Humanities, evidently derived from the word human, are academic fields centered on human nature itself. It involves a lot of disciplines under its umbrella, but the main recurring plotlines are the same, human condition or everything that encompasses the nature of being a human, the life of a human. Academically, humanities is defined as to include the study of:
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history, philosophy, languages, linguistics, literature, jurisprudence, archaeology, comparative religion, ethics, the history, theory and criticism of the arts, those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods, and the study of application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life. (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2000)
We have long been in search of the meaning of human life and how we are able to feel, live, and achieve, what makes us different from the other creatures, basically to answer the question, what makes us human. The only constant thing in this world is change. Even though we are still all humans, and we have the same human anatomy as it was a hundred years ago, the context of which we are living in changes. Technological advancements, medical progress, environmental alterations, research studies all paved the way for changes in how we live our lives. But even so, the humanities in art, music, architecture, philosophy and literature, is consistently present and they managed to survive the celebrated world of technology today.
The arts in humanities include the discussion of dance, theatre, visual arts, among many others. Dance is an art form that satisfies the human need to respond to life experiences through movement of the physical being (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2002). It has evolved from just being a social gathering in the early centuries and then dance performances flourished and were presented on stage and took many forms from ballet to ballroom dancing. Today, reality TV showcases talented dancers and it has taken a more different form like street dancing or hip-hop, and cheer dancing even. The diversity of the dance forms tells us a story of people being carefree and individualism reflecting these new dance categories. For example cheer dancing before was just a way for an institution’s sport team to be encouraged and cheered for, hence the beautiful, talented young ladies who do just that. But now it has become a sport. Theatre arts satisfy the human need to express thoughts and feelings through written text, dramatic interpretation and multimedia production (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2002). I think other than the amazing lights and sounds technology that theatre people are now using theatre is pretty much the same. The plays that were done around 40 years ago are still the same ones, the most popular being written by Shakespeare, et al. However, the topics that were not comfortable to be shown on stage before, like that of feminism, political, and religious issues, can be performed on stage today. There is more freedom in terms of the plays that can be shown on stage compared to before. Visual arts is defined as the spatial art form that satisfies the human need to respond to life experiences through images, structures and tactile works (Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2002). The richness of this aspect of humanity has been preserved in glorious museums all around the world. The medium that is used for this art drastically changed because now you can probably use anything from kitchen utensils to electric cords, a pen and pencil to the Adobe Photoshop program. Still, people will accept it as an art piece, as long as you bring something innovative and new, and something that touches the human soul.
Music also significantly changed. Music as an aural art form satisfies the human need to respond to life experiences through singing, listening and/or playing an instrument. From classical and orchestrated music, we now have genres like punk rock, rap and ballad, heavy metal, among many others. This is also considered as an emotional outlet for most people because songs that are written usually speak the sentiments of the lyricist and musician. Also, the way that a singer delivers a song affects the people watching or listening to it. Technology paved the way for people to have access to any kind of music that they want to hear through downloading or online streaming, there are also music videos to accompany these.
Architecture today utilizes more types of materials and explores designs. Although nothing can actually beat the pyramids, the Bird’s Nest in China which hosted the 2008 Olympics can prove that nothing is impossible in terms of architectural design. Philosophy is still the same, challenging for the most part science and religion. I think it only differs from before in the way it was written. Literature has been the most to evolve because everybody is now entitled to voice out their views in life and everybody gets access to it, especially through blogging. Literature is not only confined to just books, there are now fan fictions and magazines, movie reviews among many others. The topics to be discussed are endless and there are e-books too.
Even though much has changed, especially in terms of technology and freedom of speech, humanities still encompasses human emotions and human life. I think that what makes the study of this more wonderful is that there is so much to explore now, and the talents of the people are readily accessed and given exposure. Artists can showcase their art on websites such as deviant art, aspiring singers and actors on youtube, and so forth. As long as were human and we have inspiration, passion and devotion to our craft the humanities will flourish to always reminding us of the greatness of our lives.
References:
National Endowment for the Humanities. (2000). NEH Definition of Humanities. Retrieved August 19, 2008, from http://www.ors.ttu.edu/neh_definition_of_humanities.htm
Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2002). Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities. Retrieved August 19, 2008, from http://www.pafamilyliteracy.org/stateboard_ed/lib/stateboard_ed/pdfarts.pdf
