Science Alone Can’t Solve Covid-19. The Humanities Must Help

In recent months world leaders have mobilized seemingly every technological resource at their disposal to stem the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic. Evidence and scientific opinion have gained newfound respect; decision makers have arguably become better at listening to scientists and following their directives.

But the virus has also exposed social problems that, by their very nature, go beyond science: deep-rooted health and social inequalities, a fractured political response, mental health challenges associated with home confinement. All this points to systemic issues that are broader than the immediate public health emergency. Here, science still has a role to play, but it is a supporting one to the humanities and social sciences.

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Image: Thomas de LUZE /Unsplash

Humanities skills for fluidity and possibility

Does the idea of having meaningful work become a form of pressure, and how do we navigate this?
How do we make decisions when we are faced with many options or passions?
What value does a humanities education have for the development of self, society and career?

This podcast explores these notions and more in an interview with Bridget Vincent, Professor of Literature at the University of Nottingham.

Professor Vincent founded the Australian Youth Humanities Forum.  She is also the author of the forthcoming Moral Authority in Seamus Heaney and Geoffrey Hill (Oxford University Press.

Listen here.

With thanks to Daniel Mostovac, Editor of False Summits. 

“The humanities may seem pointless, but that is the point”

“…The humanities should be studied for their own sake. One reads The Great Gatsby in order to enjoy the novel, to live within its imaginary world and to learn about our own world through its refracted image of the same. There is a sense in which the humanities are useless because they are not practical, at least not in a way that can be measured with statistics. They build up the human soul only indirectly and over the period of a lifetime (as any teacher who receives appreciative emails from students several years after their graduation could attest). This building up of the soul is often part of a spiritual birth or a political awakening…”

Santiago Ramos explores the notion of ‘utilitarian value’ and its precedence over the humanities and the need to refute this position.  Read more here

Published: November 04, 2019,  America: The Jesuit Review

5 Shakespeare Scholars on the Past, Present, and Future of Theater Amid COVID-19

A discussion between Emma Smith, James Shapiro, Jeffrey Wilson and Vanessa Corredera.  Moderated by Scott Newstok.

“It’s strange to think that on the day we began contemplating a roundtable to mark William Shakespeare’s 456th birthday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo created a containment zone in the city of New Rochelle, formerly the epicenter of the state’s coronavirus outbreak. We were on the eve of the pandemic declaration and approaching the day Broadway would go dark for the first time since 9/11. It became apparent that just as the death toll would rise, so too would there be consequences for the social and cultural fabrics that bind us to one another.

Briefly, the prospect of a conversation centered on the Bard seemed, at best, like a convenient escape. But the following discussion, between five scholars who have devoted their careers situating Shakespeare alongside issues of performance, education, identity, partisanship and more, feels uniquely primed to our moment. It is an essential guide to the possible futures of our collective engagement with theater…”

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First published on Literary Hub, April 23, 2020

Education in the time of COVID-19

Emily Levine and Matthew Rascoff look at the ‘new normal’ in higher education.

“…despite the challenges and instability facing learning institutions, and the personal interruptions of all our lives, learning is still happening -- perhaps more than ever. As in previous crises, it is happening in new ways and in different spaces, such as the conferencing system Zoom and the open learning platform Coursera. These moves may hold clues for possible directions for higher education after the pandemic subsides.”

Read more here