Humanities in Jamaica: a call for urgent development. From the article:

“Employers prefer humanities graduates,” said Nicole Plummer, associate dean for marketing and outreach in the Faculty of Humanities and Education at The University of the West Indies, Mona. She added with strong conviction that the faculty was equipped and ready to address the demands that are being presented, especially in the post-COVID-19 world.

Her enthusiasm is buoyed by the fact that there is a conscientious thrust to explore the possibilities of the orange economy – the term for the cultural and creative industries.

“Jamaica is well known for its creative industries,” Plummer said. She cited the Creative Economy Report (2010) published under the auspices of the United Nations, which stressed that Jamaica should place more emphasis on reggae, film, and other creative pursuits to boost the economy.

“The report highlighted that though other areas struggled, in the cultural and creative industries, Jamaica earned a trade surplus of US$6 million, and over the last eight or so years, the cultural and creative industries have continued to grow and contribute almost three per cent of the island’s GDP.

“The only shortcoming is that as an island that keeps stressing STEM and business, there are not enough skilled individuals to expand the industry,” Plummer said. “The faculty is doing as much as it can to fill this gap through its programmes that combine practice and theory with multi- and interdisciplinarity.”…

Studying humanities, according to her, is not mundane and theory-driven, as it is broadly perceived. The opportunities for exploring one’s creative acumen are many.

“In this new international economy, flexibility is prized,” Plummer said. “As a result, students who pursue interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary programmes are prized. Why do psychology alone when you can do psychology, literature, and history?”

For other posts on humanities and jobs, see here.