Are you a Humanities person?

Why don’t most schools offer the Humanities stream? It is ever expanding, intellectually exciting, and reflects on everyday issues of culture and society. Reasons enough to pursue the discipline?

September 03, 2012 08:19 pm | Updated December 04, 2021 11:14 pm IST

THE DRAMA OF LIFE and the knowledge of it, humanities is a fascinating study. Photo: M. Vedhan

THE DRAMA OF LIFE and the knowledge of it, humanities is a fascinating study. Photo: M. Vedhan

The “humanities” are typically characterised in three ways. The first involves a definition by negation, no doubt familiar to many of us in India: Humanities is all that is not engineering, a nebulous etcetera of “other” disciplines. A somewhat gentler, more charitable version of this: Humanities is a set of disciplines that pursue a non-scientific (hence, irrational, intuitive) path of enquiry. But this too is definition by negation. This first approach is partly responsible for the gendering of the humanities and its unfortunate marginalisation.

The second approach to the humanities involves a neutral cataloguing of all that it includes within its purview: Languages, literature, history, philosophy, the arts, and so on.

The third, and, in my view, the most useful approach, actually involves a proper definition, one that refuses to make apologetic gestures towards disciplines that enjoy higher social ranking. This is how it goes: The humanities are disciplines that help us make sense of our lives through an analytical or reflective approach. So much better already than “all that is not Engineering”! I would like to extend that definition a little and argue that since the Humanities are what they are — analytical and reflective — they also allow for internal questioning and debate. If what constitutes the Humanities seems like mere “common sense”, it is because the disciplines sometimes reflect on everyday issues of culture and society, issues that concern all of us. And yet, the humanities look at these issues in a systematic, rigorous way.

Often, the very paradigms of a Humanities discipline may be questioned by those within and without. This happened, most famously, with English Studies a few decades ago when the dominance of a literary canon tilted suspiciously in favour of white, male, Anglo-Saxon writers became a subject of debate and questioning. The boundaries of the Humanities are porous and ever expanding, guaranteeing endless intellectual excitement. Reason number one to pursue the humanities!

Reality check

By way of a reality check, let us take a quick look at the state of Humanities education in our schools. Most schools in the country, including several of the Kendriya Vidyalayas, no longer offer the Humanities stream. It is an either-or choice between Science and Commerce. The reason cited of course is lack of demand. Most students have their eyes set on professional courses and do not see the point of studying History or English. Even the ones genuinely interested in the humanities allow themselves to be persuaded by the specious argument that “one can always do History or English on the side.”

Compounding this sorry confusion is the fact that the humanities do not know how to create a market for themselves. They seem to lack the language — though this is changing at other levels.

The capacity for re-invention is crucial to the survival of any discipline. Yet, we must, at the same time, guard disciplinary treasures that we can’t see the immediate use of, can’t put a money value to. For who is to pronounce something useless? As the poet Pablo Neruda said in his Nobel lecture:

Each and every one of my verses has chosen to take its place as a tangible object, each and every one of my poems has claimed to be a useful working instrument, each and every one of my songs has endeavored to serve as a sign in space for a meeting between paths which cross one another, or as a piece of stone or wood on which someone, some others, those who follow after, will be able to carve the new signs.

If you really want to pursue the humanities, pursue it from the word go, full-time. In this increasingly complex and competitive world, it seems less and less likely that you will be able to do History, English, Film-making or Design “on the side.”

Options aplenty

Moreover, there is now an explosion of options for those wanting to pursue the humanities at college level — more and different sorts of courses, some of them quasi-professional. There is also a relatively greater range of careers that have suddenly become possible and okay to pursue: film-making, publishing, teaching, journalism, advertising, digital animation, design and so on. If, at the outset, you know exactly what you want to do, the key is to zone in on the course that best suits your particular interest.

If all you know is that you are a “humanities” person, it might make sense to opt for a more broad-based Humanities education before branching off into your field of interest.

The writer is Associate Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT-Madras.

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