The Humanities’ Time to Shine
New director has high hopes for expanded BU Center for the Humanities
Juliet Floyd believes the humanities are where we work out solutions to many of the world’s thorniest issues, from the rise of artificial intelligence to increased political division to declines in mental health.
“I really want to make the case that the humanities are more obviously becoming very fundamental in our world,” says Floyd, who became director of the BU Center for the Humanities (BUCH) in July 2023.
Floyd, the Borden Parker Bowne Professor of Philosophy, says she plans to sustain and build on the work of Susan Mizruchi, the previous director, such as supporting faculty research and adding internship opportunities for students.
In 2022, Floyd cochaired a committee with Margarita Guillory, an associate professor of religion and African American & Black diaspora studies, to expand BUCH’s 1981 charter. She now assumes leadership of a center that is growing its staff and mission to adapt to an increasingly connected, digital world, where ethical questions about public discourse and artificial intelligence dominate the marketplace of ideas. Guillory and Daniel Abramson, a professor of American and European architecture, will serve as the center’s associate directors.
The revamped BUCH will focus on three initiatives besides research. One of them is leadership. Floyd wants to support the development of “strong voices that are trained in the humanities to go out into the world” as leaders in conversations around ethics and meaning beyond academia, within public institutions, museums, or corporations.
The second, BUCH’s Digital Humanities Initiative, will be led by Guillory and will support research into new digital tools to curate, preserve, disseminate, and analyze human culture in all its forms. It will also support research into larger ethical questions about digital advancements, such as how best to use AI systems like ChatGPT or how to mitigate biases or blindspots built into digital archives.
Finally, the expanded charter recognizes the “increasingly transnational and global” nature of the humanities, in the opportunities for funding from abroad, work on intercultural understanding, and scholarship on issues that every nation is grappling with, such as language translation, immigration, gender, and ethics of care.
The humanities are a frequent target of those who criticize the relevance of a four-year college degree, and some universities are eliminating programs to cut costs. But Floyd isn’t fazed by attacks on her field, and even believes they make the case for the importance of humanities.
“Why attack it?” she says. “It shows that you’re interested. It shows that the power of the humanities in educating people in the ways of history, language, and culture and the ethics of conversation is very, very important.”