2 weeks ago
23
The
humanities
were once at the core of the university. Exposure to the arts,
literature
, history, religion and philosophy were not marginal pursuits, they were the substance of a true education.
Even in a world that prizes science, technology, maths and engineering, the value of a broad and
humane education
is becoming more and more apparent. "Employers say they're looking for writing skills, above all," said Robert D Newman, president of the National Humanities Center in North Carolina, who is visiting India.
The humanities matter, not just as an instrument - a skill in a corporate career - they matter because they encourage deeper contemplation, "and there's no contradiction between the two," he said.
The Center, founded in 1978, is a hub for
multidisciplinary humanities
research, modelled on the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton. It offers highly selective fellowships to scholars working on "cutting-edge, world-changing" issues, says Newman. Many of them have gone on to win academic prizes, National Book Awards and Pulitzer Prizes for work facilitated by the Center. And for the first time in the institution's history, the president is visiting India, to boost applications and find a scholar who can both contribute to the institution and build bridges with the humanities community here. He stressed on the need for a diversity of experiences to enrich scholarship. He was accompanied by the Center's vice-chairman Rishi Jaitly, a prominent technology executive with a passion for the humanities, who has also founded an executive leadership program at Virginia Tech built around history, philosophy, literature, religion and art. They visited Indian campuses like IIT Bombay, Ashoka University and Delhi University.
The humanities-oriented 'fuzzies' matter as much as the techies, said Jaitly, drawing on his own experience in the tech industry. It's about being a 'full-stack human', he said, able to draw on many kinds of intelligence to solve a problem or understand a situation holistically. "Education that fuels meaning-making," is a window into the world. "A more mindful and other-oriented" approach, the capacity to tell a story, are critical skills in the workplace too, he said. The humanities also make for supple, lifelong learners, who can keep up when the discourse shifts from Web 2 to Web 3 in recent years to generative AI now and possibly quantum tech or gene editing in the future, he said. At a time when campuses are political battlegrounds, and the humanities have been singled out for being too political, Newman strongly defended their role of critique and free inquiry. "That's what they're meant to do, to question the status quo. They're asking questions, and anyone who calls that politically motivated has their own political agenda. The humanities are meant to encourage multiple perspectives, conservative or liberal - there is no set agenda," he said.
English (US) ·