The Public and the Humanities

The Public and the Humanities

In eschewing academic understandings of the humanities, the state and jurisdictional councils are speaking to a public that generally understands the practice of the humanities more than the concept of the term itself. In developing a 2019 survey on the role of the humanities in public life, the Humanities Indicators polled 175 adults in the United States about their understanding of the humanities. A notable share of respondents connected the term to activities like giving blood, the fine and performing arts, and, in at least one case, the sciences (“because they are about human beings, right?”).24 For the broader survey, when asked about specific disciplines and activities within the humanities, the public responded more favorably than when asked about the humanities as a whole. A 2025 report from Harmony Labs examining public attitudes toward the humanities in media similarly notes that, while humanities practices are thriving in public life, less than 1 percent of that practice is centered on the study of the humanities, focusing instead on forms of actively making sense and meaning.25

The Harmony Labs report echoes the Humanities Indicators’ earlier prioritization of mode over discipline:

If the humanities are broadly conceived—as a set of humanistic practices and skills that may connect to academic study of humanities subjects but often are not necessarily part of the academy—you will find considerable engagement with and support for the field in the general public.26

The state councils have been working with this understanding for more than fifty years. They position themselves as facilitators of this practice, choosing not to lean on the ad hoc category of “the humanities” that characterizes academic notions of the field and instead focusing on the practices of humanities work that are thriving in public life. In defining the public humanities, the state councils are meeting members of the public where they are, putting them in the driver’s seat, equipping them with the tools they need to cocreate with experts in the field, and helping them master the skills that will allow them to make sense of their world and take an active role in composing it.