In this Book
- Why the Humanities Matter: A Commonsense Approach
- Book
- 2008
- Published by: University of Texas Press
summary
Is there life after postmodernism? Many claim that it sounded the death knell for history, art, ideology, science, possibly all of Western philosophy, and certainly for the concept of reality itself. Responding to essential questions regarding whether the humanities can remain politically and academically relevant amid this twenty-first-century uncertainty, Why the Humanities Matter offers a guided tour of the modern condition, calling upon thinkers in a variety of disciplines to affirm essential concepts such as truth, goodness, and beauty. Offering a lens of “new humanism,” Frederick Aldama also provides a liberating examination of the current cultural repercussions of assertions by such revolutionary theorists as Said, Foucault, Lacan, and Derrida, as well as Latin Americanists such as Sommer and Mignolo. Emphasizing pedagogy and popular culture with equal verve, and writing in colloquial yet multifaceted prose, Aldama presents an enlightening way to explore what “culture” actually does—who generates it and how it shapes our identities—and the role of academia in sustaining it.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Introduction: A New Humanism
- pp. ix-xiv
- 1. Self, Identity, and Ideas
- pp. 1-19
- 3. Derrida Gets Medieval
- pp. 44-57
- 4. Imaginary Empires, Real Nations
- pp. 58-73
- 5. Edward Said Spaced Out
- pp. 74-92
- 6. Modernity, What?
- pp. 93-105
- 8. Translation Matters
- pp. 139-161
- 9. Can Music Resist?
- pp. 147-166
- 13. Why Literature Matters
- pp. 234-264
- works cited
- pp. 327-348
Additional Information
ISBN
9780292793972
Related ISBN(s)
9780292717985
MARC Record
OCLC
309871467
Pages
391
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No