THE
IMPACT
OF THE
HUMANITIES

It seems that the narrative of ‘crisis’ in the humanities is back, if indeed it ever went away. Everywhere we read highly politicised polemics on why we need fewer humanities graduates and why tax-payers’ money should be redirected to ‘useful’ subjects, such as maths and engineering. One report, released in September 2021, suggested that we should compel students to study the humanities to shore up undergraduate numbers.

We should encourage the study of the humanities, not because we want to see packed lecture halls (in many cases, this is fortunately still the case) but because the study of the humanities is critical to a full education and because the humanities matter.

They matter not only to economic growth (and numerous studies have shown that to be the case), but because they help us confront the critical challenges of the day. Indeed, they help us understand what it is to live a meaningful and purposeful life. A good education is not measured purely in the contribution it makes to our bank balances (although the humanities tell a good story here too); it gives us perspectives on the world, encourages an open and critical mind, and helps us to understand what it means to be alive, what it means to be human.

I often wonder why we are not more optimistic and more ambitious for the humanities; and it is to this mission that the School of Advanced Study will turn in the coming years.

Humanities and COVID-19

Contemporary debates are often hampered by an old-fashioned view of what the humanities are now and can be in the future. We are not (and have not been for some time) a set of stuffy disciplines researching increasingly obscure topics. Humanities research is dynamic, its boundaries porous, and its impacts significant and varied. Humanities researchers and medics collaborate widely in pursuit of the well-being agenda, for instance, while science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) researchers call on their humanities colleagues to frame discussions around responsible research and innovation. These connections will continue to grow and shape the university curriculum. Our own researchers here in the School have contributed to the identification of the loss of smell and taste as a symptom of COVID-19, as well as on how to stem the spread of anti-vaccine disinformation on social media. We should not allow STEM and SHAPE (the British Academy’s acronym ‘Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy’) to be presented as polar opposites – they are complementary and work together to solve the critical issues facing us all.

Engaging with the digital world

Humanities researchers are also engaging with the digital world in new and innovative ways. Our own Digital Humanities Hub is designing new research methods that will be needed by the next generation and using technologies to open up knowledge to wider audiences. Our researchers are part of a project with the Science Museum to bring the UK’s industrial heritage online as part of the £18.9m Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) investment working ‘Towards a National Collection’. Our training team is working to increase digital critical literacy and train early career scholars in new techniques and tools. And, of course, humanities scholars are active in debates over the human implications for increased machine learning and AI. There are important issues to resolve (what are the social and political implications of increasingly complex – and perhaps sinister – uses of our data?) and profound questions to confront (can we teach robots to love?) But we should not assume that access to new technologies is equal, and the School is an active campaigner to highlight the disparities of opportunity and advancement created by digital poverty.

Contemporary vision of humanities

All of this points to the fact the humanities are relevant and they matter: we study human behaviour and interactions, who we are and how we arrived here. They matter as we consider climate change, global mobility, social injustice, human rights, poverty, the values we hold, and what kind of society we want to be.

But as we articulate a contemporary vision of the humanities, we must not forget the value of studying the unfamiliar, what has gone before and is no more. There is an inherent benefit in introducing students and the public to the strangeness of the past, attempting to grapple with alien concepts and trying to understand them on their own terms rather than force them into a present frame. I started my scholarly journey as a medieval historian, and often developed my mind more when confronted by something that had no contemporary point of reference. It made me more inventive in pursuit of potential explanations. It was a way of thinking that has enriched my life ever since.

The future of the humanities

The School is proud to find itself at the heart of the debates over the future of the humanities. We enter them comforted by the knowledge that we are not alone in our passion for the arts, languages and cultures, history, literature, and classical study. Turn on the television and radio; scan podcast series; walk into a bookshop; go to the theatre, a local museum, library or gallery. The humanities continue to play a critical role in our children’s education and in fostering their imagination. They bring communities together in local projects. They are at the centre of contemporary debates over social justice, identities, and a fair society. The humanities are all around us and woven into the fabric of the everyday. So rather than becoming mired in pessimistic and unproductive debates over our future, let’s channel our energies into pursuing new knowledge that will make a real difference and celebrating the humanities confidently and proudly. Imagine what we might achieve if we do.

Professor Jo Fox is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research & Public Engagement) at the University of London, and Dean and Chief Executive of the University’s School of Advanced Study.