Writing the History of the Humanities: Questions, Themes, and Approaches

by Herman Paul (Editor), Heiko Feldner (Editor), Kevin Passmore (Editor), Stefan Berger (Editor), Lizette Jacinto (Editor)

Overview

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2023

What are the humanities? As the cluster of disciplines historically grouped together as “humanities” has grown and diversified to include media studies and digital studies alongside philosophy, art history and musicology to name a few, the need to clearly define the field is pertinent.

Herman Paul leads a stellar line-up of esteemed and early-career scholars to provide an overview of the themes, questions and methods that are central to current research on the history of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century humanities. This exciting addition to the successful Writing History series will draw from a wide range of case-studies from diverse fields, as classical philology, art history, and Biblical studies, to provide a state-of-the-art overview of the field.

In doing so, this ground-breaking book challenges the rigid distinctions between disciplines and show the variety of prisms through which historians of the humanities study the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350199101
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/17/2022
Series:	Writing History
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.15(w) x 9.15(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Herman Paul is Professor of the History of the Humanities at Leiden University, The Netherlands.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
List of Contributors

Introduction: What Is the History of the Humanities?, Herman Paul (Leiden University, The Netherlands)

Part I: Definitions and Backgrounds

1. What Are the Humanities? A Short History of Concepts and Classifications, Fabian Krämer (University of Munich, Germany)
2. From Philology to the Humanities: Fragmentation and Discipline Formation in the United Kingdom and United States, James Turbaner (University of Notre Dame, USA)
3. The Humanities in Crisis: Comparative Perspectives on a Recurring Motif, Hampus Östh Gustafsson (Uppsala University, Sweden)

Part II: Research Practices

4. Modernizing the Comparative Method: Marx and Darwin, Devin Griffiths (University of Southern California, USA)
5. Language and the Mapping of the World: Nineteenth-Century Linguistics in Relation to Ethnology and Geography, Floris Solleveld (KU Leuven, Belgium)
6. “Big”-ness in Action: Notes from a Lexicon, Christian Bradley Flow (Mississippi State University, USA)
7. Oral History and the (Digital) Humanities, Julianne Nyhan and Andrew Flinn (both University College London, UK)

Part III: Values and Virtues

8. Practical Learning: The Transnational Career of an Epistemic Value in Japan, Michael Facius (University of Tokyo, Japan)
9. An Ethos of Criticism: Virtues and Vices in Nineteenth-Century Strasbourg, Herman Paul (Leiden University, The Netherlands)
10. Producing the Masculine Scholar: Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Falko Schnicke (Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria)
11. Scholarly Activism in Africa: The General History of Africa (1964–98), Larissa Schulte Nordholt (Leiden University, The Netherlands)

Part IV: Teaching Practices

12. The Humanities in the Vocational University: On the Unity of Teaching and Research, Kasper Risbjerg Eskildsen (Roskilde University, Denmark)
13. On the Purpose of Humanities Education: A Historical Perspective from the Mid-Twentieth-Century United States, Claire Rydell Arcenas (University of Montana, USA)


Part V: Visions of the Future

14. A Postcritical Turban? Unravelling the Meaning of “Post” and “Turban”, Herman Paul (Leiden University, The Netherlands)
15. Environmental Humanities: Entangled Interdisciplinarity, Kristine Steenbergh (Vrije University Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
16. Humanities across Time and Space: Four Challenges for a New Discipline, Rens Bod (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Glossary
Index

Editorial Reviews

Globally, the Humanities are in trouble and only a thorough grasp of their history can give us the knowledge we need to deal with the situation. That's why this timely book is, beyond all hype, so exciting and rewarding. Herman Paul's exhilarating introduction establishes the terms for a comprehensive historical understanding of the humanities and the essays that he has chosen illuminate not just the past but the present too. Essential reading.” —Simon During, Professor of English, University of Melbourbane, Australia

“The history of the humanities is a new field but a remarkably dynamic one. Herman Paul has assembled an outstanding international team to produce a book that both provides an accessible introduction to the field and showcases some of the most innovative work it is producing.” —Stuart Jones, Professor of Intellectual History, University of Manchester, UK

“This collection serves as a prescriptive ... guide to the current status of the history of humanities ... [T]his is a timely addition to modern research on a topic immense significance for many areas of study.” —CHOICE

From the Publisher