I’ve been having a hard time having thoughts about anything that isn’t general existential dread lately. It’s a big weight. The hits just keep coming - the news is terrible, all the time. But I am especially undone by the relentless barrage of negativity I consume, mostly through Twitter, about the decline of the arts and humanities in universities in the UK and the US, and also the mismanagement of museums. Everyday, I see thread after thread about “why I’m leaving the museum world” and “after 10 years of temporary part-time contracts, I’m calling it quits on academia.” It takes a certain amount of insanity to be pursuing a higher degree in a field (art history) that is constantly derided and defunded. I recently went to a talk about how to pursue an academic career, and I left after five minutes because the person giving a talk showed this graph:
Why even suggest an academic career, then, you know? What could I possibly get out of that talk? Good they’re honest, I guess. This graph ends ten years ago, and it has only gotten worse since then. There is a remarkable disconnect between university faculty and current postgraduate students at the moment, because most permanent faculty were hired in a time when the climate was different. They don’t have many suggestions on how to use research skills and a humanities PhD in innovative and creative ways outside the academy because they never had to.
I firmly, deeply believe in the importance of studying the humanities. It is the study of what makes us human, of the details of our culture and social structures, of the beautiful things that we create. The things that make life more than just a rat race. And I know that my work and the work of all of my peers who will never get to be professors will not be in vain, because we are contributing to better understandings of humanity. But I have to remind myself of this every single day.
I think many people see PhDs as passion projects now, especially in the humanities, because they know that they are not necessarily required for certain careers, and because they certainly aren’t leading to lucrative careers. Why would you want to spend 3+ years writing about a highly niche subject if it isn’t going to make you rich? In THIS economy? I hate this devaluing of research, of turning it into a hobby. My own PhD work is about women artists who were also often told their work was just a hobby. Not coincidentally, the majority of people who pursue PhDs in the humanities are women. Research consistently shows that when a profession becomes female dominated, pay and prestige drops. See: teachers, flight attendants, designers, camp counselors - all these professions were once done mostly by men, but when they became dominated by women, their associated pay and social caché declined.
We talk so much about the lack of women and girls in STEM, which is definitely a big problem. But we don’t talk so much about their dominance in the humanities (and social sciences), even though it is implied by their absence from STEM fields. The response to lack of women in STEM has been a sprouting up of programs to help them get their foot in the door, and there has been some talk of doing the same for men in the humanities, which could be cool. But that feels like a stop-gap solution based on the same sexist value systems that created this discrepancy in the first place. In other words, if we get more men into the humanities, it will be more valuable. How about we try: the humanities already ARE valuable, regardless of the gender of the people who currently study those subjects.
Universities in the UK have been cutting staff and funding for humanities departments for years. Goldsmiths University in London has been mired in student outrage over proposed cuts for months, and just last week the University of Wolverhampton, De Montfort University and the University of Roehampton all announced significant cuts to humanities departments including anthropology, performing arts departments, creative writing, philosophy, and classics. The same patterns are playing out across the US, and have been for years.
A key thing to note about all this mess is that many of the people in power in the UK studied humanities subjects at university. Boris Johnson famously read Classics, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss both read philosophy, politics, and economics, Michael Gove read English, and Kwasi Kwarteng read Classics AND English, to give you a sample of the highlights of the cabinet. It is almost (!!) as if these people learned from their rich educational experiences that having such a background enabled them to gain power and criticise existing institutions and social structures, which is certainly not something they want the general hoi polloi to be able to do. People will laugh this off, but I’m serious - nothing is attacked for no reason, and the humanities are a threat to the political right. Elite and wealthy students will always be able to study them, just like they will always land on their feet. But the majority of people seeking higher education are not at elite institutions, and it is those places where the cuts are being made most aggressively.
It’s almost morbidly vindicating to be so constantly attacked in this way, because it underlines the potential power of a highly educated, humanist populace. Access to knowledge will always be political, because, as they always say, knowledge is power. But the longer these attacks go on, the fewer people get opportunities to learn and think critically, and so the fewer people there are to defend the importance of these opportunities.
I spend a lot of time and energy everyday reminding myself that my work has value and that, just like Boris Johnson, I can do anything (literally whatever tf I want) with a humanities degree. I wish I didn’t have to use my energy this way - I wish I could use it all to actually do my work and get on with things. It is yet another way in which our work is attacked. I don’t have an answer to this crisis, and I don’t blame anyone for leaving academia or for leaving museums/arts nonprofits. I’m sure I will one day, too, when I am truly at the end of my rope and in need of emotional and financial stability. In the meantime, I will be in the library.
Some Other Things I’m Thinking About
Devastating, devastating news of more murdered children in Texas, and the equally devastating knowledge that there is nothing we can do
The 10 year anniversary of the hostile environment immigration policy in the UK, which, though the numbers show it has not worked at all to deter immigrants from coming to the UK, has worked very well to make their (our) lives extremely frustrating and often miserable
The end of Derry Girls, which made me weep. What a beautiful show and what a terrible piece of British history.
Notes to Self by Emilie Pine, a truly exquisite essay collection/memoir
Artle (lol they just keep coming)
