No subject

Robert M. Berdahl, president of the Association of American Universities,
said he has noticed increasing concern among university leaders about "the
marginalization of non-scientific work" in higher education. "At every
meeting these days, there is concern expressed about the status of the
humanities and the fear that the humanities and to some extent the social
sciences are being sidelined in a discussion about higher education that
seems to focus almost exclusively on the economic value of universities."

Are the Humanities under attack?  If they need rescued and if so how?

So here's an idea, and this is not new:  humanities need to be able to show
what they can offer even the sciences. (Now I don't mean getting caught up
in the debate over the "value" of the humanities directly -- as that's like
trying to defend a fine arts program on the basis of the Christie's auction
price on a few Picasso's. Also Stanley Fish's retort that the humanities
need not justify themselves comes to mind, but it's probably easier to make
that claim when you are the Davidson-Kahn Distinguished University Professor
and a professor of law.  That's not to slight, but to say it's easier to
claim the humanities don't need to argue their value when you've already
established/earned your own security.

Here is where my personal interest comes in with Critical Code Studies in
the Humanities and Critical Code Studies (HaCCS Lab), where one of the goals
is to create new spaces for humanities and computer scientists to meet and
discuss.   While I think it is naive to suggest that the humanities will all
of the sudden be valued the way the sciences are, I'd be interested to hear
about humanities courses geared toward scientists.  Not Rocks for Jocks but
Greeks for Geeks.   Critical Theory for Civil Engineers.  I'm interested in
classes that teach the traditional humanities topics but that are aimed at
the science students --  beyond, say, the History of Science or the History
of the Philosophy of Science. Which is another way of asking: what can the
humanities teach the sciences (which probably plays into a completely
useless binary)?

I guess I've been thinking a lot about what humanists can offer code studies
and can't help feel that we could design humanities courses geared toward
science students that would be (actually and hopefully perceived to be)
valuable to their pursuits -- with perhaps the long-term goal of not erasing
but seriously smudging the division between the sciences and humanities.
Don't get me wrong -- these would INCREASE humanities offerings, not take
the place of current classes.

I know I'm preaching to the interdisciplinary choir, but can anyone reply
with actual courses they've taught or offered at their institution that seem
to fit this bill?  Can we propose imaginary courses that might accomplish
these goals?   Or does this in effect undervalue that work that any good
humanities course does already?

Thoughts?
Mark Marino
HaCCS Lab
University of Southern California
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://haccslab.com">http://haccslab.com</a>
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Simon Biggs | <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:simon at littlepig.org.uk">simon at littlepig.org.uk</a> | <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.littlepig.org.uk">www.littlepig.org.uk</a>

<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:s.biggs at eca.ac.uk">s.biggs at eca.ac.uk</a> | Edinburgh College of Art
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