Human(ities)
What isschool for?
An existential question I’ve been asking myself these last two weeks before I complete my Master’s in Hispanic Studies program. Since I am a product of the humanities, the Edelstien article was a pleasant surprise. While reading it, I thought to myself – perhaps studying obscure works, staying up until the crack of dawn trying to uncover the hidden meaning and social critiques done in literature, the endless hours spent researching the use of religious identity in colonial literature, the impact of the Latin-American Boom on the literary world, or the identity crisis of post-Franco Spain – wasn’t all in vain.
The humanities are important. I keep repeating to myself…
All jokes aside, this program has taught me to go beyond the surface, think critically…innovate.
However, I’ve not thought about it as innovation until reading the article, but yes, I can attest to that. The humanities – studying literature and history has taught me to be innovative, to view what has been done in a new light, to try to understand the reasoning behind the impact of words.
“To innovate is thus less to abandon the past than it is to tinker, transform, and revise what came before.” (Edelstien)
Many people ask why, why I’ve decided to study this…and to that I say- why not?
Imagine if the world was just engineering and coding etc? Humans need stories and art – to bring light to their life. To escape from the tediousness. At the end of the day.
The humanities create community, culture, and impact. STEM of course does too, is important in our society and for the trajectory of our future…but so are the humanities.
They make us…human. They remind us, that we are more, we have a past that affects our present, and that can also help us create a better future.