NeMLA 2023 - Human(ities) Matters: Academia, Community, and Civic Life (Roundtable)

The humanities as an academic field has always been predicated on helping societies harness critical knowledge in improving our understanding of the human condition. Yet, scholars in the humanities continue to have a challenging time bridging their work with the larger preoccupations of the community, continuing to be weighed down by the twin discourses of triviality or the “Ivory Tower”. The rise of public humanities–the work of engaging communities-at-large in the intersections of history, traditions, humanistic culture, and material realities of civic life–is a testament to the value that humanities scholars can bring to the public when they are able to translate their high-level academic skills into transformative prospects outside the university.

This roundtable seeks to bridge traditional notions of academic humanities with the material needs of communities and civic life to advance the possibility that academia and the fields outside it are not mutually exclusive but can be mutually beneficial. To this end, we invite participants who are actively engaged in both academic and non-academic practices, as well as also those with advanced academic degrees but who have since transitioned to fields such as policy, advocacy, commercial publishing, analytic journalism, cultural production, entertainment media, for-profit research, and non-profit organizations, among others. Possible discussion points include:

1) bridging academic research with industry, community needs, or public-facing communication;

2) leveraging advanced degrees and transferable skills toward public policy, servant leadership, and management;

3) improving accessibility to (and of) arts, humanities, and social science;

4) imparting strategies to retool academic networks for non-academic purposes using professional platforms like LinkedIn;

5) participating in social entrepreneurship, corporate responsibility, and public intellectualism;

6) fostering liaisons between the university and non-academic organizations.

Please submit proposals of around 250 words, as well as a brief bio, on how you intend to address one or more of the talking points above.

Since this is a GSC-sponsored roundtable, non-GSC officers may be tapped to be co-chairs. Submit abstracts here directly: https://www.cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/19925