What are the humanities?

What are the humanities?

Being Human Festival defines the humanities broadly to encompass the subject areas traditionally associated with the study of the human world. This includes, for example, art history, archaeology, architecture, classics, cultural studies, history, film, languages, literature, musicology, philosophy, theatre studies, and religious studies.

The festival is not limited to humanities research but builds upon it, welcoming knowledge from all disciplines in addition to core study of the humanities. We celebrate humanities “plus” – social science, natural science, performing and fine arts, medicine, all areas of research can work with the humanities to enhance understanding.

The humanities form an essential cornerstone of human knowledge and culture around the world. They have been studied and celebrated for thousands of years and form the basis of our understanding of ourselves and our relation to the world and each other. They provide tools for communication and debate, the means through which to articulate and interrogate complex ideas, and ways of understanding our past and anticipating our futures. We need the humanities now more than ever to help us address these issues and help us question, interpret and explain the human condition.

We believe that the humanities inspire and enrich our everyday lives; they help us understand ourselves, our relationships with others and the challenges we face in a changing world. They help us understand being human. We are on a mission to make research in the humanities enjoyable and accessible to all!