Are the humanities really ‘A Wheel Turning Nothing' in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic?

Dickson Adom

doi:10.58256/njhs.v4i4.285

Authors

Dickson Adom
adomdick@yahoo.com
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Keywords:

coronavirus, humanities, research funding, STEM, sustainable development

Abstract

The humanities disciplines have been criticized as insignificant in the global efforts toward the fight against the coronavirus. This might probably be as a result of the age-long devaluation of humanities and the exaggeration of the contributions of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines by policymakers. The archival and evidence-based research methods guided the careful examination of historical documents, published articles, news reports, and speeches on the humanities and STEM disciplines. Extensive document analysis of more than thirty literature in the humanities that have contributed significantly to solving the multi-faceted problems of the COVID-19 was carried out. The findings revealed that the humanities’ disciplines such as religion, psychology, literature, visual and performing arts, economics, and many others, have offered alternative approaches in alleviating the challenges of the COVID-19. The study concludes that the purported stagnation of the humanities in the fight against the COVID-19 is unfounded and baseless. It recommends that policymakers and administrators of academic institutions must consider the humanities field as very important, assigning it the same value as the STEM disciplines in terms of research funding and resource allocation to ensure sustainable global development.

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