Humanities Interdisciplinary Program
S = Objectives
This program offers students an opportunity to explore the humanities from multiple perspectives, traditionally Western as well as global, and to make connections between a variety of disciplines.
S = How to Become a Program Member
Students may enroll in the program by visiting Professor Karen Klein (Rabb 264) or Professor Luis Yglesias (Shiffman 116) where they will be assigned a HIP advisor who will work with them throughout their program. Students are strongly advised to enroll before their senior year. Once enrolled, students are invited to participate in all program events, including lectures by visiting scholars and artists, field trips, and the salon.
S = Committee
Karen Klein, Cochair
(English and American Literature)
Luis Yglesias, Cochair
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Tzvi Abusch
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Pamela Allara
(Fine Arts)
Joyce Antler
(American Studies)
Carl Belz
(Fine Arts)
Bernadette Brooten
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Eric Chafe
(Music)
Olga Davidson
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Charles Fisher
(Sociology)
Eberhard Frey
(Germanic and Slavic Languages)
Stephen Gendzier
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Arthur Green
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Jane Hale
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Karen Hansen
(Sociology)
Erica Harth
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Judith Irvine
(Anthropology)
Patricia Johnston
(Classical Studies)
Edward Kaplan
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Reuven Kimelman
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Thomas King
(English and American Literature)
Ann Koloski-Ostrow
(Classical Studies)
Richard Lansing
(Romance and Comparative Literature)
Alan Levitan
(English and American Literature)
Robert Maeda
(Fine Arts)
Leonard Muellner
(Classical Studies)
Richard Parmentier
(Anthropology)
Benson Saler
(Anthropology)
Nancy Scott
(Fine Arts)
Faith Smith
(African and Afro-American
Studies/English and American Literature)
Susan Staves
(English and American Literature)
Maurice Stein
(Sociology)
Ibrahim Sundiata
(African and Afro-American
Studies)
Robert Szulkin
(Germanic and Slavic Languages)
Andreas Teuber
(Philosophy)
Cheryl Walker
(Classical Studies)
David Wong
(Philosophy)
David Wright
(Near Eastern and Judaic Studies)
Palle Yourgrau
(Philosophy)
S= Requirements for the Program
A.
HIP 20a or 20b or the equivalent with the permission of the advisor.
This requirement provides students with a sense of the humanities
through its connection to the classics and the contributions of
fundamental texts.
B.
HIP 10b, or one semester course from category 1 below. This requirement
involves students in comparative studies of specific arts and
letters, exposing them to literary and philosophical texts on
art, music, or theater from more than one era, culture, or discipline.
C.
HIP 21a (formerly AMST 172b), or one semester course from category
2 below. Courses in category 2 explore myth, ritual, religion,
folklore,and philosophy. This requirement enables students to
understand how different cultures have made sense of human existence
in relation to the spiritual: the realm of the divine, the realm
of animal spirits, the supernatural.
D.
HIP 30b, or one semester course from category 3 below. These courses
examine responses or alternatives to the Western tradition. This
requirement thus provides most students with an in-depth exploration
of a culture other than their own or with a critique of a culture
from within.
E.
The final course in the humanities sequence is an independent
study which will focus on themes and methodologies central to
the study of the humanities. This course is available only after
other course requirements are completed.
F. No single course can satisfy more than one requirement.
S = Courses of Instruction
S = (1-99) Primarily for Undergraduate Students
HIP 10b Lyric Poetry and Drawing
[ cl5 wi hum ]
Comparative study of the genres of lyric poetry and drawing with special attention to their shared formal concerns and their ability to achieve maximum expressiveness with an economy of means. Examples will be taken from different historical periods. Usually offered in even years.
Ms. Klein
HIP 11b The Grid: In and Out of Bounds
[ hum ]
Studies the meaning and function of the grid in different disciplines. Focusing first on twentieth-century visual art, including the Rose Museum collection, we will explore examples from music, mathematics, architecture, and dance, with guest lecturers.
Ms. Dash
HIP 20a Imagining How We Are: East and West I
[ cl8 nw hum NW ]
Human history can be understood as a struggle between competing myths, each claiming to be the source of true knowledge. Does our present understanding of earth's history, however, point instead to a narrative which finds common ground in all cultures? This course examines the possibility. Usually offered every year.
Messrs. Stein and Yglesias
HIP 20b Imagining How We Are: East and West II
[ nw hum NW]
This course raises the same issues as HIP 20a, but uses a different set of texts. Both courses draw upon foundational texts from eastern and western civilizations. Usually offered every year.
Messrs. Stein and Yglesias
HIP 21a Mysticism and the Moral Life: Abraham Heschel, Howard Thurman, Thomas Merton
(Formerly AMST 172b)
[ cl48 hum ss ]
Enrollment limited to 25. This course may not be repeated for credit by students who have taken AMST 172b in previous years.
A study of three exemplary American religious activists: Abraham Heschel, a Jewish theologian and activist; Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk; and Howard Thurman, a black minister. Focuses upon the relationship between their inwardness and social and political commitments. Usually offered in even years.
Mr. Kaplan
HIP 30b The Persistence of Tradition: An Introduction to Japanese Poetry, Drama, Fiction, and Film
[ cl41 nw hum NW ]
Prerequisite: A University Seminar in Humanistic Inquiries (USEM).
This course will study traditions of fiction, poetry, and drama over the span of Japan's cultural history from about the ninth century to the present. Featured will be Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji, great women poets, and the dramatic genres of Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku. Usually offered in even years.
Mr. Levitan
HIP 98a Independent Study
Signature of the instructor and the program director required.
Independent readings, research, and writing on a subject of the student's interest under the direction of a faculty advisor. Usually offered every year.
Staff
HIP 98b Independent Study
See HIP 98a for special notes and course description. Usually offered every year.
Staff
L =
Electives
The following courses are not all given in any one year; therefore, the Course Schedule for each semester should be consulted.
L =
Category 1
AMST 128b
History as Theater
CLAS 115b
Topics in Greek and Roman History
CLAS 133b
The Art and Archaeology of
Ancient Greece
CLAS 134b
The Art and Archaeology of
Ancient Rome
CLAS 171a
Greek Epic and Athenian Drama
COML 105b
Sex and Sensibility in Pre-Revolutionary
European Novels
COML 137a
Dada and Surrealism
ENG 134a
The Woman of Letters, 1600-1800
ENG 144b
The Body as Text: Castiglione
to Locke
FA 19b
Lives of the Artists
FA 71a
Modern Art and Modern Culture
FA 170b
Nineteenth-Century European
Painting and Sculpture
FA 171b
Contemporary Painting and Sculpture
FECS 157a
Topics in French Film
FECS 182b
French Literature and Painting
GECS 195b
German Modernism and the Fascist
Backlash
GER 160b
German Drama and Poetry from
Naturalism to the Second World War
ITAL 140a
Dante's Divine Comedy
MUS 57a
Music and Culture: From Romanticism
to the Modern Era
PHIL 113b
Aesthetics: Painting, Photography,
and Film
RECS 149b
Twentieth-Century Russian Literature,
Art, Film, and Theater
L =
Category 2
ANTH 80a
World Religions
ANTH 105a
Symbol, Myth, and Ritual
CLAS 170a
Classical Mythology
COML 194b
Topics in Myth, Literature,
and Folklore
NEJS 1a
Foundational Course in Judaic
Studies
NEJS 114b
Biblical Ritual and Cult
NEJS 127b
The Jewish Liturgy
NEJS 130a
The New Testament: A Historical
Introduction
NEJS 155b
Judaism and the Religious Quest
NEJS 156b
Ancient Near Eastern Religion
and Mythology
PHIL 146a
Idea of God
L =
Category 3
AAAS 79b
Afro-American Literature of
the Twentieth Century
AAAS 116b
Comparative Race and Ethnic
Relations
AAAS 133b
The Literature of the Caribbean
ANTH 62a
Non-Western Musical Traditions
COML 193a
Topics in New World Studies:
The Empire Writes Back
COML 194b
Topics in Myth, Literature,
and Folklore
COML 195a
Feminism and Film
COML 198a
Feminist Theory in Literary
and Cultural Studies
ENG 23a
Domains of Seventeenth-Century
Performance
FA 14a
When Tokyo was Called Edo:
Japanese Art from Edo to Meiji
FA 61b
Inventing Tradition: Women
as Artists, Women as Art
FREN 165b
Topics in Francophone Literatures
NEJS 128a
Exploration in Islamic Literature
I: The Arab World
NEJS 128b
Explorations in Islamic Literature
II: The Persian World
PHIL 119b
Chinese Philosophy
SOC 131b
Womenís Biography and
Society
SOC 165a
Sociology of Birth and Death