Of Books and Letters: An Inquiry into the Foundations of Humanism

• In Event: 352 - Theory Section Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Culture and Materiality

Abstract

As the socio-political climate of the 21st century increasingly assumes anti-human characteristics, humanism, as an ideological program, must be critically reexamined. This paper scales down from the theoretical perspective of humanism to a critical reappraisal of its foundation, which is understood to be a project of literacy and letters. As the ideological questions surrounding humanism continue to entice the sociologically minded, who are faced with mounting evidence of rising inequalities in the world today, it is worth our time and attention to examine the foundation of our transformative ideas on which a better world could be constructed. To that end I move from a large theoretical perspective on humanism and its foundation in literacy and voluntary reading, to brief overview of the major currents in 20th century humanism, and finally look at an institutional view of the overlap between books and humanism in contemporary American society. The resulting narrative is one which suggests that greater attention must be paid to the role of the academic as archivist, including just what that means for our contribution to society.

Author

• Joel Crombez, University of Tennessee-Knoxville