More than ever, California, the nation, and the world need engaged and informed citizens who understand the languages, traditions, values, and histories of our diverse communities and cultures. The disruption and losses of the pandemic, and the inequities it made starkly visible, have brought that lesson home with force.
Globalization, along with cultural diversity, and racial justice at home call for the knowledge and comparative methods of the humanities. These methods are essential to sustaining multicultural and multilingual societies, to dismantling structural racism, and to cultivating a strong democratic culture.