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April 16, 2024
9781421448725
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72922
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v2.1 Reference

The Public Humanities Turn

The University as an Instrument of Cultural Transformation

Humanities have the potential to transform human culture—and an obligation to preserve it.

In The Public Humanities Turn, Philip Lewis argues that universities are uniquely equipped to act as catalysts for cultural change in the face of the climate crisis. In closely linked essays that explore the evolution of the academic humanities in the era of climate change, he foregrounds the rise of the public humanities, a movement that has been gaining momentum over the past two decades.

Surveying a variety of approaches to the public humanities, Lewis relates their emergence to the evolution of higher education and its achievements, problems, and goals. Current academic efforts to engage with the public at large, led by scholars with interdisciplinary commitments, are significant yet far from sufficient. Situating the university as a global institution, Lewis contends that it faces an urgent imperative to collaboratively address common needs and looming crises in a public-facing initiative that integrates the arts, humanities, and social sciences and draws them into a future-oriented dialogue with earth systems science.

Advocating for the urgent educational mission of safeguarding humanity's survival on a habitable earth, Lewis proposes a sharpened focus for the public humanities that would position universities as active agents of cultural transformation. The Public Humanities Turn is a clarion call for institutional and cultural change and a must-read for anyone interested in the humanities, climate change, activism, organizational reform, and the future of higher education.

About the Author

Philip Lewis is professor emeritus of French literature at Cornell University, the former editor of the journal Diacritics, and the former dean of the Cornell College of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of Seeing Through the Mother Goose Tales: Visual Turns in the Writings of Charles Perrault.

Endorsements

"This remarkable book calls for rethinking the mission of the university. Philip Lewis makes an urgent case for transforming culture through a public Humanities (arts, humanities, and social sciences together) committed to reckoning with climate change. It is a must read to preserve the world for future generations."

- Christie McDonald, Harvard University

"Drawing upon his experience as a professor, dean, and foundation leader, Philip Lewis urges a strategic correction that will restore the university's mission to serve the public good and ensure the survival of our planet. A must-read book for everyone who cares about the humanities, the academy, and the environment."

- Eugene Tobin, former president, Hamilton College, retired senior program officer, Mellon Foundation

"With a penetrating analysis of universities and the humanities, Philip Lewis starkly challenges both: 'For students and academic professionals, pursuing a serious understanding of climate change and the interlocking environmental and social problems that it exacerbates will have to become a decisive mandate, a fundamental requirement that orients teaching and research alike.'"

- Don Michael Randel, President Emeritus, The University of Chicago; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

"Informed by his encyclopedic command of the climate change bibliography, and by his vast experience as an educator, administrator, and foundation officer, Philip Lewis has written what may well be the most important book you'll ever read. It aims to impel the public humanities to confront the imminence of the doom we face."

- Richard Klein, Cornell University
Johns Hopkins University Press
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Hardback
April 16, 2024
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Electronic book text
April 16, 2024
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