Category Archives: Defining “Liberal Arts”

Third Thought: On Relevance

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Timothy Burke

One of the best threads running through the events of the last week has been a critique by some students that classes at Swarthmore that are about race, class, gender, sexual orientation, that seem to be about oppression or marginalization, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Defining "Liberal Arts", Swarthmore | 3 Comments

The Humane Digital

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Timothy Burke

As a way of tackling both the question “whither the humanities” and the thorny issue of defining “digital humanities” in relationship to that question, I’ll offer this: maybe one strategy is to talk about what can make intellectual work humane. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Defining "Liberal Arts", Digital Humanities, Oh Not Again He's Going to Tell Us It's a Complex System | 3 Comments

A Different Diversity

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Timothy Burke

Following on Carl Edgar Blake II’s description of his abilities, let’s go back to the question of whether faculty in higher education ought to have doctorates, whether doctoral study in some form roughly resembling its present structure is the best … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Defining "Liberal Arts", Generalist's Work, Swarthmore | 2 Comments

Definitions of “Liberal Arts”: 1

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Timothy Burke

Carl Edgar Blake II, Iowa pig farmer: ““I can build a motorcycle, I can fly a model airplane, I can throw somebody out of a bar, I can wrestle a pig and I can program a computer…”

Posted in Defining "Liberal Arts", Good Quote, Bad Quote | 2 Comments