Project Title: Globalizing the Humanities: a study in theory, technique, and practice
Project Author: Mary Aldridge (Mesa)
Abstract: Write a concise summary with descriptive information about your project, location, time span, your relationship to it, etc. Include specific information-- since you have completed your project, your knowledge is valuable and can be shared with your colleagues.
In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet’s father notes, “O Hamlet, what a falling-off was there!” While he was not speaking of the current state of the Humanities in higher education, his words eerily reflect its current state. Indeed, as Ann Kirschner in “The Future of The Liberal Arts: Alma Mater in the Time of TiVo” writes, “It is the liberal arts that are most at risk now. If the rapidly expanding career colleges that are eagerly catering to the ‘new students’ with flexible and technologically advanced programs become the dominant role for the future, we will be saying goodbye to the liberal-arts education for all but the most privileged students” (3).
From 15 May to 23 July 2006, I researched the role of the humanities in a global curriculum. I interviewed faculty at New College Nottingham, Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin, and the Athlone Institute of Technology to ascertain the state of the humanities in their curriculum and in their classrooms. In addition, I interviewed students from select classes. I also attended classes and workshops, including the Dublin Writers Festival, to view the theories of the humanities in practice and to discover how writers view their role in a society that may not assign economic importance to their work.
I undertook this project to discover if and why the humanities are “falling-off” in England and in Ireland as they seem to be in the U.S. In addition, I wanted to see how globalization affects the humanities and how, and if, instructors are using the humanities to further globalization in the classroom and in the curriculum.
Outcomes: In a paragraph or two describe what worked well. Did you accomplish your objective(s)? Were you able to complete your summer project as written? If not, what did you modify and why? What did not go as well as expected, if anything? Were there any surprises? Note: Use the questions as guides for your outcomes. Do not include detailed list of workshops attended, speakers who presented, or a list of items you have seen, heard, or read.
For this project, I had four objectives. The first was to address particular research questions by using secondary sources; these questions included: 1. How do we rethink global universals in an age of global capitalism and cultural antagonism, and institutional change and transformation?, 2. How can the humanities influence globalization and the forces that are reframing personhood internationally?, 3. How are faculty in those cultures that are intimately part of globalization—in this case, members of the European Union—using the humanities to further globalization among their students? My second objective was to address these questions and others raised by the sources in interviews with faculty at universities and at colleges that are the equivalent to the community college in the United States. My third objective was to use student observation in the classroom and student interviews outside of the classroom to address the role of the humanities in the classroom, the world, and their lives. My final objective was to apply the secondary research, faculty and student interviews, and classroom observation to primary materials in the disciplines of art, music, film, and literature.
For the most part, all aspects of this project worked well. I did revise tasks and outcomes as my focus changed with the information I gleaned from secondary sources or discussions with faculty and students. I had opportunities that I had not previously anticipated that augmented the knowledge I was obtaining through my research. One such opportunity was my attendance at the Dublin Writer’s Festival. During a discussion with Roddy Doyle, an Irish author of works such as The Commitments, Paddy Clarke, Ha, Ha, Ha, and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, he addressed the changing demographic of Ireland, in particular of Dublin. Ireland has, in the last decade or so, experienced an economic boom and an influx of immigrants. This is an unfamiliar situation for the Irish as they are accustomed to emigration, not immigration. Doyle commented that the Dublin of his works is not the Dublin he inhabits today. Dublin is now home to a large Eastern European population, particularly a Polish population. Doyle commented that “the new Dubliners are not [his] audience nor are they [his] subject.” They have not experienced the Dublin of his characters, which are largely based on people he encountered while growing up. His words, in some sense, encapsulate the problems inherent in globalization and the humanities. The demographic of the university and college classroom is changing. The problems were reiterated by faculty at various universities and colleges.
There are other trends that faculty commonly cited as threats to the humanities, including culture wars and identity politics. Some of those issues raise real concerns. For instance, the culture wars include sharp critiques of curriculum, usually along the lines that we have fallen away from some golden age of a core that taught the verities of Western civilization. In fact, the supposed core has always evolved, the golden age was not really that golden, and there are parts of Western civ that fall short of pure veritas. There are, however, serious problems in today’s curriculum. Not every course in the catalog should or can discuss every permutation of race, gender, and sexual preference. Not every professor specializing in an obscure corner of scholarly life needs to teach a course reflecting his singular interest, as if to replicate the thickest university catalog.
Likewise, some faculty pointed to the threat of various forms of electronic teaching. In terms of convenience and cost, but probably not effectiveness, the prospect of going to class by television or computer is an attractive one. The faculty in England and Ireland expressed concerns about using distance education in the field of the humanities. They struggle, as some of the faculty in the U.S. do, with the problems of bridging the gaps left without face to face interaction. Many of them view distance education as something left to occupational areas.
Many faculty, and students, indicated that the most serious threats to the humanities are not the battles of ideology or the shifts of technology, although the latter will have some indirect effects. In a market-driven world, the primary threat to a humanities based education is found in the marketplace. Many of the market forces are beyond the influence of individual schools or even whole categories of schools. They include demographic, economic, and geographic shifts; cultural trends, including materialism and utilitarianism; and the dominance of market economics as a determining force. There is also the effect of student consumerism. Students and their families have defined undergraduate education in starkly utilitarian terms. Many traditional-aged students do not go to college to become fuller persons, better citizens, or more lively intellects. In the United States and increasingly in the booming economy of Ireland, college education is justified by the additional lifetime income it will produce. Some of this has reflected the booming economy and competitive market orientation of the postwar years. Some of it has reflected the outright materialism that came with growing affluence. Some of it, perversely, was created by higher education itself. Pushing forward to attract and satisfy those consumers/ students also pushed up costs, and whether the price was borne in cash or prolonged loan payments, the resulting second thoughts of the payers leaned strongly to the economics of life. Those who paid had grown up in the depression, when security became intertwined with employment, and this echoed into the years as a demand that their children pursue “something better,” especially better than a manual skill, but still “something you can use,” which meant use to economic benefit. Materialism brought a parallel development. Colleges espoused old images of opening up broad new worlds for students. The students, it turns out, began to focus on themselves instead. College was their chance to discover their career and other personal interests, and maybe to dabble in some self-exploration as well, both in class and out.
The similarities between U.S. colleges and those in England and Ireland surprised me. I had a rather naïve view of higher education in those countries. As I have visited them, I have always noted that literature, art, and music seemed to be important to the everyday person. Bookstores display great works of literature instead of self-help books. However, when talking to faculty and students, I found that globalization has given birth to an emphasis on economics. Students are finding it difficult to accept the humanities as part of an education that will improve their economic gain. It was also surprising to find that the college that are roughly the equivalents to U.S. community colleges do not have Humanities curriculum. The Humanities are monopolized by the universities. This, in turn, means that part of the population will not be given an opportunity to have a more humanistic education; it is not viewed as essential for those who will not follow a university path to graduate school.
While I was largely able to complete most of the project as written, I did not have adequate time to apply what I learned to as many primary sources as I hoped. However, this can be accomplished on my own as I incorporate my findings inside and outside of the classroom.
Professional Growth: Your own professional growth is a large part of your project. Your professional growth is important to you, your students, your college, and possibly other colleagues. How did project affect you professionally? What skills did you learn? What environments were you working in and how might your summer project influence your teaching or other responsibilities? Did you gain a different perspective? Was it professionally valuable for you?
My professional and personal growth exceeded my expectations. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of this project was my interaction with faculty from England and Ireland. I learned that they face many of the same difficulties that we do, or they are beginning to face them. While speaking with them and with students, I discovered that the evolution of the humanities in a more global community is inevitable and unstoppable. New ways of defining and delivering the content of these courses is essential to the survival of a humanistic education. In addition, I gained a better understanding of how economics, demographics, and technology are affecting the humanities and education. This helped me to understand how these changes affect different genres and how these changes can be used to refigure our view of the humanities’ role in education and in society. In English, English Humanities, and the Humanities, we often discuss the concerns and complications of teaching related materials and ideas about and in a diverse culture. This project has enabled me to be more fluent in my treatment of these topics and has assisted me in my roles as Chair of the English Humanities committee and as an instructor in MCC’s Study Abroad in Ireland and Study Abroad in Britain programs. These roles require me to address learning within a diverse society and to address the role of multiculturalism. The English Humanities committee is also focused on ways to better serve our students by reexamining our curricula and our course offerings. I now have a better understanding of how other faculty use the humanities to in their classroom. I can also benefit students as I will be able to introduce them to a new ways of thinking about the humanities and society as we apply the elements of globalization to specific examples in the humanities and the elements of the humanities to globalization in the classroom.
If I am to continue to discuss, teach, and publish in the humanities, it is essential that I address major changes that affect both the works we choose to teach and how we choose to discuss these works. As part of the Study Abroad in Ireland and of the Study Abroad in Britain, I am responsible for helping students to understand how the literature, art, music, and ideas of another culture can be both specific and universal. In addition, I hope to make students aware of the importance of these genres to everyday life.
This project certainly changed my perspective on the effects of globalization and made me more knowledgeable in several areas concerning globalization, the humanities, teaching, and interdisciplinary studies, thus making me a more proficient instructor. I am more aware of how the subjects and materials we teach can and must evolve in a more global society.
Dissemination: How will you share this information with your colleagues, department, students, or college?
I will share the knowledge I obtained from this project with students in several of my courses. I will share it with students not only in Irish or British literature courses, but in Children’s Literature, as we discuss multiculturalism and diversity, in Freshman Composition as we deal with issues of globalization, and certainly in Humanities courses as we discuss art, literature, film, music, religion, and philosophy throughout Europe and the rest of the world. In addition, I will share this information with students and colleagues through an International Education Dialogue Day and through a Humanities Current Issues Forum panel discussion. Finally, I will share this information with the Humanities committee in the English Department as we revisit our curriculum and the outcomes we hope for students to achieve in our courses.
For more information about this project, check out the "package" in the Maricopa Learning eXchange:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/mlx/slip.php?item=01865