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Frederick Luis Aldama
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Why the Humanities Matter: A Commonsense Approach Kindle Edition

by Frederick Luis Aldama (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
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This wide-ranging study of the influence of postmodernism on contemporary culture offers a trenchant and uplifting defense of the humanities.
 
Is there life after postmodernism? Many claim that it sounded the death knell for history, art, ideology, science, possibly all of Western philosophy, and even the concept of reality itself. Responding to essential questions regarding whether the humanities can remain politically and academically relevant amid this twenty-first-century uncertainty, Why the Humanities Matter offers a guided tour of the modern condition, calling upon thinkers in a variety of disciplines to affirm essential concepts such as truth, goodness, and beauty.
 
Through a lens of “new humanism,” Frederick Aldama provides a liberating examination of the current cultural repercussions of assertions by such revolutionary theorists as Said, Foucault, Lacan, and Derrida, as well as Latin Americanists such as Sommer and Mignolo. Emphasizing pedagogy and popular culture with equal verve, Aldama presents an enlightening way to explore what “culture” actually does—who generates it and how it shapes our identities—and the role of academia in sustaining it.
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  1. Print length
    393 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    University of Texas Press
  5. Publication date
    September 15, 2009
  6. File size
    1684 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"In his wide-ranging new study, Frederick Aldama is ahead of the curve, ratcheting up the kind of synthetic, interdisciplinary work one finds in writers like Frans de Waal, Patrick Colm Hogan, Andy Clark, and Susan Oyama to a vision of the humanities itself as a field permeated everywhere by scientific insight. In this, Aldama energetically pursues what E. O. Wilson called 'consilience,' but at its broadest level and with a respect both for scientific reductionism and for its limitations at this level of complexity." (Porter Abbott, Research Professor Emeritus, Department of English, University of California, Santa Barbara)

"This is one of the most versatile, colloquially written, and philosophically astute readings of the American politics of race and the university that one can find anywhere. In the name of a 'new humanism' based on struggle, Aldama draws (at times humorously) on his experiences as a teacher to give a persuasive account of the self based (of all things) on neuroscience and evolutionary biology. An exciting book." (Timothy Brennan, Professor, Departments of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, and English, University of Minnesota)

Review

In his wide-ranging new study, Frederick Aldama is ahead of the curve, ratcheting up the kind of synthetic, interdisciplinary work one finds in writers like Frans de Waal, Patrick Colm Hogan, Andy Clark, and Susan Oyama to a vision of the humanities itself as a field permeated everywhere by scientific insight. In this, Aldama energetically pursues what E. O. Wilson called 'consilience,' but at its broadest level and with a respect both for scientific reductionism and for its limitations at this level of complexity. -- Porter Abbott, Research Professor Emeritus, Department of English, University of California, Santa Barbara

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00992OXS0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Texas Press (September 15, 2009)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 15, 2009
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1684 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 393 pages

About the author

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Frederick Luis Aldama

Frederick Luis Aldama

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Frederick Luis Aldama, aka Professor Latinx, is an award-winning author of fiction, comics, and scholarly books. He uses insights from narrative theory, cognitive science, and Latinx critical cultural theory to enrich understanding of the creation, distribution, and consumption of Latinx pop culture, especially comic books, TV, animation, and film. At UT Austin he holds the Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, is Director of the Latinx Pop Lab, and Affiliate Faculty in Radio-TV-Film. He is Distinguished University Professor (adjunct) at The Ohio State University.

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