The Public Humanities Turn: The University as an Instrument of Cultural Transformation

Humanities have the potential to transform human culture—and an obligation to preserve it.

In The Public Humanities Turn, Philip Lewis argues that universities are uniquely equipped to act as catalysts for cultural change in the face of the climate crisis. In closely linked essays that explore the evolution of the academic humanities in the era of climate change, he foregrounds the rise of the public humanities, a movement that has been gaining momentum over the past two decades.

Surveying a...