The End of Disenchantment and the Future of the Humanities
Preview:
My father was born on a threshing day in July 1919, in the same Iowa farmhouse in which his own father had been born. The house had been built, in part, by his grandfather. Uprooted from northern Germany because of the military draft, the family had become deeply rooted in this small, close-knit community in America. Most still spoke only their native dialect of Low German, went to one of several one-room schoolhouses scattered across the prairie, ground and sold grain at the same granaries, traded at the same stores, and married and socialized exclusively within the social ambit of the church.
Originally published: March 12, 2024
Author: Nicholas B. Dirks
Position: Former Chancellor
Institution: University of California at Berkeley
Published by: The Chronicle of Higher Ed