Are we in a crisis of the humanities?

In the last decade, many countries’ politics have become
dominated by questions of culture, history, and public
morality. In the United States, questions such as: ‘What is
the date of the United States’ “true” foundation?’, ‘How can
societies address historical and ongoing racist
oppression?’, or: ‘Should the state be weaponized against
the liberation and the existence of queer people?’ are now
subjects of front-line political debate.

But it is a strange irony that, in this era of ‘the culture wars’,
when questions of culture are at the forefront of our
politics, the fields that dedicate themselves to the study of
culture – the humanities – find themselves in an existential
crisis of social legitimacy. Enrollments are declining,
funding being withdrawn, teaching and research jobs
becoming increasingly precarious and scarce, entire
healthy departments being shut down. Teachers and
academics find themselves attacked both by front-rank
politicians and by far-right ‘parents’ groups’. The
knowledge produced by the humanities is dismissed and
falsified; the habits of mind they cultivate are feared and
traduced.

At the same time, we are struck by what we feel is an
emerging consensus among a new generation of scholars
and writers – a consensus that the point of a politically
engaged humanities is not merely to produce ever more
and better analysis of our cultural and political situation,
but to actively intervene in that situation.

Participants in the three-hour conversation will explore the
scope of what many call a crisis of the humanities and how
we may n move forward from here.

Attendance fee

For further information email to: klaus.benesch@lmu.de