The Narrative Imagination: The Value of Writing and Literature in the Anti-Intellectual Age
A Response to Martha C. Nussbaum's "Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities."
In 2010, Martha C. Nussbaum published Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. It is a manifesto for education reform in order to establish empathetic citizens of an increasingly global world. Democracy, she says, “is built upon respect and concern, and these in turn are built upon the ability to see other people as human beings, not simply as objects” (6). What is required of education, and especially of early education, then is the cultivation of emotional intelligence and curiosity about those different from ourselves. Liberal arts courses, such as literature, philosophy, language, and religion, aid in creating engaged citizens. The continued dismantlement of the humanities, which has only worsened since Not for Profit’s publication in 2010, directly discourages the development of empathy and responsible global citizenship while prioritizing economic growth over all else. Nussbaum smartly critiques the overemphasis on education as a means of producing workers for capitalistic gain while highlighting the values of liberal arts programs in facilitating responsible, democratic citizens.
In the fifteen years that have passed since its first publication, Nussbaum’s call for a humanitarian approach to education has only grown more pressing in the face of crushing opposition to humanities programs across America. For a moment, let us turn our attention to the ongoing crises facing the American education system since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term. In recent months, President Trump has ordered the curtailing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives nationwide. Consequently, the University of Kentucky (among several other colleges and universities) disbanded it's diversity office, the University of Toledo ended several undergraduate humanities programs, and he has threatened to cut federal funding to K-12 schools with DEI programs. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs have their roots in the 1960s Civl Rights movements, and often function to ensure that every person, regardless of sex, gender, religion, race, or socioeconomic class, receives equal opportunities in education and in the work force. While I won’t divulge the entire history of DEI here, as my goal is not to provide you with a history lesson, I do want to emphasize that DEI initiatives contribute to developing empathetic, inclusive spaces for all citizens. Studies show that “restricting DEI programs exacerbates systemic inequities, stifles innovation, and weakens institutional effectiveness” (Rosa 1). DEI initiatives, like humanities programs, aim to facilitate the empathetic, democratic citizenship that Nussbaum explores in Not for Profit. A presidential administration willing to undermine such programs indicates an empathy crisis. Entangled in this crisis is a threat to any education that aims to create curious, empathetic, and globally knowledgable citizens. Nussbaum put it well: “The student’s freedom of mind is dangerous if what is wanted is a group of technically trained obedient workers to carry out the plans of elites who are aiming at foreign investment and technological development. Critical thinking will, then, be discouraged” (21). What she wrote in 2010 is what we are witnessing now as the current administration attempts to disrupt humanitarian education, public access to information, and deport international students. If there is no education willing to encourage critical thinking outside of a specific political praxis, if people do not care to learn or question the administration, then resistance to such crises becomes null.
In addition to ending DEI initiatives, President Trump is attempting to dismantle the Department of Education, which was created to ensure equal education for all students especially those in underserved populations. According to the U.S. Department of Education website, the DOE mission is “to serve America's students-to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access” (para. 2). The DOE’s mission, as it stands now, aligns perfectly with Nussbaum’s definition of the ideal democracy and, in turn, with the facilitation of the ideal democratic citizen. But what does global competitiveness mean under an administration that dismisses the value of education and encourages censorship, book banning, deports international students, and is attempting to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services? I reckon that global competitiveness means, for the Trump Administration, economic success for white, heteronormative, and economically well-off populations in America at the expense of disadvantaged and minority groups both within the nation and abroad. But education, it is important to remember, is not solely for the sake of personal or national economic success. I would like to highlight the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, formed after World War II:
“Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups.”
— Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. Presented as an epigraph to Chapter II of Not for Profit.
The “full development of the human personality” includes: the cultivation of curiosity for other peoples, religions, cultures, and ways of life; emphasizing the importance of empathy in mind and practice; and the ability to rationally disagree without disrespecting others. An administration who continuously tries to prevent access to free and fair education for all citizens, immigrant and otherwise, does not have respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Nor does it promote understanding and tolerance among all. As a first-generation college student and educator, I am like many of my colleagues distressed by the continued devaluation of the humanities across the nation and the consequences it may bring for future generations in the cultivation of critical thinking and literacy. But unlike Nussbaum, I do not wish to discuss the ways in which we may reform education for children nor do I wish to discuss all the concerning actions of the current administration here; these entirely valuable discussions deserve space elsewhere, perhaps in another article. Instead, I would like to expand on one claim Nussbaum makes in Chapter VI: “The third ability of the citizen…is what we call the narrative imagination” (95). Narrative imagination, for the purposes of this article, is the act of writing. How, then, might we assess the value of writing and literature in an increasingly anti-intellectual society?
The answer shall appear simpler than it is: We write. Writing is protest, as the saying goes. Margaret Atwood once wrote, “A word after a word after a word is power.” One of the most valuable things we can do under this administration, in light of so many national and global atrocities, is to write about it. Silence becomes an enemy in times of threat. If no one will speak up, if no one will put words to the harm being done, then harm continues. People pay the cost. The loss of literature, as I’ve highlighted through the library funding cuts and book censorship, indicates a particularly troubling element of the devaluation of education. In 1985, Audre Lorde wrote the phenomenal essay “Poetry is Not a Luxury” in which she highlights the pervasive power—the necessity, especially to women—of poetry and, by extension, of writing:
“For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence…The white fathers told us, I think therefore I am; and the black mothers in each of us-the poet- whispers in our dreams, I feel therefore I can be free. Poetry coins the language to express and charter this revolutionary awareness and demand, the implementation of that freedom…If what we need to dream, to move our spirits most deeply and directly toward and through promise, is a luxury, then we have given up the core-the fountain-of our power, our womanness; we have give up the future of our worlds.”
Lorde is right. If we acquiesce to literary censorship and demean the power of writing, then we give up any valuable future. I think here of the Palestinian protest poetry in light of the genocide of the Palestinian people at the hands of Israel, the influence of letter-writing in the 1980’s women’s peace movements, and the current resistance to generative A.I. in writing studies. While these three examples may seem unconnected, they each show one commonality: writing as resistance. The narrative imagination, then, becomes a powerful tool for subverting harm. For resisting it, for speaking up against it, for trying to right the many wrongs ongoing in the world. If we are to be responsible, global democratic citizens, then it is our responsibility to use language to its fullest extent. The praxis of resistance is action. As Nussbaum says, “By emphasizing each person’s active voice, we also promote a culture of accountability” (54). It is accountability in writing that aids in facilitating change and protecting interdisciplinary educational freedom. While writing is not always possible or safe for every person in every nation, and I do not wish to dismiss the bodily harm acts of writing may bring under more totalitarian regimes, I only wish to remind us of writing’s historical power and, by extent, the power of the humanities.
Nussbaum defines “the spirit of the humanities” as “critical thought, daring imagination, empathetic understanding of human experiences of many different kinds, and understanding of the complexity of the world we live in” (7). These very elements contribute to a healthy democracy in which every citizen, in democracy’s most ideal state, has the freedom and the self-assurance to find their place among the world not as workers for economic growth only but as people part of a global exchange of experience and knowledge. The current administration does not value the individual as a full person, but as a means to an end with the end being, more often than not, economic and entirely beneficial to the ruling class.
I want to leave you with this final reminder: “Art is a great enemy of [aggressive nationalism’s] obtuseness” (Nussbaum 23). What you write, what you create, is important both as an act of resistance within itself and as proof that writing in all its beautiful, messy, creative forms still has a place in today’s culture. Do not let yourself be demeaned. Say what you wish to say. And remember that there is still so much work to do to protect the humanities, writing, and access to literature if we are to protect democracy.
Recommended Reading List
Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, Martha Nussbaum.
On Freedom, Maggie Nelson
Democracy Matters, Cornel West
Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay
Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Angela Y. Davis
Remembered Rapture: The Writer at Work by bell hooks
References Not Linked
Nussbaum, Martha C. Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Princeton UP, 2010.
Rosa, Jose. “The Critical Importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and the Detrimental Impact of Anti-DEI Policies.” 2025.