The Easy 'A'

Humanities can flourish only when democratic values thrive in society, the spirit of questioning encouraged and liberalism enjoys legitimacy

- Rakhi Bose

GROWING up in the small town of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, in the 1990s and the early 2000s, 23-year-old Bilal Khan taught himself English mainly through American television shows and the occasional Hollywood film on the cable network. In school, he would have laughed if someone had told him that he would go on to pursue English honours in college and pursue 'culture studies'. Back when he was growing up, he had no conception of these fields of education. "It was either science or commerce," Bilal laughs.

The Christ University alumnus now recalls that in those days, not many bright kids opted for 'arts'. When it came to choosing a stream after passing his 10th, Bilal's options were clear. He didn't even think about opting for 'humanities'. "In my state, 'arts' is not something young men are taught to aspire for. I grew up believing, like most other boys, that there is no future in studying arts. In fact, most schools in Jhansi at the time did not even offer humanities stream in Class 11 or 12," recalls Bilal.

He adds that it's not just about the purportedly limited career options available to students of humanities, but the sheer sexism of it that kept him and several other boys at bay. "The gendering of subjects is a very real phenomenon. Arts and humanities are seen as more "emotional" subjects. So poetry, literature is feminine and a man who expresses his feelings is feminine too," Bilal adds.

The 'Alice in Wonderland' Effect

Across small towns of India like Jhansi and indeed even in urban metropolitans, "arts' suffers similar biases: "It's easy", "it's for women", "it has no future". Bilal feels that the discrimination stems from the low employability of these subjects. It isn't just India, but across the world. Social sciences and liberal arts are often seen as the refuge of the "romantic scholar", one whose contribution to society is noted, but not necessarily needed.