The affective turn and the teaching of the humanities: crisis, challenges, and future scenarios in the university

Abstract

This article presents the results of a mixed-methods study conducted at the School of Humanities of the Universidad de los Llanos (Colombia), aimed at analyzing the contributions of the affective turn to the teaching of the humanities and envisioning future scenarios for regional universities. The central issue addressed is the crisis of legitimacy of the humanities in higher education, expressed in the reduction of their curricular presence and in the tension between holistic education and the demands of the contemporary economic model. The methodology integrated: (i) a qualitative component based on 35 semi-structured interviews with university faculty, analyzed through a hermeneutic approach using Atlas. ti; (ii) a quantitative component grounded in strategic foresight using MicMac software; and (iii) a results-validation process employing the Delphi method with three experts in humanities and higher education. The findings identified six core categories—emotions, the body, artificial intelligence, cyberculture, affect, and ethics—which informed the construction of seven prospective scenarios aimed at strengthening humanistic teaching in terms of comprehensiveness, critical thinking, and interculturality. The study concludes that incorporating the affective turn enables a re-signification of the role of the humanities in contemporary universities, enhancing their relevance in the formation of critical and empathetic citizens committed to the challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and current social contexts.