Can the Humanities Save Us From Ourselves?

National Humanities Center Events to Consider Perils and Promise of Humanities' Future

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., April 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As we think about what the future holds, the situation seems increasingly dire. Authoritarianism has been surging around the globe, the ravages of climate change appear to be accelerating, and we are confronted with ever-widening fractures among political, economic, and cultural groups.

What role might the humanities play in helping us address the challenges we face and find common ground? Can they help us forge a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable world? Is any of that even possible with humanities majors in decline and humanities insights being ignored and even attacked in some places?

On Tuesday, April 4, the National Humanities Center (NHC) will take up these and other questions with acclaimed author Amitav Ghosh (The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable; The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis); Shelly Lowe, chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities; and award-winning historian Nancy MacLean from Duke University. They will participate in a panel discussion on "Planning Inclusive Futures: The Next Decade of the Humanities," led by NHC President and Director Robert D. Newman at the National Humanities Center. Their discussion will be live streamed via the National Humanities Center's YouTube channel. Later that evening,  Amitav Ghosh will deliver a keynote address at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on the campus of North Carolina State University.

These events are part of the National Humanities Center's series "Restoring Our Vitality: The Heart of the Matter and the Future of the Humanities" presented jointly with the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, RTI International, North Carolina Humanities, Research Triangle Park, the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, North Carolina State University, and the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. This series of conversations, which has been held throughout the spring, celebrates the ten-year anniversary of the landmark Heart of the Matter report and reflects on the issues it raised a decade ago about the state of the humanities and social sciences in the United States. In addition, they have provided a forum for pondering both the current set of challenges facing humanities institutions and practices but also for imagining how we might forge a path forward using the humanities to build more innovative and resilient communities.

The National Humanities Center is the world's only independent institute dedicated exclusively to advanced study in all areas of the humanities. Through its residential fellowship program, the Center provides scholars with the resources necessary to generate new knowledge and to further understanding of all forms of cultural expression, social interaction, and human thought. Through its education programs, the Center strengthens teaching on the collegiate and pre-collegiate levels. Through public engagement intimately linked to its scholarly and educational programs, the Center promotes understanding of the humanities and advocates for their foundational role in a democratic society.

Media Contact:
Don Solomon, Director of Communications
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SOURCE National Humanities Center