Episode 73: Academic Disciplines, Humanities

Episode 73

• Episode 73 Transcript

  [INTRO]

  [00:00:06] BHA: For the next little while on College Admissions Insider, we're doing a deep dive into academic disciplines one episode at a time.

  [00:00:14] BT: So far, we've covered sciences and mathematics. We encourage you to jump back and listen to those episodes if you haven't yet. Today, we're chatting about the humanities. I'm Brooke Thames from Bucknell University.

  [00:00:24] BHA: And I'm Becca Haupt Aldredge, also from Bucknell. On this episode of the College Admissions Insider, we'll get to know the kinds of majors available in these disciplines, what the humanities look like in college, and the careers you can break into post-graduation.

  [00:00:38] BT: Our guest is Anthony Stewart, associate dean of faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences at Bucknell. He is also a professor in the Department of English and an affiliate faculty member in Critical Black Studies. Welcome to the podcast.

  [00:00:49] AS: Thank you.

  [00:00:49] BHA: Can we start by hearing a little bit more about you and what you do at Bucknell?

  [00:00:53] AS: I'm normally a professor in the literary studies program in the English Department. Over the past year and a bit now, I've been associate dean of faculty in the arts & humanities division of the College of Arts & Sciences. I've been at Bucknell since 2013.

  [00:01:10] BHA: Can you tell us more about the associate dean role?

  [00:01:12] AS: Because the College of Arts & Sciences is so big, it's divided into three sections. So natural sciences and math, social sciences, and arts & humanities, which is my division. So what each of the associate deans does is keep the priorities of our divisions and the departments within our divisions on the radar of the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.

  [00:01:37] BT: So jumping into talking about the humanities, it seems to me that, unlike mathematics and science, the word humanities itself might not be immediately familiar. So can you give us a brief overview of what the humanities are and what majors this term includes?

  [00:01:52] AS: The humanities is not a term that you run across too much, unless, of course, you work in a university. I was talking to a couple of people last night, and one person was saying how the humanities is the study of the way we, across time, the way human beings are similar to one another and then the other ways that human beings are different from one another. The subjects themselves are pretty well known, or at least some of them. English like my discipline, history and philosophy, but also religious studies and classics. So the humanities in the broadest terms is the study of human culture.

  [00:02:29] BHA: Before we get into the specifics of some of those majors, what overall separates the humanities from other disciplines like mathematics or even management?

  [00:02:38] AS: I'd say a distinction might be that the study in the humanities is supposed to not only encourage study but also reflection on what we study and the meaning of that reflection. So for instance, myself as a black man, my study of literature has always had at its center a conflict between what has been written with someone like me in mind as a potential reader and what has been written to my exclusion. So many would argue that a lot of fields of study have this conflict at their heart, but the humanities are supposed to encourage reflection on these differences and what they mean for different people.

  [00:03:18] BT: With that in mind, let's dive into some of these majors. Starting with the arts, you talked a little bit about English. Why should a student consider specializing in one or more of those areas?

  [00:03:28] AS: I would argue that studying arts, English, any of the subjects in my division give two principal benefits. I mentioned reflection as one. The other is expression. So once we have discovered something about ourselves, if we're lucky, we might get the opportunity to send that discovery out into the world. And arts and humanities — and I will include the languages as well, which is also part of our division — these disciplines provide these opportunities for reflection, as well as for expression.

  [00:04:01] BHA: I really like the way you put that. To not only do the reflection but to express that reflection and maybe perhaps share it with the world. Languages and cultural studies are especially interesting, but why is that area of study important?

  [00:04:13] AS: Languages and cultural studies enable us to approach some understanding of other peoples, so other cultures, other ways of being in the world. If we can make sense of what is important to other people, we might — I emphasize might — be able to better make sense of what is important to ourselves. But in addition, we might be able to learn to respect the ways others have of being in the world. At a time like the present circumstances, there are a few things I'd say more important than being able to think about how other people move around in the world, as well as being at least as important as how we move around in the world ourselves.

  [00:04:52] BT: So what I'm hearing there is that studying languages is much more than studying the words, and the way that they're used in different places in the world. So can you give us some more detail about what that might look like for a student?

  [00:05:03] AS: Well, for instance, one of my colleagues right now is in Bucknell In London. That means not only getting to study literature in the context, in the geographical context in which it was written, but also being able to think about how using the English language in England is different from using what is essentially the same language in the United States. I grew up in Canada, where the relationship between English and French is a very different thing from the relationship between the use of English and Spanish in the United States. Something as superficially simple as having an official language like the United States has as opposed to having two official languages like Canada does. That sort of the official status of a language means very specific things to the people who live there, right?

  So people who grew up speaking Spanish and live in the United States — some of whom who have argued that Spanish should be an official language in the United States, and they keep being told, "No." — that means something to what it's like to live in the United States. Whereas in Canada, the fact that there are two official languages. There are countries in Europe that have several official languages. That says something about what it's like and what it means to be a citizen or at least an occupant of a country. So language in terms of its usage, as well as understanding it, can say a lot about the environment in which you live.

  [00:06:35] BT: Thank you for diving into that for us. You mentioned Bucknell In there. For our listeners, our Bucknell In programs take students all over the world for study abroad experiences. Of course, we don't want to leave out history. So where does that fit into the fabric of the humanities.

  [00:06:51] AS: Well, history is in our discipline. Economics and international relations aren't. Since I'm already generalizing wildly about different disciplines, about which some of my colleagues would argue I think with me about them, I wouldn't want to generalize about disciplines outside of those that I know at least a little bit about. What history provides is an opportunity to learn from the past. You'll notice that a lot of what Americans argue over is versions of the past, right? When people argue over whether or not Columbus Day should still be called Columbus Day, for instance, since we just passed it. They're arguing over versions of the past.

  A couple of years ago the 1619 Project created a lot of controversy because of, again, the relatively straightforward assertion that instead of picking 1776 as the starting point of what has become the United States, that it might be useful to think about choosing 1619 as the start date. Choosing the one over the other means very specific things about what it looks like and what it feels like and what it means to live in the United States and to call yourself American.

  So one of the things that history does, as much as anything else in terms of how it's studied and taught now, is history sort of introduces the terms on which an argument probably will be fought. So most of us spend our time in history in high school learning dates. One of the things that happens once you get to college and study history in college is that you get to start thinking about what the dates mean and what a preference of one date over another date can contribute and can communicate to other people.

  [00:08:30] BHA: So we covered quite a few topics, from English to history to languages, that all fit under the humanities umbrella. Generally, what kind of skills do you think students develop when they study the humanities?

  [00:08:42] AS: The cliché is that our subjects teach students to read, write, and think. But from a purely pragmatic point of view, I would make my strongest case for the ability to write. Lots of people can read and think. The world is not full of people who can write, and that ability will always set you apart, especially in the white-collar world. Somebody that I used to know who did a PhD in English like I did and then ended up going into law school. And even among people who go to law school, right — who are, again, a group of people who have learned to read, nominally read, write, and think — this person stood out very much so because of the fact that she could write.

  You think about it all the time now because so much of what we read we read online, and so a lot of it gets produced kind of quickly. So everybody, everybody notices a mistake that is made in something that is written. Most people who read notice when something is written badly. So as I said, the world is just not full of people who can write. My sort of big push in terms of what we do in the arts and humanities is one of the skills that sort of transfers best, is the ability to write.

  [00:09:57] BT: So for high schoolers who might be listening to your wonderfully thoughtful descriptions of all of the disciplines we've discussed, but they aren't quite sure yet what they want to study in college, how can they know if the humanities is something that they should consider?

  [00:10:11] AS: I mean, this is a really tricky question, and I think about it from a very personal perspective because I didn't start my undergraduate as an English major. I started in psychology. I didn't like it. No offense to my colleagues in psychology. Then I transferred into economics. I didn't like that either. Again, no offense. Then transferred into English. When I transferred into English, I told my mother over the phone, and my mother's first words were, “Don't tell your father.”

  I do understand why people worry about these sorts of things. So the question is a hard question to answer because there isn't just one kind of student who might be interested in the arts, languages, or humanities. For instance, the obvious example is the person who always has at least one book going. But now, that person may be listening to books, as much as reading them. Both exhibit the same kinds of interests in storytelling and how stories are put together.

  At the same time, the dean of the college and I had a visit recently from three representatives from a university in Japan. These visitors were accompanied by two faculty members from our east Asian studies department. That was an opportunity to speak to a couple of people who see Bucknell and the United States through eyes other than those that we are used to. It was very cool and an opportunity that I wouldn't have had if I didn't have the job that I have right now. But it also speaks to a level of curiosity that we hope all of our students have. But along with curiosity and aesthetic interests, I would go back to what I've already mentioned. Students who are motivated by a desire to reflect and a desire to express what they've reflected on will find a lot to sustain them in our disciplines.

  [00:12:00] BHA: Thanks for offering that description. I know that our high school students listening, their ears might perk up when they say, “Oh, that's me,” or, “That sounds like me,” and might help give them the tools to begin to explore the humanities a little bit more deeply.

  I'd love to talk a little bit more about research. I know it's a big consideration for students who might be majoring in engineering or the sciences. But we know that those opportunities are widely available to students in the humanities as well, at least at schools like Bucknell, right?

  [00:12:27] AS: Yes. One of the things that Bucknell does really well is provide research opportunities for undergraduates. It's one of the big ways that Bucknell distinguishes itself among schools this size. In our disciplines, our students are taking part in translation projects, filmmaking and film-editing projects, bibliographical and historical research. One major project that is just getting started has to do with a literary and art journal that was running in the early part of the 20th century and that now a group of our colleagues have begun to edit and sort of bring back to life. This is a really exciting research idea that will involve several students.

  One of the things that we have at Bucknell, I think, because of the amount of resources that we have, certainly within the college, is we have a lot of opportunities and I think sort of an unrepresentative amount of opportunities for students to do research with their faculty. That's – as I said, it's a big sort of selling point for this school because it's unusual for schools this size.

  [00:13:29] BT: Are there ways that you recommend prospective students to find out what the research opportunities might look like at schools that they're looking at?

  [00:13:35] AS: Absolutely. I mean, one of the things that our office of admissions does here is Open Houses. One of the things that the Open Houses do is it provides parents and prospective students opportunities to meet faculty. So during those conversations, especially when somebody is difficultly and awkwardly looking for something to ask or something to say, one of the things to talk about is what that faculty member is working on right now and asking whether or not if they have any opportunities or if there's any room for students to help them out with it. The one thing that you can always be sure of with talking a faculty member is if you don't have anything to talk to them about, ask them about what they're working on.

  [00:14:16] BT: Yes. Opportunities like that are great for students to meet faculty like you and get a sense of not only what they'll study and research while they're in school but what they could do afterwards as well.

  So you mentioned the journey that you went through to get to where you in the humanities. Before we go, I'd like to end by acknowledging that perception that the humanities might not be a smart choice when it comes to a college degree, which we disagree with. So how can students who are interested in any of the subject we've discussed be confident in their decision to declare a humanities major?

  [00:14:44] AS: I mentioned what I said before about my own trajectory in terms of how I ended up where I've ended up. My desire straight out of high school was to major in English or in philosophy. My parents just said I was not going to be doing that. Neither of my parents went to college. So my parents had, on the one hand, a really kind of idealized idea about what being in college was like and what the result of going to college would be. But on the other hand, they didn't really know how much commitment, personal commitment it takes to study a subject. I don't blame them for that. It's just not something they would have known.

  I've started saying to undergraduates who are considering graduate school, for instance, and to graduate students in the academic job market, my advice to them is try to keep track of what motivates you and what is important to you. If you are happy with what you were doing, a lot of the rest will take care of itself. I have to be clear here. I understand where that concern comes from, especially when we're talking about going to a school as expensive as Bucknell is, something I still cannot get used to. But working in an area that really interests and sustains you.

  I think here the idea of sustenance is really important, right? You need to be getting something out of what you do, as opposed to merely thinking about what you're going to get out of doing it. So instead of solely focusing on whether or not something will get you a job, you want to think about what will make the biggest difference to you in the long term. In the long term, that kind of sustenance, that kind of genuine interest, I think, will sustain you.

  [00:16:12] BHA: Thank you so much for joining us and shedding some light on all that the humanities have to offer, both during the college experience and beyond.

  [00:16:20] BT: Thanks to everyone out there for listening. If you're a fan of the podcast, please take a moment to rate, subscribe, and share this episode with the students and families in your life.

  [00:16:28] BHA: We'll be back with another new episode in a few weeks. In the meantime, send your questions, comments, and episode ideas to podcast@bucknell.edu. We read every note you send.

  [00:16:37] BT: Finally, you're invited to follow Bucknell on your favorite social media apps. Just look for @bucknellu on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. You can also follow our student-run Instagram account which is @iamraybucknell.

  [00:16:48] BHA: Until next time, keep reaching for your dreams and your dream school.

  [END]