Global Humanities

This application is the first part of a larger long-term project on the establishment of an Academy of Global Humanities. Responding to a sense of political, economic and environmental crisis, scholars in the humanities agree that there is a need for a new interpretative framework of the world. Today’s multi-layered crisis highlights the inadequacy of the globalization model based on narratives of market-fundamentalism. Instead of conjuring up imaginaries of global cohesion imposed by the fiction of an abstract market, there is a need for a language that contributes to global communications about human differences and similarities. This calls for global narratives based on global humanities and insights of the possibilities and responsibilities of human agency. We argue that a broad global approach in humanities should prepare the ground for a new understanding of life on earth, in particular living together, under mutual recognition and responsibility. The research will explore the theoretical and logistic possibilities for global humanities. We will take stock of the global cover in core disciplines for our undertaking. We will also set the foundation for a longer-term project. This involves ascertaining available resources, preparing a major conference on the theme, and working with local and international stakeholders to establish STIAS as a platform for the future academy of global humanities.