Mapping Frontier Research in the Humanities

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Knowledge production in academia today is burgeoning and increasingly interdisciplinary in nature. Research within the humanities is no exception: it is distributed across a variety of methodic styles of research and increasingly involves interactions with fields outside the narrow confines of the university. As a result, the notion of liberal arts and humanities within Western universities is undergoing profound transformations. In Mapping Frontier Research in the Humanities, the contributors explore this transformative process. What are the implications, both for the modes of research and for the organisation of the humanities and higher education The volume explores the intra- and extra-academic engagement of humanities researchers, their styles of research, and exemplifies their interdisciplinary character. The humanities are shaping debates about culture and identity, but how Has neuroscience changed the humanities What do they tell us about hypes and economic bubbles What is their international agenda Drawing on a number of case studies from the humanities, the perceived divide between classical and post-academic modes of research can be captured by a republican theory of the humanities. Avoiding simple mechanical metrics, the contributors suggest a heuristic appreciation of different types of impact and styles of research. From this perspective, a more composite picture of research on human culture, language and history emerges. It goes beyond rational agents, and situates humanities research in more complex landscapes of collective identities, networks, and constraints that open for new forms of intellectual leadership in the 21st century.

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Mapping Frontier Research in the Humanities tackles a central irony of contemporary academic culture: the humanities, dismissed as marginal or irrelevant, are increasingly central to understanding the role of science and technology in our lives. Its empirical approach to mapping the current state and possible futures of humanistic knowledge may unsettle humanists, which is all to the good. * Robert Frodeman, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Texas, USA *
This compelling book gives a most welcome account of knowledge production in the humanities, showing both their interdisciplinary place amongst the disciplines, as well as their central position in solving societal challenges. It should be compulsory reading for scholars, scientists and policy makers alike. * Rens Bod, Professor in Digital Humanities and History of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands *

Author Bio

Claus Emmeche is Associate Professor in the Center for the Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies at the Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. David Budtz Pedersen is Associate Project Manager of Humanomics in the Department of Media, Cognition and Communication's Philosophy Section at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Frederik Stjernfelt is Professor of Semiotics, the History of Ideas and the Theory of Science in the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.