Debating the relevance of Humanities in the Digital Age

“It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.” - Steve Jobs

The necessity of the Humanities in the digital age has become a topic of intense debate among policymakers and academicians worldwide. Regrettably, many of these discussions have found more reasons to sideline Humanities and favour STEM subjects. This trend has led to a decline in the disciplines' popularity in higher education institutions, leading to significant cut in the financial support for Humanities programmes. 

The social perception that mostly celebrates rather than laments the decline of Humanities is a reflection of a distorted idea of knowledge. Seen through the neoliberal lens, it is the market economy that analyse the (ir)relevance of any episteme in the contemporary world. Neoliberalism adopts a "technical rationalist approach" towards education leading to its commodification and the formation of knowledge capitalism. The learner is redefined as a 'knowledge worker' who uses one's expertise in contributing towards the economy. 

As knowledge gets reimagined as a new form of capital that can be monetised and invested, subjects that can facilitate the creation of economic value are promoted. The educational institutions are expected to boost this 'knowledge economy' by creating linkages with industry and by building collaborations. This leads to the privileging of courses that groom the students to be 'market-ready'. The student becomes a consumer of knowledge whose proficiency is evaluated through standardised tests (mostly in the form of objective questions) that are driven by the requirements of the market. 

Any society that considers economic growth and employability as the ultimate end of education is digging its own grave. As meritocracy becomes the norm and socio-cultural capital enjoyed by an individual is invisibilised, the distance between the elites and non-elites increases. When educational spaces conceive knowledge merely as a 'product' that can create wealth, the fundamental values of a democratic society - for instance, sense of justice and equity - gradually takes a backseat in favour of technocracy. 

While societies across the globe are hard bent on constructing techno-citizens, human beings are in the throes of a dangerous mutation into automatons. The gradual erasure of Humanities paves the way for mechanistic approaches to life and relationships, reducing all and sundry into algorithms. What most of the educationists and policy makers have overlooked in this entire paradigm is the seminal role played by Humanities in grooming a generation sensitive and sensible enough to critique and challenge the norms and to strive towards making the world a better place for the entire eco-system. 

Rather than training youth to be minions of the neoliberal economy, the onus is upon us to reconceive knowledge to transcend the current reductive approach. Knowledge, beyond its materiality, should offer an enriching experience to the learners that enhance their social and political perceptions. Instead of being preoccupied with quantity, they should be equally concerned about the qualitative changes that knowledge brings into their lives, relationships and opinions. Too much of science and technology at the cost of Humanities would further worsen the conflicts and violences in society. It is upon the educational institutions and curriculum designers to nurture Humanities to sharpen the interpretative and analytical skills of the learners. Besides, there should also be enough funding and career opportunities that can bring the best scholars into this field for research, teaching and policy making.

Strengthening Humanities is one of the best options to  curb divisiveness and authoritarianism in society. A society with greater number of people who are wary of exclusionary norms and repressive regimes together with being self-reflexive enough to regularly contest their own ideological positions is our only hope in these turbulent times.