This article argues that the digital humanities can be seen as a humanities project in a time of significant change in the academy. The background is a number of scholarly, educational and technical challenges, the multiple epistemic traditions linked to the digital humanities, the potential reach of the field across and outside the humanities, and the "digital" as a boundary object. In the article, four case studies are used to exemplify the digital humanities as a humanities project, and it is suggested that the field can be seen as a trading zone and meeting place rather than a strained "big tent". In this way, the digital humanities can accept scholarly and technological challenges in relation to the digital as well as being an important place for thinking about, experimenting with and rethinking the humanities.