Awakening the power of the humanities

Humanities Watch: How did Who’s Afraid of the Humanities? come about?

Thilini Prasadika: One year ago during Covid, I took advantage of the luxury of time on my hands. I sought a platform to find a voice, feeling alienated from academia. I had wanted to do a podcast, and thought about my struggle in my field, the humanities, and jobs and social security. My own background is from the lower middle-class and I have often faced economic insecurity. I thought about the humanities and its place, and related it to the vulnerability of the Global South. Sri Lanka has always been vulnerable in South Asia, too, which foreshadows the situation with the humanities. I first focused my attention on Sri Lanka and then reached out to other places, especially the Global South, and vulnerable groups: graduate students, adjunct teachers, to help them find their voice. I found myself talking to more established scholars too because they had relevant things to say: I sought out engaged humanities thinkers, involved in the community. Gayatri Spivak has been an influence, since she speaks about ethical healthcare and the role of humanities.

HW: What do you see as the mission or purpose of WAH?

TP: To contextualize the crisis of the humanities and bring to the fore the place of the Global South in this crisis, as well as the voices of those in marginalized positions who are not often heard: through this we hear the value, role, and purpose of the humanities and awaken others from their deep slumbers with respect to the humanities’ importance.

HW: Why are people afraid of the humanities, when so many of us are focused on STEM and business?

TP:To take an example: our parents discourage us from studying the humanities, as they are worried about economic opportunities and limited job opportunities (teaching, etc.). Humanities as a field without value is carved into their consciousness. People are made to believe in its lack of value. We can see this also in the ways the government has treated and funded the humanities. Those of us in the humanities possess the power of critique, the ability to engage in critical thinking and to know what makes us citizens: we can question the dominant political ideology, expressed through many forms of culture, that has suppressed the humanities in order to make us more obedient members of the state.

Humanities graduates are absolutely employable, but – at least in Sri Lanka – there is little employment for them. We are vulnerable because we lack economic and social security, and lack of a union or corporation. People are afraid of the humanities, because they – we – are in slumber and have been put into this slumber. It’s both internal and external: within the humanities, we are too comfortable living in our limited spheres and don’t reach out or risk our financial or social security. Academics may be critical within their boundaries (e.g., in gender studies, feminist studies), but they are not usually self-critical, and often narcissistic: we are not critical about our own positions and how they intersect with those of others.

HW: Tell us about your background and how it brought you to create WAH.

TP: As a graduate student from a lower-middle class background, I began this podcast. Now I am a temporary lecturer, and have some income, and also time to devote to the work, even as my employment creates a tension with feeling unable to speak out.

HW: How can people support what you do?

TP: Listen to the podcast! I want people to hear about the importance of the humanities and re-consider a decision to enter a STEM field. This is not a monetized channel, so financial support is not primary: the main support is to think about the humanities in a way they have not before. I first wanted the podcasts to be translated or subtitled into Sinhala or Tamil: this however takes 20 hours for a single podcast, especially with weekly interviews. For others who share my passion, I would love to have co-hosts, especially from other areas of the Global South – for example, Mexico or the Latin America.

But let me speak from experience. To those who want to start a podcast, do not let your initiative consume you; be sure to maintain a healthy space between you and your initiative. You need to keep a healthy balance, and be careful of burnout: that only makes you make you feel less confident. It has happened to me: you can learn from my example. By so doing, you can learn more and be more fulfilled.

HW: What are the major challenges facing the humanities today? Are there challenges specific to Sri Lanka, or do you consider them more general?

TP: Regarding the Sri Lankan context: there is a drive to militarize higher education here. The President is very much in favor of this drive, and the parliament is weighing a bill about this militarization. We need to speak out. Effects of militarization run counter to the democratic principles – dialogue, critical thinking – of the humanities. There is a real danger of the military taking over the educational system, including the universities. All education in Sri Lanka is free, paid for by the state. Since the end of the thirty-year civil war [in 2009, editor’s note] the military has taken on an increasingly prominent role in the country. It is of utmost importance for the humanities supporters to speak out against these developments, since they are antithetical to the humanities. The pandemic also threatens the humanities with budget cuts, as in other countries in the Global South.

HW: How can the humanities address problems or challenges in ways different from other fields of inquiry?

TP: At the end of day, what really matters is an education that fosters your critical thinking. That has been my experience after entering the English Department: it empowered me to question the system in which I was raised. We should value the humanities not simply as a supplementary or ancillary course for other disciplines: that is an unfortunate trend. And the humanities should not be “holier than thou”: we seek equality, as we are equally necessary as STEM fields. The fundamental thing is that they empower you with critical and creative thinking skills that enable to question yourself and other people and structures.

HW: Do you have specific people you’d like to interview in the coming year?

TP: I like people who represent intersections of different identities: gender diversity, queer, ethnic diversity: people who are in vulnerable, marginalized subject positions to speak about the power of the humanities, and are actively involved in what they do. For example, I have interviewed people who are weavers. They need not be professionally employed by the humanities – I am seeking to find people to use the humanities to question what they are doing and what others are doing.

For a podcast of Humanities Watch on Who’s Afraid of the Humanities, see here.