Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

What role do the public humanities play in social, cultural, and political change? This paper suggests a new radical theory and methodology for the public humanities based on community organizing discourse in the United States. As the “future of the humanities,” the public humanities make the following promise: Every public has a story to share and a stake in shaping public culture and democracy. To advance this vision, public humanists collaborate with diverse publics to inspire civic engagement and egalitarian communal relationships through the sharing of their creative expressions of belonging. Unfortunately, in this global moment of social, cultural, and political unrest, many public humanities projects fall short of this goal. Since the field’s collaborators often live on the margins of society, community organizing’s focus on building power through community-driven action offers the public humanities a chance to make a more radical public impact. Through interviews with public humanists and community organizers, this paper presents a theory and method for the public humanities that empowers its practitioners and partners to achieve transformative, community-centered change. Additionally, this fusion of the two fields has far-reaching implications for collaborative humanistic organizing across the globe.