In the nation building of developing nations, humanities have often taken the backseat, with little funding and attention paid. Since humanities (with the exception of social sciences) have no direct utilarian value (sociology studies society so could be seen as useful in social planning whie art history is just considered as a study of the history of art that is considered specious to development), parents have often discouraged their children from pursuing their interest in this field, even if their aptitude and interest lean in this direction. I would like to urge the readers of my blog to think about the value of humanities and post your comments to this blog. Here are some links that might be of interest to you
http://www.mla.org/ade/bulletin/n091/091001.htm
http://chronicle.com/indepth/culture/history.htm
http://www.uchicago.edu/research/jnl-crit-inq/issues/v30/30n2.McGann.html