Writing the History of the Humanities

Herman Paul is Professor of the History of the Humanities at Leiden University, The Netherlands.

Globally, the Humanities are in trouble and only a thorough grasp of their history can give us the knowledge we need to deal with the situation. That’s why this timely book is, beyond all hype, so exciting and rewarding. Herman Paul’s exhilarating introduction establishes the terms for a comprehensive historical understanding of the humanities and the essays that he has chosen illuminate not just the past but the present too. Essential reading.

• PrefaceList of IllustrationsList of TablesList of ContributorsIntroduction: What Is the History of the Humanities?, Herman Paul (Leiden University, The Netherlands)Part I: Definitions and Backgrounds 1. What Are the Humanities? A Short History of Concepts and Classifications, Fabian Krämer (University of Munich, Germany)2. From Philology to the Humanities: Fragmentation and Discipline Formation in the United Kingdom and United States, James Turner (University of Notre Dame, USA)3. The Humanities in Crisis: Comparative Perspectives on a Recurring Motif, Hampus Östh Gustafsson (Uppsala University, Sweden)Part II: Research Practices4. Modernizing the Comparative Method: Marx and Darwin, Devin Griffiths (University of Southern California, USA)5. Language and the Mapping of the World: Nineteenth-Century Linguistics in Relation to Ethnology and Geography, Floris Solleveld (KU Leuven, Belgium)6. “Big”-ness in Action: Notes from a Lexicon, Christian Bradley Flow (Mississippi State University, USA)7. Oral History and the (Digital) Humanities, Julianne Nyhan and Andrew Flinn (both University College London, UK)Part III: Values and Virtues8. Practical Learning: The Transnational Career of an Epistemic Value in Japan, Michael Facius (University of Tokyo, Japan)9. An Ethos of Criticism: Virtues and Vices in Nineteenth-Century Strasbourg, Herman Paul (Leiden University, The Netherlands)10. Producing the Masculine Scholar: Europe in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Falko Schnicke (Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria)11. Scholarly Activism in Africa: The General History of Africa (1964–98), Larissa Schulte Nordholt (Leiden University, The Netherlands)Part IV: Teaching Practices12. The Humanities in the Vocational University: On the Unity of Teaching and Research, Kasper Risbjerg Eskildsen (Roskilde University, Denmark)13. On the Purpose of Humanities Education: A Historical Perspective from the Mid-Twentieth-Century United States, Claire Rydell Arcenas (University of Montana, USA)Part V: Visions of the Future14. A Postcritical Turn? Unravelling the Meaning of “Post” and “Turn”, Herman Paul (Leiden University, The Netherlands)15. Environmental Humanities: Entangled Interdisciplinarity, Kristine Steenbergh (Vrije University Amsterdam, The Netherlands)16. Humanities across Time and Space: Four Challenges for a New Discipline, Rens Bod (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)GlossaryIndex