The humanities will make many important contributions to the world, for sure, but there will be no arrival at a final destination, no resolution into a final perspective. But yet, to be a humanist is to be entranced by the analysis of those endless details, to be thrilled by uncovering successive layers of analysis.
Demolishers and Fabricators: A Post-Postmodern Fable
Demolishers seek to break down Systems. We turn our tools on all Ideologies, all Worldviews, and any other Big Ideas we are told we should conform to. We rip out the rugs of certainty, destabilize the comfortable, and reveal contingency
Some Ugly Truths I Wish I Knew Before Going into a PhD Program…. and 8 Tips for Surviving Them
Graduate school was for me, as I am sure it is for many, intellectually thrilling. It was a wonderful time of self-discovery and deep learning. I would do it all over again in a second. However, I also have to
Let’s Put More Humanity Into the Humanities! (A Manifesto)
It’s a false dichotomy that more kindness means less rigor. Empowered, healthy scholars who were mentoring and supporting each other as a collective would likely be much more rigorous than a collection of competitive individualists who are at each others’ throats.
Deconstruction is no longer enough… what else do we have in our toolbox?
We need to make clear that humanistic scholarship has an entire toolkit that we can employ in the classroom for the benefit of the widest number of students. Some of those are critical tools, but there are also vital tools for empowerment, empathy, and meaning-making.