This book examines how community engagement reimagines academic work in the humanities, proposing new methodological and theoretical approaches to scholarship and pedagogy in literary studies. The chapter contributors--scholars of English and foreign language literature and cultural studies--respond to three questions: How can literary theory inform community-based learning (CBL)? How does community service transform our assumptions about literature and the literary aspects of everyday life? And finally, in what ways do current readings in cultural studies extend to the question of civitas, or the creation of a vibrant community life? By answering these questions, the contributors move literary studies beyond the lecture hall and certified competency in the reading of texts and toward the formation of learning communities without walls or borders. These humanities-based learning communities revise our conceptions of the human condition, construct an expanded and active sociological imagination, encourage compassion, and address issues of social justice. Written for faculty and staff in literature and humanities programs at all types of institutions, this book provides innovative ways to incorporate CBL into classroom experiences.Contents include: Can civic engagement rescue the humanities? Cultural studies, compassion, and the promise of CBL Community work and the revaluation of literary study The humanities as a vocation Literary work as public work To serve, perchance to learn: A play in four acts Language, literature, and community engagement in the San Diego Tijuana borderlands CBL, German literature, and intercultural competence Two old women and a mature approach to service-learning Indigenous theory and service-learning: A Dakota case study Students discover primary and secondary source information through volunteer work Exploring the links between l