on the grounds of a former plantation in Stafford County, Virginia, Sparking Freedom highlights local stories of enslaved resistance. The program incorporates stops at multiple National Park Service sites,…

“Embodying” the Intellectual: Edward Said, Public Sphere and the University

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.34?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: December 2, 2024 00:00

This essay delves into a pivotal incident where Edward Said’s Palestinian identity collided with entrenched conservative American values, revealing the dichotomy of his dual role as a Columbia University professor and outspoken advocate for Palestinian…

Supporting Public Humanities at the Critical Intersections: An Imagining America Manifesto

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.32?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 26, 2024 00:00

Drawing upon findings from an Imagining America research project funded by the Mellon Foundation (2019–2023), this research paper and manifesto proposes five critical ways in which institutions of higher education can better support public humanities.…

Infrastructures of Repair

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.33?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 25, 2024 00:00

The future of public humanities will be determined by the infrastructural investments that support its continued development. These include, in the context of the United States, increased federal funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities; a…

As Eidolon Lay Dying

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.35?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 21, 2024 00:00

I ran the online classics publication Eidolon from 2015 to 2020. Eidolon sought to make Classics “personal and political, feminist and fun,” publishing more than 500 articles and receiving 3 million total views in its five years of active existence.…

Querying Public Scholarship: An Unfinished List of Questions toward More Meaningful University–Community Partnerships

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.22?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 8, 2024 00:00

How do we do public scholarship? It might seem like a simple question, but as anyone who has attempted to experiment with academic norms—let alone work collaboratively in and through institutional regulations, cultural expectations, and diverse…

Weaponized Virality: The Harris Campaign’s TikTok Dramaturgy

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.28?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 7, 2024 00:00

Kamala Harris is the first American Presidential Candidate to understand TikTok. Both her personal feed and campaign feed demonstrate this understanding. This essay will unpack what it means to create TikTok native content, and how Harris is doing so on…

1823: A Year in the Afterlife of Shakespeare and Milton

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.14?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 7, 2024 00:00

In 1823, the first edition of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the manuscript of John Milton’s theological work De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Doctrine) were both discovered after having been lost to history for centuries. These literary discoveries…

Why Study the Humanities When People Are Dying?

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.15?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 7, 2024 00:00

Lately, my students have been asking: “Why should we be here, when there are people suffering out there?” Evidently, they are asking about the public value of higher education. But they are also asking old questions, some of the oldest that human beings…

The Invisibility of Sudan’s Civil War

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.20?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 7, 2024 00:00

The civil war in Sudan, often overshadowed by other global conflicts, has deep roots in the country’s colonial past and ongoing struggles with governance. Despite early hopes for democracy, the situation deteriorated, leading to widespread violence and…

The Necessity of Public Writing

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.9?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 7, 2024 00:00

Researchers need to reach a new academic normal in which virtually every piece of scholar-facing humanities work generates a public-facing writing component. This essay recounts interactions with a colleague who, in a curriculum meeting, described public…

Stew: Professor of Punk Rock and Musical Theater

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.4?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 7, 2024 00:00

Stew (born Mark Stewart) is a punk rocker and musical theater writer and performer. This profile combines new interviews of Stew with an analysis of his Tony Award-winning musical Passing Strange, which was recently revived in the West End, to illuminate…

An Interview with National Leaders in the Arts and Humanities

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.12?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) has played a significant role in American government since its establishment by President Reagan in 1982. Although not part of the President’s Cabinet, the PCAH serves as an advisory body…

How to Prepare Faculty and Graduate Students for Public Humanities Leadership

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.8?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

Graduate career development has grown over recent years with increasing interest in public scholarship and career diversity. In interviews with 41 public humanities leaders, participants agreed that public humanities introduces students to various career…

Designing the Virtual Museum with Animal Crossing: New Horizons

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.2?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

In the 2020 video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the player builds the collection of the impressive Animal Crossing Museum (ACM). Exploring the visitor experience of this video game museum’s art wing from the perspective of museum professionals allows…

Publishing the Public Humanities

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.21?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

This article argues that university presses are key partners in supporting and promoting the public humanities. The article offers numerous examples.

Licking Milk Cans and Smashing Car Windows on Tape: On the Influence of Feminist Video Art on Today’s Pop Stars and the Framing of the Female Gaze in Public Discourse

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.10?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

The essay aims at discussing visual arts and gender issues, with specific reference to models for female empowerment by means of aesthetic paradigm shifts. These took place thanks to pioneering video artists in the 1990s and were then upheld by new…

Above the Law: From Medieval England to Trump v. the United States

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.16?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

There is nothing unprecedented about prosecuting Donald Trump. While it’s certainly true that no president has (yet) to be indicted, if we look at to the long stretch of English political-legal history, we find many precedents. Because what happened in…

Democracy Ancient and Modern?

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.5?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

The idea that democracy is in crisis is nothing new; ancient Greek commentators like Plato and Thucydides argued that political instability was baked into democracy as a regime type. Can examples drawn from classical Athens make a useful contribution to…

What Is Democracy?

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.17?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

Modern democracies, including the United States, rely upon three normative elements: (1) rights expressing the dignity of the citizen; (2) law expressing a commitment to public reason; (3) elections as the method of selecting representatives. In each…

Securing the Future of the Humanities

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.3?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

A decade ago, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences published The Heart of the Matter report to much acclaim. But what has been the impact of such a high-minded report? In the decade since its publication, we have seen a prevailing anti-humanities…

The Saffronization of Public Knowledge in India

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.19?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

During the political regime of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), public knowledge in India has been tarnished with political colors. The BJP has used the color saffron, which is closely associated with the Indian National Flag, as a sociopolitical tool to…

Black Studies and Public Humanities

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.27?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

This essay brings Black Studies, now commonly referred to as Africana Studies, further into the public humanities dialogue. Scholars in the public humanities field are urging a practice of humanities that is collaborative and committed to racial and social…

In the Belly of the Beast: Service and the Future of the Public Humanities

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.24?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

In this piece we argue for the revolutionary power of collective and collaborative work through the most maligned aspect of academic labour: service. The co-authors are the heads of academic units at Concordia University, who in fall 2023 organized a…

Life and Fate and the Public Humanities in the Age of AI

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.7?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

In his novel Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman imagines that we will one day engineer an artificial intelligence that will mimic humans in every way. In order to reproduce “the peculiarities of mind and soul of an average, inconspicuous human being,” however,…

Teaching the Humanities for the Future Public

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.6?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

This manifesto is a case study of a new method of configuring Humanities wisdom. Following the 2008 financial crisis, students and parents questioned the value of Humanities disciplines in relation to debt and future employment prospects. The experiment…

“But What If I Can’t Imagine That?”: Rethinking and Redefining Empathy

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.23?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

As an African American deeply impacted by the personal and communal trauma from the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and alleged “racial reckoning” that took place globally immediately thereafter, I have personally wrestled with the responses of…

What Is Public Humanities?

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.25?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

Public humanities happens whenever humanities scholarship interacts with public life. Providing a 10-point typology of public humanities, this article explains why we need the humanities – as individuals and as societies – and narrates some moments when…

Fringe Consumers

https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/pub.2024.13?rft_dat=source%3Ddrss

Published: November 4, 2024 00:00

We all consume the humanities through our engagement with the cultural, creative, and historical materials that influence our views on ourselves, others, and the world around us. However, can consumers also be considered humanists? We argue the answer is…