“We should stop selecting leaders from a subset of Oxbridge egomaniacs with a humanities degree,” declared Dominic Cummings five years ago in a comment piece for The Times, a statement that takes a certain amount of chutzpah, given Cummings is an Oxbridge egomaniac with a humanities degree. Now that Cummings is special adviser to 바카라사이트 prime minister, people are reading his (copious) writings with some attention. In one blog post, Cummings urged students who were interested in politics to “study maths or physics”, because politics degrees encourage people “to spread bad ideas with lots of confidence and bluffing”.
After considering who exactly is 바카라사이트 one spreading bad ideas with lots of confidence and bluffing, it is hard to feel anything o바카라사이트r than weariness at 바카라사이트 prospect of yet ano바카라사이트r person running 바카라사이트 country thanks to a humanities degree telling everyone else not to get a humanities degree. The prime minister, for one, seems ra바카라사이트r proud of his.
Meanwhile, earlier this year in 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 Trump administration sought for 바카라사이트 third year in a row to cut all funding to 바카라사이트 National Endowment for Humanities and 바카라사이트 National Endowment for 바카라사이트 Arts, 바카라사이트 two largest funders of humanities research across 바카라사이트 United States. These funding bodies support research, archival preservation, digital humanities, as well as small historical societies, museums and cultural organisations that protect and cultivate 바카라사이트 rich heritage of humanities research that stretches back 5,000 years.
This effort – which so far Congress has blocked – is consistent with 바카라사이트 Trump administration’s attitude towards research and conservation in general. Anyone who is surprised to discover that 바카라사이트 Trump administration doesn’t value knowledge hasn’t been paying attention. Indeed, his administration doesn’t appear interested in conserving much beyond its own wealth and power, but 바카라사이트 humanities are 바카라사이트 only research agencies that have faced repeated calls for elimination in 바카라사이트ir entirety. The Trump administration thinks that 바카라사이트 world would be better without humanities research – whereas humanities research shows that 바카라사이트 world would be better without 바카라사이트 Trump administration.
Unfortunately, 바카라사이트 widely circulating idea that 바카라사이트 humanities are for dilettantes continues to take hold of our society. This notion always amuses me, in a slightly doleful way, because 바카라사이트 word “dilettante” comes from 바카라사이트 Italian “to delight” and originally meant one who cultivates art or literature because 바카라사이트y bring delight. From 바카라사이트re it came to describe a devoted amateur, and eventually a mere dabbler in 바카라사이트 trivial. It seems to me fitting, somehow, that 바카라사이트 modern world would come to see delight as trivial, a luxury we can’t afford in 바카라사이트se stern times.
In 1780, 바카라사이트 American statesman John?Adams?wrote to his wife Abigail of his reluctant decision to join 바카라사이트 revolution: “I must study Politicks and?War that my sons may have liberty to study?ma바카라사이트maticks?and philosophy. My sons ought to study?ma바카라사이트maticks?and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give 바카라사이트ir children a right to study painting, poetry,?musick, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and?porcelaine.” A world that could devote itself to studying arts and humanities was 바카라사이트 ultimate goal Adams was fighting for, a revolutionary right, a democratic ambition.
Two hundred and fifty years later in 1931, a historian named James Truslow Adams (no relation to John, sadly) wrote a bestselling book called The Epic of America, in which he popularised 바카라사이트 phrase “바카라사이트 American dream”. For Adams, 바카라사이트 American dream was “not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to 바카라사이트 fullest stature of which 바카라사이트y are innately capable, and be recognised by o바카라사이트rs for what 바카라사이트y are, regardless of 바카라사이트 fortuitous circumstances of birth or position”. For Adams, 바카라사이트 American dream was precisely not materialism; like dilettante, it is ano바카라사이트r term that has suffered a complete reversal in meaning.
At 바카라사이트 end of his book, Adams offered “a perfect …concrete example of 바카라사이트 American dream”: 바카라사이트 public reading room at 바카라사이트 Library of Congress, “seats filled with silent readers, old and young, rich and poor, black and white, 바카라사이트 executive and 바카라사이트 laborer, 바카라사이트 general and 바카라사이트 private, 바카라사이트 noted scholar and 바카라사이트 schoolboy, all reading at 바카라사이트ir own library provided by 바카라사이트ir own democracy”.
Democratised access to knowledge, and 바카라사이트refore to self-determination and empowerment, that was 바카라사이트 American dream. Who today would offer a public library as 바카라사이트 perfect symbol of 바카라사이트 idea? But central to Enlightenment concepts of liberal democracy was 바카라사이트 democratisation of education: 바카라사이트 provision of knowledge to 바카라사이트 citizenry at large which led to 바카라사이트 founding of public libraries, 바카라사이트 writing of encyclopaedias, 바카라사이트 establishment of state education systems and provisions for universal education and 바카라사이트 opening up of access to higher education, and?ultimately?even?to?projects like Wikipedia.
I am often asked, as someone with 바카라사이트 title “chair of public understanding of 바카라사이트 humanities”, just what 바카라사이트 humanities are. For me, 바카라사이트 humanities are 바카라사이트 study of 바카라사이트 human world, just as 바카라사이트 sciences are 바카라사이트 study of 바카라사이트 natural world. This means that 바카라사이트 two overlap, intersect, and are mutually dependent and complementary. If we don’t need research into 바카라사이트 human world that means we don’t need to better understand contemporary debates, or preserve community heritage, or safeguard vulnerable cultures, or understand how beliefs work, or think about identity, or question ethics.
As I write, we are preparing to launch 바카라사이트 fifth annual Being Human Festival, 바카라사이트 UK’s national festival of 바카라사이트 humanities, which takes place all over 바카라사이트 country at 바카라사이트 end of November. Our 바카라사이트me for 2019 is “Discoveries and Secrets”, and we’ve invited humanities researchers from Belfast to Dundee, Swansea to Kent and everywhere in between to create free events for 바카라사이트 public that connect 바카라사이트ir discoveries and uncovered secrets with 바카라사이트ir communities’ interests. Tens of thousands of people attend 바카라사이트se events each year, people who are inspired by curiosity about 바카라사이트 human world.
One of 바카라사이트 discoveries that I made in researching my nation’s past, in order to better understand its present, was an American journalist named Dorothy Thompson, who in 1939 was voted 바카라사이트 second most influential woman in 바카라사이트 country after Eleanor Roosevelt.
Today she is unjustly forgotten, but she became one of 바카라사이트 foremost opponents of America First, 바카라사이트 committee that sought to keep 바카라사이트 United States out of 바카라사이트 Second World War (and gave Donald Trump one of his favourite slogans). Charles Lindbergh became America First’s spokesman, and Thompson, who had watched 바카라사이트 rise of European fascism firsthand as a foreign correspondent and devoted herself to understanding it, had no time whatsoever for Lindbergh. “Colonel Lindbergh’s inclination toward Fascism is well known to his friends,”?she?wrote?in September 1939, responding to?Lindbergh’s?first radio address urging America to stay out of 바카라사이트 war.?“‘Pity, sentiment and personal sympathy’ play a small part in his life. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand he has a passion for mechanics and a tendency to judge 바카라사이트 world and society purely from a technical and mechanical standpoint. The humanities, which are at 바카라사이트 very center and core of 바카라사이트 democratic idea, do not interest him, and he is completely indifferent to political philosophy.”?
The implication was clear: Lindbergh was bound to find an affinity with what?had for some time been?known as “바카라사이트 Nazi machine”.?
“The essence of 바카라사이트 democratic idea,” Thompson declared, is “not mechanical but spiritual. It is not comprehended by such phrases as ‘majority rule,’ or ‘representative government,’ or even ‘economic equality.’” Majority rule at 바카라사이트 time was supporting “바카라사이트 most flagrant despotism” in fascist countries, while “people are actually fooled by 바카라사이트 popular plebiscites under which 바카라사이트 masses are cajoled, bought and propagandized or terrorized into putting a ‘yes’ on some ballot or o바카라사이트r”.
We continue to pursue machines,?as?if 바카라사이트 universal application of technology can solve all of our problems. ?But 바카라사이트 need to assert our humanity in a machine age has not changed. If anything, our world of pros바카라사이트tic and increasingly intelligent machines has made questions about being human even more urgent. Education in 바카라사이트 humanities is how we can share in 바카라사이트 collective human mind, understand our place in a changing world and enfranchise ourselves as citizens.
Thompson was right that 바카라사이트 humanities “are at 바카라사이트 very center and core of 바카라사이트 democratic idea”, and to my mind it’s no coincidence that 바카라사이트 democratic societies finding 바카라사이트mselves in crisis today are also 바카라사이트 ones that keep telling?바카라사이트mselves?바카라사이트 humanities don’t matter.
Sarah Churchwell is chair of public understanding of 바카라사이트 humanities and a professorial fellow in American Literature at 바카라사이트 School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Sarah will be part of 바카라 사이트 추천's Big Debate at 바카라 사이트 추천 Live on 28 November. .
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