Workshop on the Humanities at Middlesex University this week
Wednesday 3 November 2010, 11am-6pm, Saloon, Trent Park campus

What are the Humanities and what are they for? What is the university, and what is it for? Isn’t Humanities education an essential component of what a university does, or should be doing? How to react to the recent cuts in funding for the Humanities in the Higher Education sector? What do students and teachers in the Humanities need to do to protect their disciplines? What do they need to do to renew the relation of those disciplines to the historical present?

In the past five years Middlesex University has abandoned teaching and research in two key Humanities subjects, History (closed in 2006) and Philosophy (admissions stopped in 2010). It appears to be on course to reduce all of its Humanities provision. This workshop will be a forum for students and teachers to discuss the future of Humanities at Middlesex and in the UK in general. Speakers are: Matthew Charles, Andrew Goffey, Dave Hill, Johann Hoiby, Christian Kerslake, Andrew McGettigan, Alfie Meadows, Marie-Louise Rosbech and Marina Vishmidt.

The Middlesex workshop dovetails with two events taking place later this week in London at Birkbeck College. On Thursday 4 November, Onora O’Neill will give a speech on ‘The Two Cultures Fifty Years On’. On 5 November, Birkbeck will be hosting the conference ‘Why Humanities?’

The workshop is co-organised by Andrew Goffey (a.goffey@mdx.ac.uk) and Christian Kerslake (c.kerslake@mdx.ac.uk). Attendance is free, but please register in advance by writing to mdxhumanities@yahoo.co.uk. All welcome.

Place: Mansion Building, Middlesex University, Trent Park campus, Bramley Road, London N14 4YZ.

Tube: Piccadilly line to Oakwood station, free bus to campus.