Perspectives (Volume 3, number 3) - Working Group on the Humanities (fwd)

[Richard Plant]

Hello All:

Here's the latest issue of "Perspectives" from HSSFC. The initiatives in
the humanities seem to me to leave lots of room for involvement from the
theatre research community.

Richard Plant
Dept of Drama, Queen's University
and
Graduate Centre for Study of Drama,
University of Toronto

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 05 Nov 1999 11:27:06 -0500
From: Fedcan <fedcan at hssfc.ca>
To: @hssfc.ca
Subject: Perspectives (Volume 3, number 3) - Working Group on the  Humanities

PERSPECTIVES
An electronic newsletter on research and science policy.  A pilot project of
the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada.

PERSPECTIVES will appear at regular intervals throughout the year and will
be posted on the Federation web site:
http://www.hssfc.ca/Pub/PublicationsEng.html.  Please address your comments
and suggestions to Jacqueline Wright, Executive Assistant, at:
jawright at hssfc.ca.

PERSPECTIVES (Volume 3, Number 3)
November 5, 1999

Editor: Wayne Kondro

Table of contents:
1)      Working Group on the Humanities
2)      Genesis of the Working Group
3)      Departure point
4)      Long-term objectives

SSHRC WORKING GROUP TO ARTICULATE ROLE AND VALUE OF THE HUMANITIES
National Humanities Conference to be Held in Toronto next Fall

Enough of this 'poor cousin of the weak sister' stuff.

The humanities in Canada have an important role to play, and a valuable
contribution to make, in understanding the realities of modern society, says
the chair of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council's new Working
Group on the Humanities.

The eight-member Working Group, struck last May by SSHRC's governing
council, is charged with developing a "statement" articulating the nature of
humanities research and with assessing whether there's a need for SSHRC to
develop a strategic research program for the humanities.

The Working Group also hopes to convene a nation-wide conference at the
University of Toronto next fall to promote more public awareness about the
value of the humanities.

"What we want to do is really explore the ways in which humanists make sense
of our creative world, of our languages and literatures, our music and our
visual arts, the events in the past and systems of thought, secular and
religious," says Dr. Patricia Demers, chair of the Working Group,
vice-president of SSHRC and professor of English at the University of Alberta.

But Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada president Dr. Louise
Forsyth says the Working Group must go well beyond defining the value of the
humanities and should explore such "challenges" as the changing nature of
the humanities research; its relationship to the community-at-large; and the
need to develop a program in support of research infrastructure.

"The research tools and methodologies of the humanities produce information
and knowledge that is vital in understanding current social issues and in
addressing complex policy questions in ways that is not produced by any
other scholarly approaches," Forsyth noted.

At a time when many researchers in the humanities feel under siege because
of budget cutbacks and pressure to reform their disciplines so that they're
more relevant to society, Forsyth argued there's also a need to ensure that
research programming helps to maintain a "balance between the new analysis
and the protection of the traditional values of the humanities."

GENESIS OF THE WORKING GROUP
Demers says the impetus for the Working Group came from SSHRC president Dr.
Marc Renaud's request that the humanities community provide him with an
overview of their activities in preparation for negotiations with the
American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the
Humanities regarding potential areas of cooperation.

"He wants to know what it is we do," Demers says. "Why should a 17-year-old
student consider the humanities? What makes sense about the humanities?"

"Renaud is a social scientist and I think he wants to understand better the
humanities and where we come from and the differences in our kind of
research," adds Working Group member and University of Toronto professor of
English and Comparative Literature Dr. Linda Hutcheon. "We also want to
bring a higher profile to the humanities, who tend to get left out, or feel
they get left out, when money is being given to very targeted research
topics that tend to be socially oriented, rather than culturally oriented."

To that end, the Working Group has already crafted a first draft of a
statement articulating the modes and values of humanities research and
training. It was presented to SSHRC's governing council on October 23 but,
after vigorous debate, was sent back to the Working Group for further
consultations. A revised version is expected to be considered by council at
their next meeting in March.

DEPARTURE POINT
The statement is intended to serve as the foundation for the Toronto
conference next fall aimed at promoting the humanities and developing allies
to ensure adequate public support of research within its disciplines, Demers
says. "We're convinced that there are many allies of the humanities who
simply haven't declared themselves and I guess what we want to do is to get
them to declare themselves."

A series of position papers will be crafted for discussion in workshops at
the Toronto conference. Although the specific topics haven't been selected,
"we're talking about ways in which humanities research can be promoted, the
hurdles that it faces in the current situations and the ways in which
problems can be obviated."

In furtherance of developing a new vision for the humanities, the Working
Group also hopes to arrange several sessions at next spring's Congress of
the Social Sciences and the Humanities, to be hosted by the HSSFC and the
University of Alberta in Edmonton, to discuss humanities research needs.

Having organized humanities colloquia at previous Congresses in a bid to
raise the profile of its disciplines and having actively campaigned for
initiatives like an infrastructure program for the humanities and social
sciences, Forsyth said the HSSFC would be "delighted" to organize a series
of sessions on the humanities in Edmonton, "particularly if it's a point of
departure point for organizing real action and activities."

LONG TERM OBJECTIVES
Ultimately, Demers says the Working Group plans to submit some form of
recommendations to SSHRC in the winter of the year 2000 or 2001 outlining "a
series of initiatives to champion and promote the humanities."

But it's far too early to say what form those initiatives might take, she
adds. "It's possible that we could devise programs or a program which could
be, not distinct or unique, but of particular interest to humanists."

In planning for the future needs of the humanities, Demers noted its vital
that such factors as increasing humanities enrollments; low faculty growth
rates; and the high level of student debt are taken into consideration.

Given their current tension between "disciplinary specializations and
interdisciplinary approaches" to research, it's also important to assess
what impact the move towards interdisciplinarity will have on undergraduate
curriculum and graduate programs, Demers says.

With universities reassessing their role and responsibility in society, "I
don't think we (the humanities) can just rely on the tired old rhetoric of
being the heart and the core. While it's important, and while I think we are
the core, we have to demonstrate that."

Forsyth noted other critical challenges which must be addressed include the
impact of new technologies on research and pedagogy, as well as the need to
devise a means of ensuring that adequate research and infrastructure support
is provided to the humanities.

To that end, the HSSFC has already created an advisory committee comprised
of representatives from academe to determine the "specific and particular"
needs of the humanities community in conducting their research.

"We have to engage in a dialogue about the need for a nation-wide
infrastructure program that would address the needs of the humanities, the
information needs, the library needs, the communication needs. How can the
humanities effectively continue to do their research when the cutbacks in
the libraries are just so devastating? And the cutbacks in the universities
too, are reducing the resources available to humanities scholars," Forsyth
noted.

The HSSFC, in co-operation with Learned Societies like the Canadian
Philosophical Association, is also establishing several academic working
groups to craft recommendations to SSHRC regarding humanities-friendly
strategic themes which could be included in future targeted SSHRC programs.


Editor:
Wayne Kondro is a freelance writer based in Ottawa.  The former Editor of
the "Science Bulletin", an independent newsletter on national S&T policy, he
is currently a regular contributor to such publications as "Science" and
"The Lancet".


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