Why the Humanities Matter

Frederick Luis Aldama is Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English at the Ohio State University.

"This is one of the most versatile, colloquially written, and philosophically astute readings of the American politics of race and the university that one can find anywhere. In the name of a 'new humanism' based on struggle, Aldama draws (at times humorously) on his experiences as a teacher to give a persuasive account of the self based (of all things) on neuroscience and evolutionary biology. An exciting book." Timothy Brennan, Professor, Departments of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, and English, University of Minnesota

• Introduction. A New HumanismChapter One. Self, Identity, and IdeasChapter Two. Revisiting Derrida, Lacan, and FoucaultChapter Three. Derrida Gets MedievalChapter Four. Imaginary Empires, Real NationsChapter Five. Edward Said Spaced OutChapter Six. Modernity, What?Chapter Seven. Teachers, Scholars, and the Humanities TodayChapter Eight. Translation MattersChapter Nine. Can Music Resist?Chapter Ten. The "Cultural Studies Turn" in Brown StudiesChapter Eleven. Pulling up Stakes in Latin/o American Theoretical ClaimsChapter Twelve. Fugitive Thoughts on Justice and HappinessChapter Thirteen. Why Literature MattersChapter Fourteen. Interpretation, Interdisciplinarity, and the PeopleNotesWorks CitedIndex