This introductory lesson will explore the Humanities as an interdisciplinary collection of academic fields that investigate the ways that humans express and communicate shared experiences through time (history) and space (geography). This lesson will address the role of the humanities in society, the importance of studying the humanities, and the benefits of participating in the humanities as a field of practice.
Lesson Objectives
- define the humanities in broad and collective terms related to ‘humanism’
- describe how the humanities shape and are shaped by both social and creative processes
- identify the ways that the humanities can contribute to individual and public benefits
- explain how you can benefit from studying the humanities
What are ‘the humanities’?
‘Human’ + ‘ities’ literally means ‘the condition or quality of being human.’ The humanities are rooted in the tradition of humanism, an outlook or perspective that takes a human-centered approach to reality. Humanism stresses the importance of human experiences, capabilities, needs, pleasures, problems and potential. As a field of study, the humanities is an integrated approach to the various ways in which people, from every period of history and across cultures, process and document the shared experiences of being human. As a result, the study of the humanities is a study of the human journey through time.
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The humanities also investigate the way that human beings symbolically create and share meanings as individuals, as communities, and as cultures through creative expressions that transcend time and space. What this means is that the human experience is cross-cultural and timeless; whether someone was born 10,000 years ago or yesterday and in Gainesville or Bagdad, there are particular aspects of being human that are universally shared such as; the thrill of a hunt, the feeling of falling in love, losing a loved one, taking a risk, contemplating what comes after death, seeking a sense of belonging, finding beauty, losing a homeland, questioning one’s identity … the list goes on and on. While superficial differences such as skin color, religion, clothing, wealth, and politics generate cleavages that divide people, the humanities represent symbolic representations that highlight what humans share, and this connects people in very deep and personal ways. From cave paintings to hip hop, exploring the humanities plays a key role in developing an understanding of who we are, our role in society, and how we envision the future of our humanity.
Yet, the humanities in American education is in danger. During times of educational budget cuts, the humanities are oftentimes among the first areas of study eliminated from the curriculum. Funding for important subjects such as art, music, drama, and creative writing are sacrificed in order to ensure funding for economically competitive skill and trade-based learning such as science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). While STEM fields are also important, the elimination of the creative arts in educational curricula fails to recognize the symbiotic relationship between the humanities and STEM fields. The video below touches on the important role of the humanities for learning, developing, and life.
Why We Need the Humanities
The arts and humanities emerge from creative cognitive processes in the human brain. Studying the humanities not only allows us to develop a deeper understanding of what it means to be human, it also enhances our ability to think critically, recognize meaning, develop the capacity to innovate, and engage in higher orders of thinking and consciousness. A new approach to STEM is STEAM (STEM + Arts), and STEAM programs integrate the arts and humanities into STEM in order to promote creative design principles, imaginative innovation, critical thinking, and the ability to develop new solutions in skill and trade-based learning. The importance of creativity in STEM is evidenced by the growing number of multi-billion dollar corporations that are creating playrooms to help employees to unlock creativity. These companies recognize how art and play can promote the imaginative neurological capacity of ‘right brain thinking’ which underlies the development of new ideas, the invention of new products and the design of new solutions. (See “How companies are using legos to unlock talent they didnt know they had” and “Stuck? Pass the Playdough“)
Left and Right Brain Processes
The human brain is central command for what humans think, feel and do, and the humanities emerge from right brain processes. Recent research in neuroscience has shown that while the left and right sides of the brain look alike, they perform very different, yet interconnected, functions.
According to the research of psychobiologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger W. Sperry. Left brain processes are connected to logic, sequencing, linear thinking, mathematics, facts, and thinking in words. The left is responsible for the verbal, analytical, and orderly ways of processing information. The right brain is the more visual and intuitive side responsible for imagination, thinking in systems, intuition, arts, rhythm, nonverbal cues, feelings visualization, and daydreaming. The right brain hosts abstract thinking, creative expression, emotional connection, and innovation.
Both left and right sides of the brain are interconnected through nerve pathways, and they cognitively work together to perform complex functions such as critical (right) analysis (left), systemic (right) logic (left), new/creative (right) reasoning (left), abstract (right) functions (left), and innovative (right) strategies (left). Therefore, an education that ignores right brain functions deprives students of the ability to participate in new, exciting, and progressive intellectual experiences. It is the creative capacity of the right-brain behind genius and ingenuity, such Leonardo Da Vinci’s imaginative war machines that serve as prototypes for equipment used in modern warfare today.
For more information about da Vinci’s imaginative inventions, watch this KnowUKnow video on youtube.
What the documentary trailer
Creativity and Humanity
The capacity for creativity is the defining dimension of being human. Thinking back to childhood, you might be able to recall being occupied for hours with a box of crayons and a piece of paper. Right-brain dominance defines our youth, as imagination and creativity flourished and flowed freely onto paper, playdough, blocks, legos, and other toys designed for creative play. Through time and schooling, however, right-brain activities become secondary to memorization and formulaic training. By the time we reach higher education, drawing becomes more difficult, maybe even impossible, as we are increasingly tasked with meeting criteria and regurgitating information than allowing ourselves to imagine, experiment, take risks, push boundaries, and play in our minds.
This course includes activities designed to exercise right-brain thinking through practice with expressive pieces that communicate meanings and experiences in non-linear, creative and abstract ways.
Humanities and Public Participation
Creative expression of the shared human experience also allows human connection to the past, present and future. This makes the humanities a central part of public participation. Public humanities is the work of government, non-profit, corporate, and community-based cultural organizations that create spaces where the public can engage in conversation, learning and reflection about issues and ideas related to shared human experiences such as war, poverty, love, beauty, identity, family, and more. Public humanities projects include exhibitions and programs related to historic preservation, oral history, archives, material culture, public art, cultural heritage, and cultural policy. Examples of some private/public institutions and organizations that implement public humanities programs are: museums, parks, radio shows, cultural organizations and community centers, libraries, archives, historic sites, art galleries and exhibits, performances, etc.
Digital humanities (DH) is a 21st century integration of the humanities and technology, and it includes the systematic use of digital resources to document and analyze the humanities as well as the use of digital resources to produce creative expressions. DH represents a two-way relationship between the humanities and the digital world. One example is the emergence of digital storytelling. Storytelling is an ancient human practice that not only codifies the human experience, it also connects people through the act of sharing a narrative. The digitization of storytelling is a new approach to sharing history. Explore the digital storytelling website produced by Dr. Edward Gonzalez-Tennant which uses gaming technologies to reconstruct the past experiences of the Rosewood community in Florida. To learn more visit Rosewood an Interactive History.
Similarly, the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program at the University of Florida aims to digitally archive and preserve oral histories that are at risk of being lost forever. With more than 6,500 interviews, a team of student researchers, interns, volunteers, and staff are dedicated to gathering, preserving, and promoting living histories of individuals from all walks of life.
Moving Forward in the Humanities
The humanities takes a human-centered approach to studying the ways that humans process and document the shared experiences of being human. Studying the humanities not only connects people through history and across cultures, it also helps people tap into creative cognitive processes that enhance the human capacity to invent, design, create, and develop new ideas and solutions for living. By integrating the humanities into education and professional development, employers and educational institutions promote creative talent and new ways of thinking. Humanities in the public sphere fosters human connections through the past, present and future.
‘The arts and humanities define who we are as a people. That is their power — to remind us of what we each have to offer, and what we all have in common. To help us understand our history and imagine our future. To give us hope in the moments of struggle and to bring us together when nothing else will.’ -Michelle Obama 2014
Readings and Resources
To learn more about why we need the humanities, visit the links below.
- Reiter, Christine M., “21st Century Education: The Importance of the Humanities in Primary Education in the Age of STEM” (2017). Senior Theses and Capstone Projects. 65.
- Explore: National Endowment of the Humanities website: What are the Humanities?