Sustainable Musicology. A Paradigm Shift across the Humanities

Publisher: FedOA - Federico II University Press 

Series: Musical Clefs

Pages: 125

Language: Italian

Abstract: Sustainability is a key concept not only in ecology and economics, but in epistemology as well. It touches on ethics, intergenerational relations, and the responsible use of new technologies. In the age of artificial intelligence, the decisive question for the humanities is not whether machines can replace researchers, but whether research itself is losing its direction, its meaning, and its sense of responsibility. This book treats musicology as an emblematic case of a crisis that threatens the entire ecosystem of contemporary academia, caught between the publish-or-perish imperative and the vulnerabilities of the Digital Humanities. Yet the book offers more than a diagnosis. Starting from musicology, it outlines strategies for a paradigm shift applicable across the humanities: favouring intellectual depth over quantitative output, dialogue over disciplinary silos, long-term cultural impact over immediate results. But the highest stakes lie in building a greater capacity to respond to the growing entropy of the academic system. The goal is a research culture that is effective and timely, capable of depth, and able to generate genuine social relevance.