Original post by AssanHaving studied History and WMST as a double major, I think I'm in a position to comment on the humanities and WMST.
Let me state up front that I will not be defending all aspects of a WMST degree. There are certain elements of which I disapprove. Ultimately, however, I think that the degree should be reformed, not abolished.
But some points:
There is no WMST degree, no reading list
My WMST was interdisciplinary. That means I was able to take any course from a department approved list. I ended up choosing lots of courses in Philosophy and History (to fulfill credit requirements for my History degree). I also studied other courses, like English and Political Science During the course of my degree, I studied epistemology and philosophy of science, jurisprudence, psychoanalytic theory, critiques if economic theory, and ethics. There were very few core courses, maybe 5. Other WMST students chose other subjects. All of that to say...a WMST degree IS a humanities degree, but it is the humanities through the lens of the political, ideological, philosophical, economic, semantic and ither structures that exclude marginalized people. Sometimes these,people are women; other times they are disabled, poor, black, etc.
Utility
- This is extremely useful for policy analysis - my first job out of uni - and for campaigning and activism (such as when I wrote a pressure group's submission to the Human Rights Commission in support of an end to legalized discrimination against homosexuals.
Propaganda
- Following from that, the reading lists are different from class to class.
- I agree that the degree would have been better with more exposure to radically different thinkers. This is not unique to WMST, but it is a reform I'd like to see.
Rigour
- What made WMST so challenging because of the need to adapt to different conventions in different disciplines, often entering at 3rd or 4th year. It taught me to develop agile thinking, to analyze a discipline, get to its crux and identify its habits, and adapt to various ways of thinking. It was harder than my major.
- I truly learned to question. And that habit of questioning is also pointed at my education as a WMST students, both its failures and successes.
There are other, deeper reasons why I am grateful to have fallen into that degree. It taught me so much compassion and empathy, and it gave me a framework to explain the confounding social phenomena that had troubled me way before I got there. That was most valuable. But I think those points suffice for now.