The Public Value of the Humanities

Description

Recession is a time for asking fundamental questions about value. At a time when governments are being forced to make swingeing savings in public expenditure, why should they continue to invest public money funding research into ancient Greek tragedy, literary value, philosophical conundrums or the aesthetics of design? Does such research deliver 'value for money' and 'public benefit'? Such questions have become especially pertinent in the UK in recent years, in the context of the drive by government to instrumentalize research across the disciplines and the prominence of discussions about 'economic impact' and 'knowledge transfer'. In this book a group of distinguished humanities researchers, all working in Britain, but publishing research of international importance, reflect on the public value of their discipline, using particular research projects as case-studies. Their essays are passionate, sometimes polemical, often witty and consistently thought-provoking, covering a range of humanities disciplines from theology to architecture and from media studies to anthropology. Cover Half-title Title Copyright Contents List of Contributors Introduction Part One: Learning from the Past Chapter 1: Live Classics: Or ‘What’s the use of Aeschylus in Darfur?’ Fram, Trackers and classics Greek drama now Classical research: discovery, rediscovery and distinction Notes Bibliography Chapter 2: The Value of Archaeological Research What is archaeology? Who values archaeological research? The economic value of archaeology Are there lessons from the past? Conclusion Note Bibliography Chapter 3: Why Religious History Matters: Perspectives from 1851 ‘The Sea of Faith’ Past and present: parallels and differences Partnership Notes Bibliography Chapter 4: The Use and Abuse of National History and the National Poet Essentially British? The invention of Britannia Shakespeare raises an army Note Bibliography Chapter 5: Custodians and Active Citizens On English literature Researcher as custodian Vital connections Note Bibliography Chapter 6: Architectural History in Academia and the Wider Community Respecting buildings West meets East Sound and space The value of grant-aided research in the arts and humanities Notes Bibliography Chapter 7: ‘This is a local film’: The Cultural and Social Impact of the Mitchell & Kenyon Film Collection The research trail ‘The Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon’ ‘Local films for local people’ From the street to the archive and back Notes Bibliography Part Two: Looking Around Us Chapter 8: Living Landscapes ‘Tales of the Frontier’ Housesteads Wallsend Contested common land Eskdale Conclusion: researching landscape and environment Notes Bibliography Chapter 9: Making a Home: English Culture and English Landscape The countryside and what it means to be English Hoskins, Crawford and understanding the countryside Landscapes mean things to people English landscapes in a multicultural world Researching English landscapes Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 10: Accidental Haiku, or Encouragement, Enlightenment and Raising Aspiration Culture is everywhere Understanding landscape Events Raising our game The lifecycle of ideas Note Bibliography Chapter 11: Thinking about Architecture Architecture and architects Buildings and design The everyday urban environment Interaction with architecture The city context Exploring cultural discourse Architecture is made by everybody The value of architectural research Bibliography Chapter 12: ‘All this Useless Beauty’: The Hidden Value of Research in Art and Design ‘A perfect place and a perfect education’ New ways of making Crafting healthcare solutions New ways of seeing Beyond the city limits New roles and possibilities Notes Bibliography Chapter 13: A Museum Perspective Object-led research Collection-based research Exhibitions Creativity and design practice The museum as a forum for cultural exchange Public understanding Note Chapter 14: The Value of Music Research to Life in the UK Music in daily life Music scholarship Interdisciplinary music research The Institute for Music in Human and Social Development Conclusions Note Bibliography Part Three: Informing Policy Chapter 15: Hard Cases, Hard Times and the Humanity of Law The invasion of Iraq The ‘credit crunch’ Medical ethics Notes Bibliography Chapter 16: The Value of Genocide Studies Rwanda Yugoslavia Remembering Prevention Chapter 17: History and Public Policy Why history and policy? What is History and Policy? The value of History and Policy From history to policy: an example Conclusions Notes Bibliography Chapter 18: ‘Sorting the Sheep from the Sheep’: Value, Worth and the Creative Industries Economic value? Behavioural economics and cultural production The limits of instrumentalism What makes people creative? Notes Bibliography Part Four: Using Words, Thinking Hard Chapter 19: Language Matters 1: Linguistics Language and wider society Language and smaller communities Language and education Extending our knowledge Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 20: Language Matters 2: Modern Languages How languages contribute to knowledge Languages enrich our culture Languages help to build a more open society Languages contribute to prosperity Languages in public policy Language learning requires research Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 21: Making Meaning: Literary Research in the Twenty-first Century After Arnold Human dialogue The necessity of difficulty A resource for living Notes Bibliography Chapter 22: The Value of Art and the Art of Evaluation Value and excellence The function of criticism at the present time Interdisciplinary borders Returning to value Notes Bibliography Chapter 23: ‘And your point is …?’ Prologue Bodies and emotions Magic and onions Coda Bibliography Chapter 24: Philosophy and the Quest for the Unpredictable An ‘adventure of ideas’? Beyond problem solving Public debate Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z