Rights of Humanities

A frequent criticism of current humanities instruction is that it focuses on what to think, rather than how to think. The humanities have become dogmatic and provincial. At its recent conference, the Modern Language Association confronted this criticism and some scholars urged a reconsideration of the status quo.

While some scholars see a need to rethink the role and place of the humanities, others continue to advocate a multiculturalist and progressive dogma, hostile to opposing outlooks. Toni Morrison participated in a discussion concerning the role of human rights in the humanities, espousing a cultural relativist and anti-globalist platform. Another discussion focused on teaching human rights in liberal arts curriculum. The discussion, “Putting Human Rights in the Humanities Curriculum,” featured four panelists from the University of California at Berkeley: Victoria Kahn, Francine Masiello, Susan Maslan, and Alan Tansman.

Victoria Kahn discussed the connection between the humanities and human rights and the problem of joining the pair. The nature of the discussion, according to Kahn, is a “way of saying the humanities alone are not enough.” The humanities can reach into the world of political activism by promoting new thinking on human rights. As evidence, Kahn offered the contrast of human rights and free trade, which, she noted, “do not go hand in hand.”

Alan Tansman noted the importance of teaching and helping students to “be sensitive citizens of the world.” The purpose of human rights in the Humanities is to enable students to “sympathize” and “empathize.”

Francine Masiello discussed the human context of human rights in terms of literary representation. “What is literature supposed to do?” she asked, referring to the role of literature in the broadening of human rights. Masiello asserted that “literature asserts us to future action” in human rights, with the underlying message that literary representation can dismiss truth in order to achieve a desired radical end.

She pointed to the case of Rigoberta Menchu to explain the “gap between experience and representation.” Menchu wrote an autobiography in 1987 and later won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, as a result of the book. Anthropologist David Stoll, however, later found that much of the personal account was false. However, academics and others have largely dismissed these developments in deference to the Marxist ideology that her story, which chronicles human rights abuses, promotes.

The Modern Language Association met December 27-30 in Philadelphia for its 120th annual conference. The MLA consists of graduate students and professors of languages and literatures. The conference features nearly 800 panel discussions and reception and welcomes over 9,000 students and professors.