Future Plan
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 1 First off, the digital humanities should definitely be concerned with the transfer of neoliberal policies to the university. This is an issue that affects everyone in the university in the long-term and brings the idea of education itself into question. Neoliberalism in universities is something every academic should be aware of and actively analyzing, if not actively protesting or resisting. That said, I think DH is not in a great position to do this. As pointed out at the very beginning of “The Dark Side of Humanities,” “the same neoliberal logic that informs the ongoing destruction of the mainstream humanities has encouraged foundations, corporations, and university administrations to devote new resources to the digital humanities.” The university is also competitive and DH is getting increased funding and attention because of the effects of neoliberalism. Asking DH to fight neoliberalism in universities is asking DH to fight its own funding, essentially to shoot itself in the foot.
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 However, I would ask that they do this anyway. Chun makes the argument using Berlant’s term of cruel optimism, meaning that we want something that hurts us. In this case, for the humanities and the academy in general, that’s DH. DH looks awful appealing when we think about hiring potential. However, Chun accurately points out that “the hardest thing about cruel optimism is that, even as it destroys us in the long term, it sustains us in the short term.” Meaning that even though DH might be complicate in neoliberalism, right now it looks like the savior of the humanities. We must look beyond the tree and see the forest, the future of how neoliberalism seeks to corrupt the university. If DH could just make a couple changes, and at least take a strong official position against neoliberalism, then I believe they could still get their temporary funding and fight for a more permanent cause.
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 1 DH, as a field, and the humanities can respond to and prevent increased corporatization within the university by doing what the humanities has always done; talk, publish, and teach. Neoliberalism is a large, long-term trend and this battle will not be short or without compromise. Just taking an official position against neoliberalism in the university can be a big step towards progress in the right direction and it must be the first step. Public awareness is a natural sequence after taking such a stance and so talking about the problems of DH and of neoliberal education in general needs to occur on public platforms. These terms need to be household words; I, for one, hadn’t heard the term neoliberal applied to the university explicitly before this class. In raising public awareness, we need to publish about this topic, through academic venues and also public ones. DHers must take to Twitter, Facebook, eBooks, and popular newspapers (as they already have done) to discuss the implications of their own field. As I argued in my previous blog post, discussion leads to progress (which is why knowledge as an implication of a cycle is so important) so just getting the conflict out there should be the first priority. Those in DH and the humanities who teach can do just that; bring the discussion to the classroom. Teach kids about the corporatization of the universities in lower level classes so that everyone can get involved. This exposure will make more young adults aware and, hopefully, passionate about resisting neoliberalism.
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 1 The previous strategies focus on public awareness and discussion but DH can do something more, it can build. And so building must also be added to our arsenal of corporate fighting tools. If neoliberalism wants to encourage alt-ac careers and the outsourcing of humanities projects to non-scholars, then DHers could create online databases and resources. There are unlimited possibilities for such tools. Databases could include a job search website for Dhers that exclude alt-ac positions. Resources such as a large-scale website where teachers post meaningful discussions in both DH and/or humanities classrooms could show the public why debate and so-called “soft skills” are just as important as, if not more important than, hard skill training for jobs. Another website could function like FML.com where those in the university can post real-life examples of neoliberalism negatively affecting their university to prove that this is a wide-spread problem. A strong professors union could be created to defend job security and fight this trend. I believe the key to resisting the corporatization of the universities lies in collaboration, which DH has always touted as one of their defining qualities, along with heightened awareness and discussion.
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Towards the end of the essay, Raley says that “if, as sometimes seems to be the case, the digital humanities is the hill on which the humanities has chosen to stake its last claim for relevance, to fight its last battle for recognition, then we would do well to examine the field and identify not just the exploits but perhaps also the lines of escape.” Identifying the exploits and either trying to use them to our advantage or fixing them has played a role in my previous strategies. However, Raley seems to indicate that the humanities should also be prepared to “escape” the DH battle and fight another day or through another means. Is the implication that the humanities must be prepared for DH to fail them as the savior? I disagree with the phrasing. This struggle against the corporatization of the university can’t end with one battle on the DH hill; we must dig in for the long haul and resist the problem from multiple angles. DH is not our only hope but it certainly brings strong opportunities to the table. The humanities must try to re-establish its significance while DH focuses on spreading the word about neoliberalism in the univerisity. And then, when the humanities and DH feel on almost equal ground, they can work with other disciplines to show administration and the public that neoliberalism has no permanent or wanted place in the university. If we can convince the public and scholars, the administration will have no choice but to change policy.
Interesting point about DH shooting itself in the foot in order to fight neoliberalism in universities. It makes me think DH is not the field that should be doing the fighting against neoliberalism, because DH is benefitting from neoliberalism, and we wouldn’t ask a star basketball athlete to cut off one of their feet in order for it to be studies and replicated in a bunch of other basketball players (bullshit analogy, I know).