Human Agency in the Humanist Movement: A Discourse Analysis of Humanist Institutional Texts

This paper aims to explore how human agency is discursively constructed in Humanist texts from libertarian, relational and modernist frameworks of agency. It draws on a discourse analysis of texts in the publications as well as on institutional websites of the Humanist local and national organisations in the UK and Norway along with an agnostic and atheist association in Italy within which Humanists form a minority group and the international umbrella association on Humanism. The Humanist Movement represents a non-religious worldview, establishing its own secular value and meaning system, to which human is central. Putting into dialogue agency theories contrasting in some viewpoints help usefully examine construction of institutional discourses in terms of Humanist perspective towards human as powerful and responsibilised actor. Supported by a research grant programme 'Supporting TAlent in ReSearch -STARS@UniPd' of the University of Padua, this study argues how on institutional textual level the current Humanist Movement attributes an agentic identity to human as (1) a skilled author; (2) rational and responsible agent and (3) activist for future generations. By doing so, it aims to contribute to the unpacking of current belief landscapes in Western Europe and to enhance inclusivity in interbelief conversations.