Announcing "The Future of the Humanities: A Think Tank"--they want collaborators!

Paul Jay, Gerald Graff and Greg Jay, co-editors, announce the launch of a new website called The Future of the Humanities: A Think Tank. Why this, and why now? While people have been debating the “crisis of the humanities” ever since their inception, it can be argued that a “tipping point” occurred over the last two years, highlighted by major sessions and reports from organizations such as the Modern Language Association and the American Historical Association (among others). The recession laid bare long-standing problems with the academic labor market and the graduate curriculum, while innovations in critical theory and the digital humanities continued to unsettle traditional institutional and intellectual formations. Meanwhile the defunding of public education accelerated, meaning that every discipline—not just the humanities—now faced the chopping block.

Bleak? Certainly. But, we’re encouraged by the way people in the humanities are mobilizing to actually deal with these problems. With you, we’ve observed a turn away from doom-and-gloom handwringing to the proliferation of innovative, creative proposals about things like reforming graduate education, training students for careers outside -- as well as inside -- academia, eliminating unfair labor practices, and mainstreaming the digital humanities. We like to think that the positive response to Paul and Jerry’s essay, “Fear of Being Useful” is another indicator that many people would like to discuss and debate productive ways to improve the academic practices of the humanities. As the digital revolution is so important to these changes, it is fitting we try out an online forum. We want this site to be collaborative: we welcome your submissions (send us your articles, essays, links, events, and comments) as well as your ideas about how the design and content of the site could be improved.