Alternative Worlds. The Humanities in 2010

Abstract

This report relates to the activities, deliberations and recommendations of the Working Group on the Future of the Humanities, created by SSHRC in May 1999. It assesses the state of humanities research and education in Canada at the beginning of the twenty-first century, identifies major trends and challenges and recommends ways to strengthen and build humanities in the future. It underscores the principles that should guide the reassessment of the humanities today, mainly that the humanities are central to the post-secondary education system, to a knowledgeable and productive workforce and to the viability of national cultures and civil society. It reminds us that Canada must remain a producer of new knowledge in an era of globalization. The report then issues a set of challenges and calls for action to humanities scholars themselves, emphasizing the need for them to assume responsibility for change, to set their own agenda and to integrate programs into the evolving realities of society and the university. In particular, it invites humanists to communicate their scholarship to the broadest possible public audience by striving to use an accessible language and to convey the importance of their role in shaping our collective civic life and in promoting a culture of enquiry and research.