The humanities, higher education, and academic freedom: Three necessary arguments—A forum

Abstract

We argue that the crisis in the humanities is not a crisis of content but of deprofessionalization and its consequences for academic freedom.

A mismatch: Why non-tenured teachers are ill-prepared to deal with the perceived job insecurity of students in the humanities

“…(Becher and Trowler, 2001) This development has brought us to the point that, as Berube argues, ‘the profession of college teaching has been hollowed out as full-time, tenure-track positions that have been converted to highly precarious positions that offer no possibility of tenure—which means, basically, all the job security of Wal-Mart or McDonald’s.' (Bérubé and Ruth, 2016) The New York Times headlined ‘The humanities job market is in crisis'. (Carey, 2020) Fewer and fewer tenure-track positions are available, but even for adjunct teaching positions, there is a lot of competition.…”

“…Without the humanities, democracy and therefore free society could not function properly. The rapidly accumulating literature in defence of the humanities (Brooks and Jewett, 2014; Bérubé and Ruth, 2016; Drees, 2021; Harpham, 2011; Miller, 2012; Nussbaum, 2016; Small, 2013; Sommer, 2013) without exception repeats these virtues of the humanities for the world and refers invariably to neo-liberal politics as the biggest threat to the discipline. Because it is argued that a dominant neoliberal discourse in higher education has led to New Managerialism, in which market language of costs, efficiencies, profits and competition has been chosen over moral and ethical values and the emphasis in education has shifted to practical applicability, success and optimization.…”

“I Try Not to Be a ‘Neutral Teacher’”: Teacher Identity Formation of Non-Tenured Early-Career Academics in the Humanities

“…Referring to an ongoing discussion about how the humanities have come under pressure from neoliberal policies that pursue a market-oriented model that functions, directly and indirectly, to serve global business interests. At the expense of learning about our identities as people, societies, and cultures, as well as how to organize our societies to make it a better and more just place (Hyslop-Margison and Leonard 2012;Small 2013;Nussbaum 2016;Bérubé and Ruth 2016). In this, it can be recognized that the higher purpose of humanities education, as described by the participants, goes far beyond the transfer of knowledge: "Teaching is about much more than passing on knowledge; it focuses on creating a safe and challenging learning environment in which students can grow in their role as directors of their own learning process."…”