Scholars detail how disciplines offer value in cultivating mind, character but also enable fresh perspectives on societal, practical problems.
Moira Weigel, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, talked with Doris Sommer, Ira Jewell Williams Jr. Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and African and African American Studies, and Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School, about the increasing appetite for the humanities outside of academic settings, even as humanities departments in higher education nationwide are facing declining enrollment.
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“Humanities departments in universities have experienced a steep decline, but that’s not the case with humanities outside the universities, where literary festivals and book clubs and podcasts and other activities have enjoyed huge public interest and demand,” said Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and comparative literature, who organized the event.
Founded as a graduate program in 1904 and joining with the undergraduate Literature Concentration in 2007, Harvard’s Department of Comparative Literature operates at the crossroads of multilingualism, literary study, and media history.
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