Woodward considers the current state of public scholarship in the humanities, specifically in the American context. She argues that by and large universities have not lived up to their civic mission of community engagement, although there are many good reasons to embrace public scholarship, and many examples of important and successful public scholarship initiatives (some of which are listed by Woodward). She calls for “more emphasis in the conversations about the public humanities on the importance of intellectuals writing for publics larger than our professional circles” (120). Notably, Woodward acknowledges the role of the digital humanities in encouraging more public humanities activities. She considers the reach of the digital realm promising for connecting with more people over humanities issues, and concludes that “online scholarly publication can generate face-to-face communication” (122).

 

Work cited

Woodward, Kathleen. 2009. “The Future of the Humanities in the Present & in Public.” Daedalus 138 (1): 110–23. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40543879