tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post7827530556729104225..comments2024-03-11T02:18:33.966-05:00Comments on Kritik: Author's Roundtable 2: Response from Antoinette BurtonAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13200566567765991464noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-24573132292305986162009-11-04T14:08:26.543-06:002009-11-04T14:08:26.543-06:00A year or two ago, some humanists and artists from...A year or two ago, some humanists and artists from our campus had this to say about the role of the arts and humanities:<br /><br />The arts and humanities make available a broad array of comparative, historical, critical, and creative approaches to the exploration of the meanings and values of human endeavors. Research in the arts and humanities leads to new knowledge about such topics as human communities, forms of thought, beliefs, the emotions, the mind, modes of expression. Work in this area produces new methods of critical reflections, new modes and media of expression, and new objects of study.<br /><br />Increasingly rapid changes in our global, interdependent, and technologically complex world pose challenges and create opportunities to which humanists and artists are well-positioned to respond: such changes necessitate the transmission and reinterpretation of cultural traditions, and call for an ever expanding, interdisciplinary vision of fundamental knowledge.<br /><br />The arts and humanities train students in critical literacy: the capacity to evaluate information critically, to read beyond the surface of any statement, to see what is most salient in a complex issue or text, and to reflect on their own capacities for knowledge. Critical literacy, like literacy in math and science, is a crucial skill for all participants in a democracy. Critically literate citizens require basic knowledge in art, literature, histories, cultures, and languages of the world. Through their attention to the histories, meanings, and values of human cultures, the arts and humanities bring students and the public into contact with difference, an encounter that can be both enriching and disruptive. The arts and humanities help us learn from and reflect on the dangerous tensions and creative possibilities that accompany cultural difference.<br /><br />The arts and humanities offer students an opportunity to experience methods of inquiry, problem-solving, and discovery that are frequently different from those practiced in the realms of science and technology; methods that might be visual, performative, non-verbal, non-linear, or even intuitive. Yet these modes of research, synthesis, and expression can often yield results that are surprising, innovative, and powerful. These creative skills and methodologies have application across the full range of the professional practices, intellectual pursuits, and personal lives of tomorrow’s citizens and leaders.Harriet Muravnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8617857852696675419.post-6163101668926595572009-10-28T11:08:53.730-05:002009-10-28T11:08:53.730-05:00Insightful, brilliant, incisive, and merciless. Th...Insightful, brilliant, incisive, and merciless. Thank you, Antoinette.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06707283174087681030noreply@blogger.com