The Politics of Research

Brief Description: "Eloquent, provocative, and timely, these essays provide a thoughtful, undoctrinaire defense of the centrality of the humanities to higher education--and society--at the millennium."--Cora Kaplan, University of Southampton The crisis in the humanities and higher education intensifies daily. The partisan din drowns out the voices of those thinkers who have resisted the seductions of strong ideology. Against the tendencies of the extreme attacks on higher education from the right and the counterattacks from the left, many academics would prefer to get beyond critical fashions and easy slogans. In this collection, leading scholars demonstrate how the current furor threatens the critical analysis of culture, so vital to a healthy society. They explore the historical sources of the crisis, the relations between politics and research, the responsibilities and possibilities of the academic intellectual, the structure of the institution of the university, the functions and achievements of the humanities, and the development of interdisciplinarity as a catalyst for change. This volume is a necessary resource for understanding the current crisis and for transforming the academy as we approach the twenty-first century. The contributors are Jonathan Arac, Lauren Berlant, Peter Brooks, Roman de la Campa, Myra Jehlen, Stanley Katz, Richard Kramer, Dominick LaCapra, George Levine, Ellen Messer-Davidow, Helene Moglen, Bill Readings, and Bruce Robbins. E. Ann Kaplan is the director of The Humanities Institute at the State University of New York at Stony BrookMarc Notes: How the current partisan furor threatens the critical analysis of culture; Avail. in cloth at $50.00. Publisher Marketing: The crisis in the humanities and higher education intensifies daily. In this collection, leading scholars demonstrate how the current furor threatens the critical analysis of culture, so vital to a healthy society. They explore the historical sources of the crisis, the relations between politics and research, the responsibilities and possibilities of the academic intellectual, the structure of the institution of the university, the functions and achievements of the humanities, and the development of interdisciplinarity as a catalyst for change. This volume is a necessary resource for understanding the current crisis and for transforming the academy as we approach the twenty-first century. Publisher Marketing: To counter the attacks on the humanities and higher education from both the right and left, this work attempts to demonstrate how the critical analysis of culture is being threatened. Scholars explore the source of the crisis, and the relations between politics and research.

Contributor Bio:  Kaplan, E Ann E. Ann Kaplan is Professor of English and the first Director of the Humanities Institute, State University of New York, Stony Brook. She is also a widely published author. Contributor Bio:  Levine, George In 1993, the author was Kenneth Burke Professor of English and director of the Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. He retired from teaching in 2006 and is now professor emeritus of English at Rutgers.