IMC 2024: Sessions
Session 1413: The Crisis in the Humanities: A View from Premodern Studies Institutes and Centres - A Round Table Discussion
Wednesday 3 July 2024, 19:00-20:00
| Sponsor: | Marco Institute for Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
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| Organiser: | Ryan T. Goodman, The Marco Institute, University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
| Moderator/Chair: | Ryan T. Goodman, The Marco Institute, University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
| Abstract | It is commonly accepted that the humanities are in crisis. While not necessarily a new phenomenon, the last decade in particular has seen a decline in humanities students, changes in university funding models, the defunding (or outright closure) of departments and programmes, and antagonism from political parties and legislatures on the local, regional/state, and national levels (not to mention within the university itself). And this crisis is not limited to one country: the same - or at least similar - crises have and continue to play out in the UK, the US, the EU, Australia, and beyond. In this round table, an international panel of faculty and staff from institutes and centres for premodern studies will discuss how the current multifaceted crisis in the humanities, and academia more widely, has affected institutes and centres for premodern studies 'on the ground'. The panel will further discuss our responses to this crisis thus far and ideas for how we might try to maintain and continue our missions moving forward into an uncertain future. Participants include Robert Gallagher (University of Kent), Marjorie Harrington (Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo), Kathleen Neal (Monash University, Victoria), and Simon Trafford (Institute of Historical Research, University of London). |