The Humanities and the University: crisis and futur

Abstract

This article aims at understanding the Humanities in the current historical period. It addresses the question of the aim and purpose of technology and of its impact — particularly in Brazilian universities. It examines how the scientific work of the University is increasingly dependent on technology (which is itself in thrall to corporate agendas). What are the implications of this for research and teaching in the Humanities? How are we to understand the universities’ practice of promoting, across a number of technological fields, research aimed at accelerating the pace of development in order to meet the demands of the market? How will poor countries be able to recover a sense of history as a process (evolving time, scale and social change)? Which methodological paths will set the Humanities free from a pragmatic compliance with the demands of such a world and enable the recovery of their role as a critic of the historic process?