Editors' Introduction
—Research in the Humanities
In the call for papers for this special issue on ‘research in the humanities’ we asked, ‘What counts as research; what doesn’t; and who decides? Does the traditional distinction between critical and creative work still hold? Is creative work, or any form of non-traditional academic work (i.e. whatever doesn’t conform to a notion of the standard academic essay), quantifiable and measurable according to an idea of research modelled on a certain conception of science? And who or what is humanities research for? What are its most appropriate or effective means of dissemination, and what kinds of effects might be expected of it once—if—it reaches its proposed destination?’.
The contributions eventually published here under that theme are largely consistent, if not steadfast, in their evasion of the specific terms of those questions, preferring to tackle the issue of research in the humanities via other routes and by other means. In doing so, they touch on aspects of that issue unanticipated by the original call: the pursuit of collaboration, the industrial conditions of production, the economics of ‘free’ publication, the new guises of performativity (research as practice; publish or perish), the nature and technics of information networks, and more.
But perhaps more illustrative of how research in the humanities ‘works’ today is the way the pieces collected here found their way into the issue. Notwithstanding the façade of ‘special issue’, those pieces came about not simply as considered responses to a call for papers but also as a result of the expediency and sociality of professional practice: artful repurposing, happy accident, invitation, obligation and quid pro quo.
The question remains as to whether reliance on such mechanisms constitutes the norm or the exception when it comes to research in the humanities. If the contributions to this issue are anything to go by, however, it feels safe to say that the results may be both enlightening and entertaining, either way.
RB
Ctrl-Z: New Media Philosophy
ISSN 2200-8616